Reflection Regime Research Articles

Stochastic model for quantifying effect of surface roughness on light reflection by diffuse reflectance standards

Diffuse reflectance standards of known hemispherical reflectance Rh are widely used in optical and imaging studies. We have developed a stochastic surface model to investigate light reflection and roughness dependence. Through Monte Carlo simulations, the angle-resolved distributions of reflected light have been modeled as the results of local surface reflection with a constant reflectance Rs representing the overall ability of a reflectance standard. The surface was modeled by an ensemble of random Gaussian surface profiles parameterized by a mean surface height δ and transverse correlation length a. By decreasing δ / a, the calculated reflected light distributions were found to transit from Lambertian to specular reflection regime. Reflected light distributions were measured with three standards by nominal reflectance Rh valued at 10%, 80%, and 99%. The calculated results agree well with the measured data in their angular distributions at different incident angles by setting Rs = Rh and δ = a = 3.5 μm.

Light scattering in albumin solution under the influence of electric field in the regime of total internal reflection

In the paper the application of light scattering from biological macromolecules under the influence of electric fields in the regime of total internal reflection is discussed. An experimental setup on prism for the regime of total internal reflection was developed. The water solution of albumin with the concentration 4 % and pH of the medium is equal to 9.3 was used as an object of study. The obtained results demonstrate the applicability of method for study of biological macromolecules by light scattering in various fields of science.

Mid-infrared second-harmonic generation in ultra-thin plasmonic metasurfaces without a full-metal backplane

We report the design and operation of a nonlinear intersubband polaritonic metasurface for mid-infrared second harmonic generation. The metasurface is made of plasmonic nanoresonators filled with a multiple-quantum-well semiconductor heterostructure. Unlike the previously reported nonlinear intersubband polaritonic metasurfaces that employ full-metal backplanes below the etched metal–semiconductor nanoresonators, the metasurface reported here employs an incomplete backplane that is complementary to the pattern of the top metallization of the etched semiconductor heterostructure nanoresonators. The new approach produces high-electric-field localization and enhancement in the nanoresonators, while requiring simplified fabrication and allowing the metasurface to operate in both transmission and reflection regimes.

Photonic Bandgap Deformation in a Nonideal Synthetic Opal Photonic Crystal

The Bragg diffraction in synthetic opal as a 3D photonic crystals has been analyzed using the weak disorder model in various approximations. For a one-domain crystal, the photonic bandgap is calculated in the regime of reflection along the 〈111〉 axis. In the multidomain case, a considerable expansion of the photonic bandgap, the emergence of asymmetry, and the photon band shift to the short-wavelength region are demonstrated. The results are compared with experimental dependences.

Scattering of kinks of the sinh-deformed varphi ^4 model

We consider the scattering of kinks of the sinh-deformed varphi ^4 model, which is obtained from the well-known varphi ^4 model by means of the deformation procedure. Depending on the initial velocity v_mathrm {in} of the colliding kinks, different collision scenarios are realized. There is a critical value v_mathrm {cr} of the initial velocity, which separates the regime of reflection (at v_mathrm {in}>v_mathrm {cr}) and that of a complicated interaction (at v_mathrm {in}<v_mathrm {cr}) with kinks’ capture and escape windows. Besides that, at v_mathrm {in} below v_mathrm {cr} we observe the formation of a bound state of two oscillons, as well as their escape at some values of v_mathrm {in}.

Analysis of Ti and TiO2 nanolayers by total reflection X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Total reflection X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (TRXPS) is applied in the analysis of Ti and TiO2 nanolayers deposited on silicon and silicon dioxide substrates. The idea of application of total-reflection phenomenon for exciting X-ray used in the XPS technique is briefly discussed. The experimental setup and measurement conditions for the studied Ti and TiO2 layers are presented. The XPS spectra were registered both for the non-total and total reflection regimes. The survey spectra and C1s, N1s, Ti2p and O1s photoelectron peaks are shown. For energy calibration, the position of C1s photoelectron peak was applied (C-C component, binding energy 284.8eV). The peak to background ratios are discussed as regards the dependence of the excitation angle. An increase of this ratio for the glancing angle 1°, being below critical angle of the X-ray beam and sample material, results in an improvement of XPS detection limit by factor up to 2. In the case of the Ti nanolayer, additionally, the thickness of the overlayer TiO2 is determined. As an example of applying the TRXPS technique, the analysis of Ti nanolayers implanted by highly charged Xe35+ ions of 280keV energy is discussed. The Xe3d and O1s photoelectron peaks are presented and discussed.

Design of bifunctional metasurface based on independent control of transmission and reflection.

Multifunctional metasurface integrating different functions can significantly save the occupied space, although most of bifunctional metasurfaces reported to date only control the wave in either reflection or transmission regime. In this paper, we propose a scheme that allows one to independently control the reflection and transmission wavefront under orthogonal polarizations. For demonstration, we design a bifunctional metasurface that simultaneously realizes a diffusion reflection and a focusing transmission. The diffusion reflection is realized using a random phase distribution, which was implemented by randomly arranging two basic coding unit cells with the aid of an ergodic algorithm. Meanwhile, the hyperbolic phase distribution was designed to realize the focusing functionality in the transmission regime. To further show the potential applications, a high-gain lens antenna was designed by assembling the proposed metasurface with a proper feed. Both simulation and measurement results have been carried out, and the agreement between the two results demonstrates the validity of the performance as expected. The backward scattering can be reduced more than 5 dB within 6.4-10 GHz compared with the metallic plate. Moreover, the lens antenna has a gain of 20 dB (with around 13 dB enhancement in comparison with the bare feeding antenna) and an efficiency of 32.5%.

Optimizing power oscillations in an ellipsometric system

Ellipsometry is a powerful and well-established optical technique used in the characterisation of materials. It works by combining the components of elliptically polarized light in order to draw information about the optical system. We propose an ellipsometric experimental set up to study polarization interference in the total internal reflection regime for Gaussian laser beams. The relative phase between orthogonal states can be measured as a power oscillation of the optical beam transmitted through a dielectric block and whose orthogonal components are then mixed by a polarizer. We show under which conditions the plane wave analysis is valid and when the power oscillation can be optimized to reproduce a full pattern of oscillation and to simulate quarter and half wave plates.

Full-scale use of X-ray scattering techniques to characterize aged Al-2wt.%Cu alloy

In this work X-ray scattering techniques are used in full scale to characterize the microstructure of Al-2wt.%Cu alloy in order to state common and diverse features between artificial and dynamic ageing. Artificial ageing of the alloy is implemented via T6 regime, dynamic ageing occurs during high pressure torsion. X-ray phase analysis of diffraction patterns obtained in the transmission regime has for the first time identified and quantified the nanodisperse phases of precipitates in the both aged states. Lattice parameters, coherent scattering domains distribution over sizes, averaged dislocation density, fractions of edge and screw dislocations of Al phase after artificial and dynamic ageing are determined via the diffraction patterns obtained in the reflection regime. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique has established quantitative characteristics of size, shape and distribution of precipitates in the mentioned states. In order to confirm the results of SAXS, transmission electron microscopy studies are performed on the same foils. Peculiarities of mechanisms of artificial and dynamic ageing in the studied alloy are discussed on the basis of the obtained data.

Switching terahertz wave with grating-coupled Kretschmann configuration.

We present a terahertz wave switch utilizing Kretschmann configuration which consists of high-refractive-index prism-liquid crystal-periodically grooved metal grating. The switching mechanism of the terahertz switch is based on spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) excitation in the attenuated total reflection regime by changing the liquid crystal refractive index. The results highlighted the fact that the feasibility to "tune" the attenuated total reflection terahertz wave intensity by using the external applied bias voltage. The extinction ratio of the terahertz switch reaches 31.48dB. The terahertz switch has good control ability and flexibility, and can be used in potential terahertz free space device systems.

Characteristics of aeration in the flow downstream of a radial gate with a sudden fall-expansion aerator in a discharge tunnel

Abstract The mechanisms of cavitation damage in flood releasing tunnels remain unclear. In this study a series of physical experiments and numerical calculations were conducted to investigate the flow pattern, pressure distribution and cavitation downstream of a sudden fall-expansion aerator in a discharge tunnel. When the radial gate was partly open, the bottom cavity length reduced drastically, the lateral cavity disappeared, and the flow cavitation index near the sidewalls was less than 0.2. The pressure on the floor and sidewalls can be divided into four regimes: the cavity regime, the impact regime, the reflective regime and the stable regime. The time-average pressure is subject to a unimodal distribution when the gate is fully open, whereas a bimodal distribution is presented when the gate is partly open. The negative pressure regime presented an elliptic shape. Cavitation erosion occurred easily on lateral expansion sidewalls in the tunnel with the radial gate partly open.

The use of optical methods for measuring irregular reflection of weak acoustic shock pulses from a solid surface in air

Irregular reflection ofacoustic weak shockwaves (acoustic Mach numbers less than 0.01) is known as the von Neumann paradox and could not be described by the three-shock theory. In this work, nonlinear reflection regimes were studied experimentally using spark-generated spherically divergent N-waves reflecting from a plane rigid surface. Two optical methods were used in the measurements: a Schlieren system to visualize reflection patterns and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to reconstruct pressure waveforms. The reconstruction was performed by applying the inverse Abel transform to the phase of the signal measured by the interferometer. The Mach stem formation was observed close to the surface as a result of collision of the incident and reflected front shocks of the N-wave and further away from the surface where the reflected front shock interacted with the incident rear shock. It was shown that irregular reflection occurred in a dynamic way and the length of the Mach stem increased while the N-wave propagated along the surface. In addition, reflection patterns were analyzed for several rough plane surfaces with different roughness size. The height of the Mash stem was found shorter for surfaces with larger dimension of the roughness.

Proton and light ion deflection at medium energies with planar bent crystals

The transmission of protons in planar channeling or in the regime of crystal reflection in bent crystals is now routinely used at high energy. We used the property that channeling critical angle increases as the incident particle momentum decreases, to explore the region of moderate energies (100MeV–1GeV). Indeed, such energies are particularly interesting since medical applications such as particle therapy have to face the constraints of being compatible with hospital-based accelerators. Therefore, replacing tens- or even hundreds-tons gantries by bent crystals would – if feasible – meet societal applications.We used binary-encounter simulations of trajectories inside crystals oriented along planar directions. The Molière potential with thermally vibrating lattice atoms was used, and additional transverse heating was introduced to account for multiple elastic scattering by close-collisions on electrons, which depends on the transverse energy of the channeled ions.The survival yield (i.e. the fraction of ions keeping trajectories within plus-minus one critical planar channeling angle with respect to lattice planes) was simulated for protons and carbon ions, as a function of crystal nature (silicon or germanium), crystal temperature, thickness and curvature.Although the transmitted yields are far from the necessary yields required to treat patients, significant survival yields were found through cm-thick crystals at angles beyond 10°.We will discuss possible experimental verification of these findings, and in particular practical aspects of such very large bending angles.

Dual-band enhanced optical absorptance of graphene with resonant tunneling in total internal reflection regime

We propose a stratified structure, where the monolayer graphene is sandwiched between two thin film stacks with optimized period number. A band-pass filter based on the stratified structure is realized. The dual-band enhanced optical absorptance of graphene with resonant tunneling in total internal reflection (TIR) regime is investigated theoretically. Both absorptance peaks are enhanced up to almost 100% in the pass-band filter based on resonant tunneling through a graphene sheet over the communication wavelength range due to the strong light field confinement. With the increasing of the bottom mirror layers, the values of the dual-band absorptance peaks improve accordingly while the peak locations are unchanged. The variation of the angle and wavelength can be exploited to realize tunable filters with good rejection.

Pushing the limits of crystallography.

A very serious concern of scientists dealing with crystal structure refinement, including theoretical research, pertains to the characteristic bias in calculated versus measured diffraction intensities, observed particularly in the weak reflection regime. This bias is here attributed to corrective factors for phonons and, even more distinctly, phasons, and credible proof supporting this assumption is given. The lack of a consistent theory of phasons in quasicrystals significantly contributes to this characteristic bias. It is shown that the most commonly used exponential Debye-Waller factor for phasons fails in the case of quasicrystals, and a novel method of calculating the correction factor within a statistical approach is proposed. The results obtained for model quasiperiodic systems show that phasonic perturbations can be successfully described and refinement fits of high quality are achievable. The standard Debye-Waller factor for phonons works equally well for periodic and quasiperiodic crystals, and it is only in the last steps of a refinement that different correction functions need to be applied to improve the fit quality.

Study of 50 GeV proton ionization loss by semiconductor detector with smoothly tunable thickness

The possibility of the measurement of proton ionization loss in the Silicon (Si) layer of smoothly tunable thickness was demonstrated in an experiment with a 50-GeV proton beam. The Si surface-barrier detector with the depleted layer thickness controlled by the value of high-voltage power supply was used in the experiment. The measured spectra of ionization loss are discussed and compared with the calculated spectra. The possibilities of research of the evolution of electromagnetic field of ultrarelativistic particles traversing the media interface and the study of dynamics of particles moving in the channeling regime or the volume reflection regime with the use of detectors with smoothly tunable thickness are indicated.

Wide-aperture total absorption of a terahertz wave in a nanoperiodic graphene-based plasmon structure

The terahertz absorption spectrum in a periodic array of graphene nanoribbons located on the surface of a dielectric substrate with a high refractive index (terahertz prism) is studied theoretically. The total absorption of terahertz radiation is shown to occur in the regime of total internal reflection of the terahertz wave from the periodic array of graphene nanoribbons, at the frequencies of plasma oscillations in graphene, in a wide range of incidence angles of the external terahertz wave even at room temperature.

Andreev Reflection in ans-Type Superconductor Proximized 3D Topological Insulator

We investigate transport and shot noise in lateral normal-metal-3D topological-insulator-superconductor contacts, where the 3D topological insulator (TI) is based on Bi. In the normal state, the devices are in the elastic diffusive transport regime, as demonstrated by a nearly universal value of the shot noise Fano factor F_{N}≈1/3 in magnetic field and in a reference normal-metal contact. In the absence of magnetic field, we identify the Andreev reflection (AR) regime, which gives rise to the effective charge doubling in shot noise measurements. Surprisingly, the Fano factor F_{AR}≈0.22±0.02 is considerably reduced in the AR regime compared to F_{N}, in contrast to previous AR experiments in normal metals and semiconductors. We suggest that this effect is related to a finite thermal conduction of the proximized, superconducting TI owing to a residual density of states at low energies.

Giant cross-polarization conversion of terahertz radiation by plasmons in an active graphene metasurface

Results of theoretical investigation of the cross-polarization conversion of terahertz (THz) radiation by the graphene metasurface formed by a periodic array of graphene nanoribbons located at the surface of a high-refractive-index dielectric substrate are presented. Giant polarization conversion at the plasmon resonance frequencies takes place without applying external DC magnetic field. Pumping graphene by its direct optical illumination or diffusion pumping allows for compensating the Drude losses in graphene and leads to further enhancement of the polarization conversion. It is shown that the total polarization conversion can be achieved in the total internal reflection regime of THz wave from the graphene metasurface at room temperature.

Andreev reflection and bound states in topological insulator based planar and step Josephson junctions

A superconductor-topological insulator-superconductor (S/TI/S) junction having normal region at angle θ is studied theoretically to investigate the junction angle dependency of the Andreev reflection and the formation of the Andreev bound states in the step and planar S/TI/S structures. It is found that the Andreev reflection becomes θ dependent only in the presence of the potential barrier at the TI/S interface. In particular, the step and planar TI/S junction have totally different conductive behavior with bias voltage and potential barrier in the regime of retro and specular Andreev reflection. Interestingly, we find that the elliptical cross section of Dirac cone, an important feature of topological insulator with step surface defect, affects the Fabry-Perot resonance of the Andreev reflection induced Andreev bound states (which become Majorana zero energy states at low chemical potential) in the step S/TI/S structure. Unlike the usual planar S/TI/S structures, we find these ellipticity affected Andreev bound states lead to non-monotonic Josephson super-current in the step S/TI/S structure whose non-monotonicity can be controlled with the use of the potential barrier, which may find applications in nanoelectronics.