Individual Beams Research Articles

Photoelectron momentum distribution in structured strong fields

Abstract In this study, a reaction microscope is used to explore the behavior of electrons in shaped beams under strong field conditions. Photoelectron momentum spectra indicate that the inclusion of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light does not significantly impact the available electron angular momentum states. However, the distinctive donut shape of the beam plays a crucial role in determining the observed Photoelectron Angular Distributions (PADs). TDSE simulations, incorporating focal volume averaging indicates that the geometric properties of the focal region of the OAM and the Gaussian beams affect the photoelectron spectra differently. By averaging the spectra across different intensity regions, we have provided a qualitative explanation for the variations in photoelectron spectra resulting from the shapes of the individual beams. This result shows that the transfer of OAM in ultrashort light pulses cannot be detected in gas ensembles due to the ionization being overwhelmed by atoms in the most intense region with minimal spatial phase variation within the laser field. We demonstrate that the differences in the momentum spectra arising from shaped beams can be qualitatively explained using models that incorporate the spatial averaging of the beam, rather than focusing on the OAM content.

Design and experimentation of width tapered meandered array structure for low frequency broadband vibration energy harvesting

A novel 6DoF Tapered beam energy harvester, capable of operating across a broad and low frequency range, is proposed in this work. The hybrid structure incorporates regular beam array and zig-zag sections, enhancing deformation and bending. Width tapering with constant thickness optimizes the structural performance and energy harvesting capabilities of the beam. Tapering ensures even strain distribution, reducing the risk of structural failure. The proposed structure demonstrates wide band characteristics at low frequencies, delivering higher power output compared to an array of cantilevers for a given area. FEM analysis is conducted to optimize proof mass, aiming for closely spaced resonance frequencies and high-power output. Experimental validation on a prototype confirms the accuracy of the frequency response predicted by the models. Under harmonic base excitation of 0.4 g, the harvester yields an average DC power of 2497 μW, accounting for signal conditioning losses, within the frequency range of 9–20 Hz. The suggested structure offers excellent design flexibility, allowing adjustment of resonant frequencies by varying the number of beams, the slope and the proof mass of individual beams. The geometry of the proposed structure provides versatility, mechanical resilience, uniform strain distribution make it suitable for developing MEMS energy harvesters.

Low cross-talk optical addressing of trapped-ion qubits using a novel integrated photonic chip

Individual optical addressing in chains of trapped atomic ions requires the generation of many small, closely spaced beams with low cross-talk. Furthermore, implementing parallel operations necessitates phase, frequency, and amplitude control of each individual beam. Here, we present a scalable method for achieving all of these capabilities using a high-performance integrated photonic chip coupled to a network of optical fibre components. The chip design results in very low cross-talk between neighbouring channels even at the micrometre-scale spacing by implementing a very high refractive index contrast between the channel core and cladding. Furthermore, the photonic chip manufacturing procedure is highly flexible, allowing for the creation of devices with an arbitrary number of channels as well as non-uniform channel spacing at the chip output. We present the system used to integrate the chip within our ion trap apparatus and characterise the performance of the full individual addressing setup using a single trapped ion as a light-field sensor. Our measurements showed intensity cross-talk below ~10–3 across the chip, with minimum observed cross-talk as low as ~10–5.

Differential Signal-Amplitude-Modulated Multi-Beam Remote Optical Touch Based on Grating Antenna.

As screen sizes are becoming larger and larger, exceeding human physical limitations for direct interaction via touching, remote control is inevitable. However, among the current solutions, inertial gyroscopes are susceptible to positional inaccuracies, and gesture recognition is limited by cameras' focus depths and viewing angles. Provided that the issue of ghost points can be effectively addressed, grating antenna light-trapping technology is an ideal candidate for multipoint inputs. Therefore, we propose a differential amplitude modulation scheme for grating antenna-based multi-beam optical touch, which can recognize different incidence points. The amplitude of the incident beams was first coded with different pulse widths. Then, following the capture of incident beams by the grating antenna and their conversion into electrical currents by the aligned detector arrays, the incident points of the individual beams were recognized and differentiated. The scheme was successfully verified on an 18-inch screen, where two-point optical touch with a position accuracy error of under 3 mm and a response time of less than 7 ms under a modulation frequency of 10 kHz on both incident beams was achieved. This work demonstrates a practical method to achieve remote multi-point touch, which can make digital mice more accurately represent the users' pointing directions by obeying the natural three-point one-line aiming rule instantaneously.

Electrically tunable third-harmonic generation using intersubband polaritonic metasurfaces

Nonlinear intersubband polaritonic metasurfaces, which integrate giant nonlinear responses derived from intersubband transitions of multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with plasmonic nanoresonators, not only facilitate efficient frequency conversion at pump intensities on the order of few tens of kW cm-2 but also enable electrical modulation of nonlinear responses at the individual meta-atom level and dynamic beam manipulation. The electrical modulation characteristics of the magnitude and phase of the nonlinear optical response are realized through Stark tuning of the resonant intersubband nonlinearity. In this study, we report, for the first time, experimental implementations of electrical modulation characteristics of mid-infrared third-harmonic generation (THG) using an intersubband polaritonic metasurface based on MQW with electrically tunable third-order nonlinear response. Experimentally, we achieved a 450% modulation depth of the THG signal, 86% suppression of zero-order THG diffraction tuning based on local phase tuning exceeding 180 degrees, and THG beam steering using phase gradients. Our work proposes a new route for electrically tunable flat nonlinear optical elements with versatile functionalities.

Warren truss inspired hierarchical beams for three dimensional hierarchical truss lattice materials

Networks of beams are a subject of increasing interest to create architected materials with exceptional mechanical properties and low density. This paper investigates the mechanical properties of one dimensional (1D) hierarchical beams for the development of three dimensional (3D) truss lattice materials. These 1D hierarchical beams are constructed in two configurations by placing axial and inclined struts in single and double laced Warren truss patterns in each side of a beam with polygon cross section. Analytical and numerical analyses have been used to characterize their mechanical properties, including the elastic modulus, second moment of area, and shear stiffness of hierarchical beams drawn from a broad design space. Also, the failure limits of the beams with respect to parent material failure and various buckling modes are probed. Finally, the hierarchical beams have been implemented as the constituent members of Kelvin and octet lattices, and the elastic modulus and failure boundaries of the second-order hierarchical lattices are evaluated. The investigation reveals the competition between the elastic properties in the individual hierarchical beams based on different combinations of the design variables. The stiffness of the designs under compression and bending is found to be a function of the axial member size and cross sectional shape of the hierarchical beam. On the other hand, the shear stiffness of hierarchical beam designs is a function of the inclined member size and their inclination angle. It is demonstrated that incorporating hierarchy in the Kelvin and octet truss lattices can enhance the load bearing capacity of designs at low relative densities when compared to their hollow counterparts. Also, it is shown that second-order hierarchical stretching and bending-dominated lattices incorporating first-order hierarchical beams, can not only achieve but also surpass the strength and stiffness scaling relations established for first-order lattices. This becomes particularly noteworthy when considering bending-dominated lattices, as the hierarchy can drive their stiffness toward the boundaries, enabling them to outperform their equivalent stretching-dominated rivals.

Compressive instabilities enable cell-induced extreme densification patterns in the fibrous extracellular matrix: Discrete model predictions.

We present a new model and extensive computations that explain the dramatic remodelling undergone by a fibrous collagen extracellular matrix (ECM), when subjected to contractile mechanical forces from embedded cells or cell clusters. This remodelling creates complex patterns, comprising multiple narrow localised bands of severe densification and fiber alignment, extending far into the ECM, often joining distant cells or cell clusters (such as tumours). Most previous models cannot capture this behaviour, as they assume stable mechanical fiber response with stress an increasing function of fiber stretch, and a restriction to small displacements. Our fully nonlinear network model distinguishes between two types of single-fiber nonlinearity: fibers that undergo stable (supercritical) buckling (as in previous work) versus fibers that suffer unstable (subcritical) buckling collapse. The model allows unrestricted, arbitrarily large displacements (geometric nonlinearity). Our assumptions on single-fiber instability are supported by recent simulations and experiments on buckling of individual beams with a hierarchical microstructure, such as collagen fibers. We use simple scenarios to illustrate, for the first time, two distinct compressive-instability mechanisms at work in our model: unstable buckling collapse of single fibers, and snap-through of multiple-fiber groups. The latter is possible even when single fibers are stable. Through simulations of large fiber networks, we show how these instabilities lead to spatially extended patterns of densification, fiber alignment and ECM remodelling induced by cell contraction. Our model is simple, but describes a very complex, multi-stable energy landscape, using sophisticated numerical optimisation methods that overcome the difficulties caused by instabilities in large systems. Our work opens up new ways of understanding the unique biomechanics of fibrous-network ECM, by fully accounting for nonlinearity and associated loss of stability in fiber networks. Our results provide new insights on tumour invasion and metastasis.

High-Capacity Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Communication for Internet-of-Things Applications Using 3D Steering Nolen Beamforming Array

In this paper, a novel 2D Nolen beamforming phased array with 3D scanning capability to achieve high channel capacity is presented for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. The proposed 2D beamforming phased array is designed by stacking a fundamental building block consisting of a 3 × 3 tunable Nolen matrix, which applies a small number of phase shifters with a small tunning range and reduces the complexity of the beam-steering control mechanism. Each 3 × 3 tunable Nolen matrix can achieve a full 360° range of progressive phase delay by exciting all three input ports, and nine individual radiation beams can be generated and continuously steered on azimuth and elevation planes by stacking up three tunable Nolen matrix in horizontal and three in vertical to maximize signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the corresponding spatial directions. To validate the proposed design, the simulations have been conducted on the circuit network and assessed in a fading channel environment. The simulation results agree well with the theoretical analysis, which demonstrates the capability of the proposed 2D Nolen beamforming phased array to realize high channel capacity in MIMO-enabled IoT communications.

Impact of floating turbine motion on nacelle lidar turbulence measurements

We determine the impact of floating turbine motion on turbulence measurements from a four-beam lidar by emulating its scanning configuration and retrievals within atmospheric turbulence boxes. Since the elevation angle of the lidar beams is small and the two bottom lidar beams point closely to the horizontal plane, we also evaluate the turbulence estimation abilities of a two-beam lidar. For the two-beam nacelle lidar, the variance of the individual beams is close to the target u-variance and closer than that we compute by reconstructing the u-velocity component with the two lidar beams radial velocities. By using floating turbine motion measurements from Hywind, we show that the floating turbine motion impacts turbulence estimations of the nacelle lidar. Roll does not have a clear impact on nacelle-lidar turbulence, whereas both the beam and the u-reconstructed variances increase with pitch amplitude.

Metasurface optical trap array for single atoms

Metasurfaces made of subwavelength silicon nanopillars provide unparalleled capacity to manipulate light, and have emerged as one of the leading platforms for developing integrated photonic devices. In this study, we report on a compact, passive approach based on planar metasurface optics to generate large optical trap arrays. The unique configuration is achieved with a meta-hologram to convert a single incident laser beam into an array of individual beams, followed up with a metalens to form multiple laser foci for single rubidium atom trapping. We experimentally demonstrate two-dimensional arrays of 5 × 5 and 25 × 25 at the wavelength of 830 nm, validating the capability and scalability of our metasurface design. Beam waists ∼1.5 µm, spacings (about 15 µm), and low trap depth variations (8%) of relevance to quantum control for an atomic array are achieved in a robust and efficient fashion. The presented work highlights a compact, stable, and scalable trap array platform well-suitable for Rydberg-state mediated quantum gate operations, which will further facilitate advances in neutral atom quantum computing.

Size dependent scaling law of plastic flow in FCC nanolattices: A dislocation dynamics study

Micro- and nanolattices can achieve simultaneously both lightweight and ultra-high strength due to a combination of resilient architecture and enhanced mechanical properties of small-scale unit constituents. However, understanding the fundamental deformation mechanism for these novel materials remains intriguing due to the intricate interplay of various geometric characteristics and intrinsic microscopic defects. Here, we investigate the fundamental mechanism of plastic deformation in terms of dynamic evolution of defects and corresponding mechanical responses in aluminum nanolattices using a mesoscale defect dynamics model which couples three-dimensional dislocation dynamics and finite element method. Our concurrently coupled model could capture detailed dislocation motion under complex loading conditions and predict the plastic flow stress of the nanolattices. We demonstrate that the size of individual constituent beam plays a critical role in the properties of nanolattices through small-scale strengthening, showing the strength of the nanolattices increases with decreasing beam size with the scaling law of σ∝db−0.89. As a result, the scaling law of plastic yielding with material density drastically increases from the continuum prediction. In addition, our modeling could allow us to study the geometric effect with various nanolattices. These findings establish a foundation for the fundamental understanding of the governing mechanism of plastic deformation, allowing access to a new regime in designing optimal structures using nanolattices.

LIPSS formation on Ni surface using mixed near-infrared laser beam harmonics

Generation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) is investigated with femtosecond laser pulses with 1030nm wavelength and its second and its harmonics. The second (λ2ω = 515nm) and third harmonics (λ3ω = 343nm) beams in addition to their combination were utilized to control the period of the LIPSS on a Ni surface. The resulting periodicity of the formed structures was ∼ 0.42μm, 0.22μm, and 0.33μm respectively for the second harmonic beam, third harmonic beam, and their combination. This method demonstrates a direct way to control the periodicities on a metal target by employing an individual laser beam wavelength to induce a variable range of LIPSS periods.

FAST-EM array tomography: a workflow for multibeam volume electron microscopy.

Elucidating the 3D nanoscale structure of tissues and cells is essential for understanding the complexity of biological processes. Electron microscopy (EM) offers the resolution needed for reliable interpretation, but the limited throughput of electron microscopes has hindered its ability to effectively image large volumes. We report a workflow for volume EM with FAST-EM, a novel multibeam scanning transmission electron microscope that speeds up acquisition by scanning the sample in parallel with 64 electron beams. FAST-EM makes use of optical detection to separate the signals of the individual beams. The acquisition and 3D reconstruction of ultrastructural data from multiple biological samples is demonstrated. The results show that the workflow is capable of producing large reconstructed volumes with high resolution and contrast to address biological research questions within feasible acquisition time frames.

A carbon nanotube x-ray source array designed for a new multisource cone beam computed tomography scanner

Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is known to suffer from strong scatter and cone beam artifacts. The purpose of this study is to develop and characterize a rapidly scanning carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission x-ray source array to enable a multisource CBCT (ms-CBCT) image acquisition scheme which has been demonstrated to overcome these limitations. A CNT x-ray source array with eight evenly spaced focal spots was designed and fabricated for a medium field of view ms-CBCT for maxillofacial imaging. An external multisource collimator was used to confine the radiation from each focal spot to a narrow cone angle. For ms-CBCT imaging, the array was placed in the axial direction and rapidly scanned while rotating continuously around the object with a flat panel detector. The x-ray beam profile, temporal and spatial resolutions, energy and dose rate were characterized and evaluated for maxillofacial imaging. The CNT x-ray source array achieved a consistent focal spot size of 1.10 ± 0.04 mm × 0.84 ± 0.03 mm and individual beam cone angle of 2.4° ± 0.08 after collimation. The x-ray beams were rapidly switched with a rising and damping times of 0.21 ms and 0.19 ms, respectively. Under the designed operating condition of 110 kVp and 15 mA, a dose rate of 8245 μGy s−1 was obtained at the detector surface with the inherent Al filtration and 2312 μGy s−1 with an additional 0.3 mm Cu filter. There was negligible change of the x-ray dose rate over many operating cycles. A ms-CBCT scan of an adult head phantom was completed in 14.4 s total exposure time for the imaging dose in the range of that of a clinical CBCT scanner. A spatially distributed CNT x-ray source array was designed and fabricated. It has enabled a new multisource CBCT to overcome some of the main inherent limitations of the conventional CBCT.

Creating an Array of Parallel Vortical Optical Needles

We propose a method for creating parallel Bessel-like vortical optical needles with an arbitrary axial intensity distribution via the superposition of different cone-angle Bessel vortices. We analyzed the interplay between the separation of individual optical vortical needles and their respective lengths and introduce a super-Gaussian function as their axial profile. We also analyzed the physical limitations to observe well-separated optical needles, as they are influenced by the mutual interference of the individual beams. To verify our theoretical and numerical results, we generated controllable spatial arrays of individual Bessel beams with various numbers and spatial separations by altering the spectrum of the incoming laser beam via the spatial light modulator. We demonstrate experimentally how to implement such beams using a diffractive mask. The presented method facilitates the creation of diverse spatial intensity distributions in three dimensions, potentially finding applications in specific microfabrication tasks or other contexts. These beams may have benefits in laser material processing applications such as nanochannel machining, glass via production, modification of glass refractive indices, and glass dicing.

Creep failure of hierarchical materials

Creep failure of hierarchical materials is investigated by simulation of beam network models. Such models are idealizations of hierarchical fibrous materials where bundles of load-carrying fibers are held together by multi-level (hierarchical) cross-links. Failure of individual beams is assumed to be governed by stress-assisted thermal activation over local barriers, and beam stresses are computed by solving the global balance equations of linear and angular momentum across the network. Disorder is mimicked by a statistical distribution of barrier heights. Both initially intact samples and samples containing side notches of various length are considered. Samples with hierarchical cross-link patterns are simulated alongside reference samples where cross-links are placed randomly without hierarchical organization. The results demonstrate that hierarchical patterning may strongly increase creep strain and creep lifetime while reducing the lifetime variation. This is due to the fact that hierarchical patterning induces a failure mode that differs significantly from the standard scenario of failure by nucleation and growth of a critical crack. Characterization of this failure mode demonstrates good agreement between the present simulations and experimental findings on hierarchically patterned paper sheets.

Characteristics of branched flows of high-current relativistic electron beams in porous materials

Branched flow is a universal phenomenon in which treebranch-like filaments form through traveling waves or particle flows in irregular mediums. Branched flow of high-current relativistic electron beams (REBs) in porous materials has been recently discovered [Jiang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 185001 (2023)]. REB branching is accompanied by extreme beam focusing, up to a hundred times the initial value, at predictable caustic locations. The energy coupling efficiency between the beam and porous material surpasses that in homogeneous targets by two orders of magnitude. This paper examines REB branching, focusing on how beam parameters (e.g., Lorentz factor and density) and characteristics of the porous materials (e.g., pore size, skeleton thickness, and density) influence branching patterns. Analyses of the dynamics of individual beam electrons are also provided. The findings pave the way for further understanding REB branching and its potential applications in the future.

High efficiency holographic impedance metasurface for dual circular polarized OAM waves

AbstractThis paper proposes a high aperture efficiency (AE) small size tensor holographic impedance metasurface (THIMS), which has the ability to create circular polarized (CP) high purity orbital angular momentum (OAM) multi‐beams with flexibly independent control of the individual beam direction, polarization and OAM mode. The tensor unit cell is a cross‐slotted circular patch. We design a THIMS at 14.6 GHz for dual CP OAM beams: Beam‐I (LHCP, l = 1, θ1 = 30°, φ1 = 0°), Beam‐II (RHCP, l = −1, θ2 = 30°, φ2 = 180°). The developed tensor dual CP THIMS has the following advantages: high purity in xoy plane at z = 9.73 λ (λ wavelength, measured purity 88.4% for Beam‐I, and 93.5% for Beam‐II), high AE 25.1%, and small size 5.986 λ × 5.986 λ × 0.0618 λ. The calculated, simulated and measured results agree well. The generated dual CP OAM beams have potential applications for high‐capacity wireless communication, radar high resolution imaging, and rotation velocity measurement.

Beam-wise dose composition learning for head and neck cancer dose prediction in radiotherapy

Automatic and accurate dose distribution prediction plays an important role in radiotherapy plan. Although previous methods can provide promising performance, most methods did not consider beam-shaped radiation of treatment delivery in clinical practice. This leads to inaccurate prediction, especially on beam paths. To solve this problem, we propose a beam-wise dose composition learning (BDCL) method for dose prediction in the context of head and neck (H&N) radiotherapy plan. Specifically, a global dose network is first utilized to predict coarse dose values in the whole-image space. Then, we propose to generate individual beam masks to decompose the coarse dose distribution into multiple field doses, called beam voters, which are further refined by a subsequent beam dose network and reassembled to form the final dose distribution. In particular, we design an overlap consistency module to keep the similarity of high-level features in overlapping regions between different beam voters. To make the predicted dose distribution more consistent with the real radiotherapy plan, we also propose a dose-volume histogram (DVH) calibration process to facilitate feature learning in some clinically concerned regions. We further apply an edge enhancement procedure to enhance the learning of the extracted feature from the dose falloff regions. Experimental results on a public H&N cancer dataset from the AAPM OpenKBP challenge show that our method achieves superior performance over other state-of-the-art approaches by significant margins. Source code is released at https://github.com/TL9792/BDCLDosePrediction.

An efficient reconfigurable optimal source detection and beam allocation algorithm for signal subspace factorization

<span lang="EN-US">Now a <span>days, huge amount of data is communicated through channels in wireless network. It requires an efficient parallel operation for the optimal utilization of frequency, time allocation and coding model for signal subspace factorization in smart antenna. In view of this requirement, an efficient reconfigurable optimal source detection and beam allocation algorithm (RoSDBA) is proposed. The proposed algorithm is able to allocate desired signal to the user space to reduce the noise and also for efficient allocation of subspace to remove disturbance in all directions. The proposed method efficiently utilizes the antenna array elements by accurate identification and allocation of antenna array elements such as individual radiators, radiation beam, signal strength, and disturbance factor. With respect to simulation analysis, the proposed method shows better performance for the resolution, radiation beam allocations, identification bias, distribution factor and time taken for the detection of various</span> array arrangements and source numbers.</span>