Low Q-factor Research Articles

All-dielectric metasurfaces enabled by quasi-BIC for high-Q near-perfect light absorption

All-dielectric metasurface (ADM) absorbers driven by quasi-bound states in the continuum (BIC) are critical for high-performance optoelectronic devices due to their ability to offer high Q-factor absorption. However, these all-dielectric metasurfaces usually require the aid of degenerate critical coupling schemes or back-metal reflective layers to achieve high absorption, which often suffers from limitations such as sensitive geometrical parameters, ohmic losses, and low Q-factors. This work presents an ADM for high-Q near-perfect light absorption, which consists of double Si nanorods and SiO2/Ta2O5 multilayers. By breaking the symmetry of the length of the Si nanorods, this ADM can excite a single quasi-BIC resonance corresponding to the electric dipole. Without introducing a metal layer, we realize the highly asymmetric coupling of quasi-BIC by only 6 layers of SiO2/Ta2O5 films. It is theoretically and numerically demonstrated that the quasi-BIC has more than 98% absorption at 943.68 nm and a Q-factor as high as 2842. In addition, the ADM exhibits excellent tolerance to geometrical parameters while ensuring high absorption performance. Our results provide new ideas for the design of all-dielectric perfect absorbers with large tolerances and high Q-factors and also open up new possibilities for optical filtering, optical sensing, and photon detection devices.

Design Techniques for Wideband CMOS Power Amplifiers for Wireless Communications

In this study, we designed a wideband CMOS power amplifier to support multi-band and multi-standard wireless communications. First, an input matching technique through LC network and a wideband design technique using a low Q-factor transformer were proposed. In addition, a design technique was proposed to improve output matching using RC feedback. To verify the feasibility of the proposed design methodology for wideband CMOS power amplifiers, the designed power amplifier was fabricated using a 180 nm RFCMOS process. The size including all of the matching network and test pads was 1.38 × 0.90 mm2. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed power amplifier was verified through the measured results using modulated signals of WCDMA, LTE, and 802.11n WLAN.

Low-phase-noise microwave generation with a free-running dual-pumped Si3N4 soliton microcomb.

Microwave signals can be generated by photodetecting the repetition frequencies of the soliton microcombs. In comparison to other methods, the dual-pumped method allows for the stable generation of the soliton microcombs even with resonators having lower Q-factors. However, introducing an additional pump laser may affect the phase noise of the generated microwave signals when using these dual-pumped soliton microcombs. Here, we investigate the factors that could influence the phase noise of microwave signals generated with dual-pumped soliton microcombs, including the polarization, amplitude noise, and phase noise of the two pumps. We demonstrate a 25.25 (12.63) GHz microwave with phase noise reaching -112(-118) dBc/Hz at a 10 kHz offset frequency, surpassing the performance of previous reports on microwave generation using free-running Si3N4 soliton microcombs, even those generated with higher Q microresonators. We analyze the noise floor of the generated microwave signals and establish a phase noise simulation model to study the limiting factors in our system. Our work highlights the potential of generating low-phase-noise microwave signals using free-running dual-pumped soliton microcombs.

Single site-controlled inverted pyramidal InGaAs QD–nanocavity operating at the onset of the strong coupling regime

Precise positioning of single site-controlled inverted pyramidal InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) at the antinode of a GaAs photonic crystal cavity with nanometer-scale accuracy holds unique advantages compared to self-assembled QDs and offers great promise for practical on-chip photonic quantum information processing. However, the strong coupling regime in this geometry has not yet been achieved due to the low cavity Q-factor based on the (111)B-oriented membrane structures. Here, we reveal the onset of phonon-mediated coherent exciton–photon interaction on our tailored single site-controlled InGaAs QD–photonic crystal cavity. Our results present the Rabi-like oscillation of luminescence intensity between excitonic and photonic components correlated with their energy splitting pronounced at small detuning. Such Rabi-like oscillation is well reproduced by modeling the coherent exchange of the exciton-photon population. The modeling further reveals an oscillatory two-time covariance at QD-cavity resonance, which indicates that the system operates at the onset of the strong coupling regime. Moreover, by using the cavity mode as a probe of the virtual state of the QD induced by phonon scattering, it reveals an increase in phonon scattering rates near the QD–cavity resonance and asymmetric phonon emission and absorption rate of even around 50 K.

Optical Bistability in Nanosilicon with Record Low Q-Factor.

We demonstrated optical bistability in an amorphous silicon Mie resonator with a size of ∼100 nm and Q-factor as low as ∼4 by utilizing photothermal and thermo-optical effects. We not only experimentally confirmed the steep intensity transition and the hysteresis in the scattering response from silicon nanocuboids but also established a physical model to numerically explain the underlying mechanism based on temperature-dependent competition between photothermal heating and heat dissipation. The transition between the bistable states offered particularly steep superlinearity of scattering intensity, reaching an effective nonlinearity order of ∼100th power over excitation intensity, leading to the potential of advanced optical switching devices and super-resolution microscopy.

MAPPING OF S-WAVE ATTENUATION FIELD USING THE CODA ENVELOPES OF LOCAL EARTHQUAKES AND QUARRY BLASTS FOR THE EAST KAZAKHSTAN REGION ON THE DATA FROM PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY SEISMIC STATIONS

The paper considers the heterogeneities of short-period shear waves attenuation field in the east Kazakhstan lithosphere including the region of the Semipalatinsk Test Site where a lot of test detonations of nuclear weapons were performed underground in the past. The common S-waves coda envelopes were obtained by the records of near calibration explosions and quarry blasts as well as local earthquakes on the data from permanent and temporary stations. The obtained data allowed us to create attenuation field sections in the lithosphere of the considered region. The attenuation field heterogeneities were mapped for the lower crust and uppermost mantle of the east Kazakhstan. Very low Q-factor values (Qs~40–55) correspond to several stations installed in the area of the Balapan test site where the most powerful test explosions were conducted. These values are much lower than the minimum values corresponding to a large number of stations installed in seismically active region of the Northern Tien Shan. It is supposed that this is due to upwelling of deep-seated fluids along the active fault zones under a long-term intensive vibration effect. The obtained data can be used to reveal the zones having high concentration of fluids in the lithosphere parts of probable large earthquake generation. This information is quite important due to the planned construction of nuclear power plant in the east Kazakhstan region.

Multilevel Feature Extraction Method for Adaptive Fault Diagnosis of Railway Axle Box Bearing

Railway axle box bearing fault signal contains high Q-factor resonance and low Q-factor transient shock components with periodic transient shock features that can characterize bearing faults. However, extracting fault features is usually difficult due to noise, transmission paths, and high-amplitude accidental shocks. Therefore, to address the abovementioned problems, the multilevel feature extraction method for adaptive fault diagnosis of railway axle box bearing was proposed. This paper used the maximum second-order cyclostationary blind convolution (CYCBD) to weaken the influence of disturbances, enhancing weak transient shock components. Resonant sparse decomposition(RSSD) is used for the selection of quality factor Q due to its excellent fault feature separation property. Considering the strict fault frequency component periodicity in the envelope spectrum, the envelope spectrum multipoint kurtosis (ESMK) is proposed as a metric. The Q factor is optimized using the gray wolf optimization algorithm (GWO) to obtain an adaptive sparse decomposition method (GWO-RSSD) for extracting bearing transient fault shocks to eliminate the signal effects of high-amplitude disturbance shocks and background noise. The simulation results and measured signal analysis of railway axle box bearing show that ESMK can effectively measure periodic transient shocks under strong shock interference compared with the MED-RSSD method. Thus, GWO-RSSD can adaptively separate the optimal low-Q resonance components, verifying the methods’ effectiveness and superiority.

Characteristics of a CW ∼5 μm Ce3+-doped chalcogenide glass fiber laser

Energy, spectral and temporal characteristics of a Ce3+-doped chalcogenide glass fiber laser continuously pumped by a 4.16 μm Fe2+:ZnSe laser were investigated. Milliwatt level output power was obtained. In case of low Q-factor of the resonator the laser operated at λ = 4.62 μm corresponding to the narrow peak in Ce3+ emission spectrum. At higher Q-factor, the lasing wavelength changed to 5.0–5.1 μm corresponding to the plateau in the gain spectrum. In contrast to Tb3+-doped mid-infrared fiber lasers, Ce3+-doped fiber laser had no tendency to non-relaxing spike operation.

Planar Microwave Sensor with High Sensitivity for Material Characterization Based on Square Split Ring Resonator (SSRR) for Solid and Liquid

Microwave resonator sensors are the most extensively used sensors in the food industries, quality assurance, medical, and manufacturing. Planar resonant technique is chosen as the medium for characterizing dielectric properties of material due to its compact in size, low cost and easy to fabricate. But these techniques have a low Q-factor and little sensitivity. This work uses the perturbation approach to overcome this technique's flaw, which is that Q-factor and resonant frequency are affected by the resonator's dielectric properties. This suggested sensor operated at 2.5GHz between 1GHz and 4GHz for material characterisation of solid and liquid samples. These sensors were constructed on a substrate made of RT/Duroid Roger 5880, which has a copper layer that is 0.0175 mm thick and has a dielectric constant of 2.2. This square split ring resonator (SSRR) sensor thus generates narrower resonant, low insertion loss, and a high Q-factor value of 430 at 2.5GHz. The SSRR sensor's sensitivity is 98.59%, which is higher than that of past studies. The application of the suggested sensor as a tool for material characterisation, particularly for identifying material attributes, is supported by this findings.

An additive-manufactured microwave cavity for a compact cold-atom clock

We present an additive-manufactured microwave cavity for a Ramsey-type, double resonance, compact cold-atom clock. Atoms can be laser cooled inside the cavity using a grating magneto-optic trap with the cavity providing an excellent TE011-like mode while maintaining sufficient optical access for atomic detection. The cavity features a low Q-factor of 360 which conveniently reduces the cavity pulling of the future clock. Despite the potential porosity of the additive-manufacturing process, we demonstrate that the cavity is well-suited for vacuum. A preliminary clock setup using cold atoms allows for measuring the Zeeman spectrum and Rabi oscillations in the cavity which enables us to infer excellent field uniformity and homogeneity, respectively, across the volume accessed by the cold atoms. Ramsey spectroscopy is demonstrated, indicating that the cavity is suitable for clock applications. Finally, we discuss the limitations of the future clock.

A Filter-Free Third Overtone Quartz Oscillator Based on Micromachining Technology.

This work investigates an AT-cut quartz crystal oscillator (XO) operating at its enhanced third overtone thickness shear (TS) mode while suppressing the fundamental TS mode by micromachining technology. A unique quartz plate structure has been proposed to alleviate the strong resonant signal from the first mode. A finite-element method (FEM) was used to characterize the first mode suppression while improving the performance of third overtone in terms of Q -factor and motional resistance ( Rm ) of the proposed device. In measurement, the unloaded Q -factor of the fundamental TS mode is from several tens of thousands (the reference design) to only several hundred (the proposed design). Meanwhile, the unloaded Q -factor of the third overtone response for the proposed design could reach Q ∼95 000 with a decent Rm . The Q -factor ratio attains 170-180 between the third overtone and fundamental modes. With the feature of low Q -factor on the fundamental mode, the oscillator system could successfully oscillate at a higher frequency without the help of bandpass filtering. Finally, the closed-loop oscillation measurement is performed for the phase noise (PN) characterization. The PN performance could reach -154.5 dBc/Hz at a 1-kHz offset at the carrier frequency of ∼ 60 MHz. This technique has proven its potential as a future solution of high-frequency quartz oscillator technology.

Active quasi-BIC metasurfaces assisted by epsilon-near-zero materials.

Active devices play a critical role in modern electromagnetic and photonics systems. To date, the epsilon (ε)-near-zero (ENZ) is usually integrated with the low Q-factor resonant metasurface to achieve active devices, and enhance the light-matter interaction significantly at the nanoscale. However, the low Q-factor resonance may limit the optical modulation. Less work has been focused on the optical modulation in the low-loss and high Q-factor metasurfaces. Recently, the emerging optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) provides an effective way for achieving high Q-factor resonators. In this work, we numerically demonstrate a tunable quasi-BICs (QBICs) by integrating a silicon metasurface with ENZ ITO thin film. Such a metasurface is composed of five square holes in a unit cell, and hosts multiple BICs by engineering the position of centre hole. We also reveal the nature of these QBICs by performing multipole decomposition and calculating near field distribution. Thanks to the large tunability of ITO's permittivity by external bias and high-Q factor enabled by QBICs, we demonstrate an active control on the resonant peak position and intensity of transmission spectrum by integrating ENZ ITO thin films with QBICs supported by silicon metasurfaces. We find that all QBICs show excellent performance on modulating the optical response of such a hybrid structure. The modulation depth can be up to 14.8 dB. We also investigate how the carrier density of ITO film influence the near-field trapping and far-field scattering, which in turn influence the performance of optical modulation based on this structure. Our results may find promising applications in developing active high-performance optical devices.

Polarization multiplexing multichannel high-Q terahertz sensing system

Terahertz functional devices with high-Q factor play an important role in spectral sensing, security imaging, and wireless communication. The reported terahertz devices based on the electromagnetic induction transparency (EIT) effect cannot meet the needs of high-Q in practical applications due to the low-Q factor. Therefore, to increase the Q-factor of resonance, researchers introduced the concept of bound state in the continuum (BIC). In the quasi-BIC state, the metasurface can be excited by the incident wave and provide resonance with a high-Q factor because the condition that the resonant state of the BIC state is orthogonal is not satisfied. The split ring resonator (SRR) is one of the most representative artificial microstructures in the metasurface field, and it shows great potential in BIC. In this paper, based on the classical single-SRR array structure, we combine the large and small SRR and change the resonance mode of the inner and outer SRR by changing the outer radius of the inner SRR. The metasurface based on parameter-tuned BIC verified that the continuous modulation of parameters in a system could make a pair of resonant states strongly coupled, and the coherent cancellation of the resonant states will cause the linewidth of one of the resonant states to disappear, thus forming BIC. Compared with the single-SRR array metasurface based on symmetry-protected BIC, the dual-SRR array metasurface designed in this paper has multiple accidental BICs and realizes multichannel multiplexing of X-polarization and Y-polarization. It provides a brilliant platform for high-sensitivity optical sensor array, low threshold laser and efficient optical harmonic generation.

Design and Modeling of a Fully Integrated Microring-Based Photonic Sensing System for Liquid Refractometry.

The design of a refractometric sensing system for liquids analysis with a sensor and the scheme for its intensity interrogation combined on a single photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is proposed. A racetrack microring resonator with a channel for the analyzed liquid formed on the top is used as a sensor, and another microring resonator with a lower Q-factor is utilized to detect the change in the resonant wavelength of the sensor. As a measurement result, the optical power at its drop port is detected in comparison with the sum of the powers at the through and drop ports. Simulations showed the possibility of registering a change in the analyte refractive index with a sensitivity of 110 nm per refractive index unit. The proposed scheme was analyzed with a broadband source, as well as a source based on an optoelectronic oscillator using an optical phase modulator. The second case showed the fundamental possibility of implementing an intensity interrogator on a PIC using an external typical single-mode laser as a source. Meanwhile, additional simulations demonstrated an increased system sensitivity compared to the conventional interrogation scheme with a broadband or tunable light source. The proposed approach provides the opportunity to increase the integration level of a sensing device, significantly reducing its cost, power consumption, and dimensions.

Terahertz high-Q magnetic dipole resonance induced by coherent Fano interactions

High Q-factor resonance holds great promise for bio-chemical sensing and enhanced light–matter interaction. However, terahertz (THz) magnetic resonances usually demonstrate low Q-factors, resulting in huge energy radiation loss particularly in high frequency bands. Here, we show that high Q-factor magnetic dipole resonance at THz frequencies can be achieved by exploiting the coherent Fano interactions with strong field enhancements in an array composed of single metallic split-ring resonators, working at Wood–Rayleigh anomalies. It can give rise to ultrahigh Q-factor beyond 104 in the THz regime. Experimentally, the measured Q-factor of dominant magnetic dipole resonance can achieve no less than a level of ∼261 by Lorentzian fitting to the experimental data. In addition, a high Q-factor of the fundamental-order magnetic dipole resonance is demonstrated beyond 30. High-Q magnetic dipole resonance is closely associated with ultralow-damping and negative permeability in the THz band. The measurements of magnetic dipole resonances are in good agreement with the theoretical analyses. Our scheme suggests a feasible route to suppress radiative loss for enhanced THz field-matter interaction.

Interaction of Ge(Si) Self-Assembled Nanoislands with Different Modes of Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystal.

The interaction of Ge(Si)/SOI self-assembled nanoislands with modes of photonic crystal slabs (PCS) with a hexagonal lattice is studied in detail. Appropriate selection of the PCS parameters and conditions for collecting the photoluminescence (PL) signal allowed to distinguish the PCS modes of different physical nature, particularly the radiative modes and modes associated to the bound states in the continuum (BIC). It is shown that the radiative modes with relatively low Q-factors could provide a increase greater than an order of magnitude in the integrated PL intensity in the wavelength range of 1.3–1.55 µm compared to the area outside of PCS at room temperature. At the same time, the interaction of Ge(Si) islands emission with the BIC-related modes provides the peak PL intensity increase of more than two orders of magnitude. The experimentally measured Q-factor of the PL line associated with the symmetry-protected BIC mode reaches the value of 2600.

Broadband sound absorption using multiple hybrid resonances of acoustic metasurfaces

Achieving broadband sound absorption in low-frequency ranges using thin acoustic materials has been a long-standing and challenging problem in acoustics. When using the existing acoustic materials such as porous and fibrous materials, they are inevitably thick for low-frequency sound absorption. In this study, we propose a thin acoustic metasurface for broadband absorption of low-frequency sound by using hybrid resonances at multiple target frequencies. Supercells of the proposed metasurface are partitioned into multiple unit cells, and each of them is composed of two adjacent subwavelength Helmholtz resonators for perfect sound absorption based on hybrid resonance at each target frequency. When the hybrid resonance is derived, the unit cell exhibits perfect sound absorption at the target frequency with the lower Q-factor than the existing absorbing structures with same thicknesses. To take this advantage, we herein propose design procedures for the proposed supercells to achieve perfect sound absorption based on hybrid resonances at multiple target frequencies. The designed supercells are fabricated by 3D printing apparatus and their absorbing performance is experimentally evaluated in impedance tube. A thin (<λ/11) acoustic metasurface composed of the designed supercells achieves high (>90%) absorption band over broad frequency range, whose relative Q-factor is reduced to about one third compared to the one of the designed unit cell for a single target frequency. This work opens possibilities for practical applications of acoustic metasurfaces in noise mitigation of various mechanical systems (e.g., home appliances and power transformers) in that the target frequencies of supercells are eligible to be customized for each system by using the proposed design procedures.

F-Wave Extraction from Single-Lead Electrocardiogram Signals with Atrial Fibrillation by Utilizing an Optimized Resonance-Based Signal Decomposition Method

(1) Background: A typical cardiac cycle consists of a P-wave, a QRS complex, and a T-wave, and these waves are perfectly shown in electrocardiogram signals (ECG). When atrial fibrillation (AF) occurs, P-waves disappear, and F-waves emerge. F-waves contain information on the cause of atrial fibrillation. Therefore it is essential to extract F-waves from the ECG signal. However, F-waves overlap the QRS complex and T-waves in both the time and frequency domain, causing this matter to be a difficult one. (2) Methods: This paper presents an optimized resonance-based signal decomposition method for detecting F-waves in single-lead ECG signals with atrial fibrillation (AF). It represents the ECG signal utilizing morphological component analysis as a linear combination of a finite number of components selected from the high-resonance and low-resonance dictionaries, respectively. The linear combination of components in the low-resonance dictionary reconstructs the oscillatory part (F-wave) of the ECG signal. In contrast, the linear combination of components in the high-resonance dictionary reconstructs the transient components part (QRST wave). The tunable Q-factor wavelet transform generates the high and low resonance dictionaries, with a high Q-factor producing a high resonance dictionary and a low Q-factor producing a low resonance dictionary. The different Q-factor settings affect the dictionaries’ characteristics, hence the F-wave extraction. A genetic algorithm was used to optimize the Q-factor selection to select the optimal Q-factor. (3) Results: The presented method helps reduce RMSE between the extracted and the simulated F-waves compared to average beat subtraction (ABS) and principal component analysis (PCA). According to the amplitude of the F-wave, RMSE is reduced by 0.24–0.32. Moreover, the dominant frequency of F-waves extracted by the presented method is clearer and more resistant to interference. The presented method outperforms the other two methods, ABS and PCA, in F-wave extraction from AF-ECG signals with the ventricular premature heartbeat. (4) Conclusion: The proposed method can potentially improve the accuracy of F-wave extraction for mobile ECG monitoring equipment, especially those with fewer leads.

Steady states of Λ-type three-level systems excited by quantum light with various photon statistics in lossy cavities

The interaction between quantum light and matter is being intensively studied for systems that are enclosed in high-Q cavities which strongly enhance the light–matter coupling. Cavities with low Q-factors are generally given less attention due to their high losses that quickly destroy quantum systems. However, bad cavities can be utilized for several applications, where lower Q-factors are required, e.g., to increase the spectral width of the cavity mode. In this work, we demonstrate that low-Q cavities can be beneficial for preparing specific electronic steady states when certain quantum states of light are applied. We investigate the interaction between quantum light with various statistics and matter represented by a Λ-type three-level system in lossy cavities, assuming that cavity losses are the dominant loss mechanism. We show that cavity losses lead to non-trivial electronic steady states that can be controlled by the loss rate and the initial statistics of the quantum fields. We discuss the mechanism of the formation of such steady states on the basis of the equations of motion and present both analytical expressions and numerical simulations for such steady states.

Handheld laser scanning microscope catheter for real-time and in vivo confocal microscopy using a high definition high frame rate Lissajous MEMS mirror.

A handheld confocal microscope using a rapid MEMS scanning mirror facilitates real-time optical biopsy for simple cancer diagnosis. Here we report a handheld confocal microscope catheter using high definition and high frame rate (HDHF) Lissajous scanning MEMS mirror. The broad resonant frequency region of the fast axis on the MEMS mirror with a low Q-factor facilitates the flexible selection of scanning frequencies. HDHF Lissajous scanning was achieved by selecting the scanning frequencies with high greatest common divisor (GCD) and high total lobe number. The MEMS mirror was fully packaged into a handheld configuration, which was coupled to a home-built confocal imaging system. The confocal microscope catheter allows fluorescence imaging of in vivo and ex vivo mouse tissues with 30 Hz frame rate and 95.4% fill factor at 256 × 256 pixels image, where the lateral resolution is 4.35 μm and the field-of-view (FOV) is 330 μm × 330 μm. This compact confocal microscope can provide diverse handheld microscopic applications for real-time, on-demand, and in vivo optical biopsy.