Small Beam Width Research Articles

Seismic performance of RC exterior wide beam–column joints

AbstractIn this paper, seven half‐scale specimens are used to investigate the effects of the beam–column width ratio, concrete strength, and axial load on the seismic performance of wide exterior beam–column joints. The test results show that all the specimens undergo bending damage at the beam end. The concrete damage in the core column is not significant, meeting the seismic requirements of strong column–weak beams and strong joint–weak members. For specimens with small beam widths, the increase in axial load can effectively reduce the damage to the concrete in the outer joint and increase the strength of the specimen. Increasing the beam width and concrete strength reduces the ductility of the specimen while increasing the strength of the specimen. The bonding performance of the longitudinal bars anchored outside the core column is poor, as bond–slip with the concrete is observed during the test. In addition, compared with ACI 318‐19, GB 50011‐2010 is more conservative for calculating the shear strength of exterior wide beam–column joints. Finally, a corresponding finite element model is established by MSC Marc and verified based on the experimental results.

High-speed 2D beam steering based on a thin-film lithium niobate optical phased array with a large field of view

An on-chip optical phased array (OPA) is considered as a promising solution for next generation solid-state beam steering. However, most of the reported OPAs suffer from low operating bandwidths, making them limited in many applications. We propose and demonstrate a high-speed 2D scanning OPA based on thin-film lithium niobate phase modulators with traveling-wave electrodes. The measured modulation bandwidth is up to 2.5 GHz. Moreover, an aperiodic array combined with a slab grating antenna is also used to suppress the grating lobes of far-field beams, which enables a large field of view (FOV) as well as small beam width. A 16-channel OPA demonstrates an FOV of 50°×8.6° and a beam width of 0.73°×2.8° in the phase tuning direction and the wavelength scanning direction, respectively.

Laser beam blink propagation: Evaluation BER in free space resembled dual SLG

The laser beam blink propagation for Super Lorentz Gaussian (SLG) beam was calculated in free space (FSO) by using the Huygens Fresnel approximation method. In addition, the Scintillation index was articulated and evaluated BER (bit error rate) up to several kilometres for different parameters. Scintillation index variations in plan receiver point were treated in all states without turbulence in the atmosphere and using dual models. Our results were shown to be compatible with the results of earlier studies on Gaussian beam scintillation and propagation. Moreover, the Kolmogorov-spectrum function reduced the blink fluctuation. Also, the outcomes indicate that the small beam width of the dual SLG beam will bring a far distance by utilizing the same source size of the Gaussian beam. Better fallouts were achieved with decreased scintillation index that applied and changed a dual mode with a fixed structure constant factor. A low scintillation index, intensity, and receiver field were obtained. To this end, the scintillation index affects the circumstances depending on the magnitude of turbulence and control of the beam propagation factors.

Semi-Coprime Array with Staggered Beam-Steering of Sub-Arrays

A split-aperture array (SAA) is an array of sensors or antenna elements in which the array is split into two or more sub-arrays (SAs). Recently proposed SAAs, namely coprime and semi-coprime arrays, offer to attain a small half-power beamwidth (HPBW) with a small number of elements, compared to most conventional unified-aperture arrays, at the cost of reduced peak-to-side-lobe ratio (PSLR). To reduce HPBW and increase PSLR, non-uniform inter-element spacing and excitation amplitudes have proven helpful. However, all the existing arrays and beam-formers suffer increased HPBW, degraded PSLR or both when the main beam is steered away from the broadside. In this paper, we propose staggered beam-steering of SAs, a novel technique for decreasing HPBW. In this technique, we steer the main beams of the SAs of a semi-coprime array to angles slightly different from the desired steering angle. In conjunction with staggered beam-steering of SAs, we have utilized Chebyshev weights to suppress the side lobes. The results show that the beam-widening effect of Chebyshev weights can be mitigated considerably by staggered beam-steering of the SAs. Ultimately, the unified beam-pattern of the whole array offers HPBW and PSLR better than the existing SAAs, uniform and non-uniform linear arrays, especially when the desired steering angle is away from the broadside direction.

W-band super-resolution ground imaging radar based on collimated vortex waves

W-band electromagnetic vortex-waves generated by a uniform circular array are tightly collimated by a paraboloidal reflector into a radiation cone with a small vertex angle and beam width. A low height drone-borne super-resolution conceptual imaging radar is designed and analyzed comprehensively yielding novel results. Range resolution is obtained by a wideband linear frequency modulation waveform. Angular resolutions are based on the antenna beam widths and the orthogonality of vortex wave modes. Novel algorithms for angular localizations of multiple targets are given. The spatial resolutions associated with the geometry of a down looking radar and the ground are given. Though, no platform motion is needed for vortex imaging, Doppler beam sharpening is also implemented for a slowly moving drone-borne radar for an additional resolution capability.

Directive and Steerable Radiation Pattern using SASPA Array

This work examines the ability of a special type of smart antenna array known as Switched Active Switched Parasitic Antenna (SASPA) to produce a directive and electronically steerable radiation pattern. The SASPA array consists of antenna elements that are switchable between active and parasitic states by using P-Intrinsic-N (PIN) diodes. The active element is the element that is supplied by the radio frequency while short-circuiting the terminals of an element in the array results in a parasitic element. Due to the strong mutual coupling between the elements, a directional radiation pattern with high gain and a small beamwidth can be produced with only one active element operating at a time. By changing the parasitic state to the active state sequentially for all elements, the directed radiation pattern can be easily rotated. The antenna array structure used in this work is the uniform circular array (UCA) to achieve symmetrical radiation patterns and full coverage of the entire azimuth plane. Also, a novel method for reducing the mutual coupling effect in SASPA arrays is proposed in this work. By using this method, some parameters of the generated SASPA’s radiation pattern can be controlled. The simulated results obtained from this work depict that an N-element SASPA-UCA produces N-symmetrical, switchable, and steerable radiation patterns with high gain, small beamwidth, and a high Front-to-Back (F/B) ratio. Also, the results show that further improvements in these parameters can be achieved by increasing the number of elements in the array. Additional simulations demonstrate that by including decaying function weight in each element's circuitry, the mutual coupling between the components of the SASPA-UCA array can be minimized. The aforementioned parameters can then be efficiently modified using this mutual coupling reduction.

Seismic performance of RC interior wide beam-column joints

In this paper, the effects of the axial compression ratio, concrete strength and beam width to column width ratio on the seismic performance of interior wide beam-column joints were investigated by conducting quasi-static tests on seven half-scale specimens. Test results showed that the seven specimens had a good energy dissipation capacity. The bonding performance of the longitudinal bars anchored outside the core column was poor, which experienced bond slip with the concrete during the test. For the specimens with a small beam width to column width ratio, increasing the axial compression ratio reduced the damage to concrete in the joint core. With an increasing width of the beam, the damage to the joint core outside of column was aggravated. Furthermore, the shear strength of the joint obtained from the ACI-319 and GB 50011-2010 was compared with the test results, and results showed that those two codes underestimated the shear strength of the interior wide beam-column joints. Finally, the 3D numerical model of the test joints was established using MSC Marc finite element software and validated based on the test results.

Electron acceleration by relativistic pondermotive force in the interaction of intense laser pulse with an axially inhomogeneous underdense plasma

In this paper, electron acceleration by relativistic pondermotive force has been studied in the interaction of intense laser pulse with an axially inhomogeneous underdense plasma. The results show that the relativistic ponderomotive nonlinearity causes obvious beam self-focusing and a highly energetic electron can be achieved in the plasma, moreover, the high-energy electron would be automatically ejected by the ponderomotive force without adding any additional extractor. In addition, it is found that the real part and imaginary part of Lorentz factor can directly affect the amplitude and change the trend of electron acceleration, and electrons acceleration can be strengthened when we can elect properly the laser intensity with higher momentum and smaller beam width, but nonuniformity of plasmas can slightly decrease the electron acceleration. The results can provide useful physical support for novel design of table accelerator and the optimized parameters of electron acceleration in the plasma.

Body-Centric Terahertz Networks: Prospects and Challenges.

Following recent advancements in Terahertz (THz) technology, THz communications are currently being celebrated as key enablers for various applications in future generations of communication networks. While typical communication use cases are over medium-range air interfaces, the inherently small beamwidths and transceiver footprints at THz frequencies support nano-communication paradigms. In particular, the use of the THz band for in-body and on-body communications has been gaining attention recently. By exploiting the accurate THz sensing and imaging capabilities, body-centric THz biomedical applications can transcend the limitations of molecular, acoustic, and radio-frequency solutions. In this paper, we study the use of the THz band for body-centric networks, by surveying works on THz device technologies, channel and noise modeling, modulation schemes, and networking topologies. We also promote THz sensing and imaging applications in the healthcare sector, especially for detecting zootonic viruses such as Coronavirus. We present several open research problems for body-centric THz networks.

High-Efficiency Grating Couplers for Pixel-Level Flat-Top Beam Generation

We demonstrate a kind of grating coupler that generates a high quality flat-top beam with a small beamwidth from photonic integrated circuits into free-space. The grating coupler is designed on a silicon-on-insulator wafer with a 220-nm-thick silicon layer and consists of a dual-etch grating (DG) and a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). By adjusting the structural parameters of DG and DBR, a pixel-level (6.6 µm) flat-top beam with a vertical radiation of −0.5 dB and a mode match of 97% at 1550 nm is realized. Furthermore, a series of high-efficiency grating couplers are designed to create a flat-top beam with different scales.

A Hybrid Antenna with Equal Beamwidth in Two Frequency Bands for Radar Applications

This paper presents a novel hybrid antenna with equal beamwidth in two frequency bands for short-range radar applications. The proposed design consists of a 2 × 2 patch array and a SIW-fed dielectric rod antenna. The two kinds of radiators are responsible for the 5.8 GHz and 24 GHz ISM bands, respectively. Pencil beams are obtained in both lower and upper bands. The beamwidth generated by the dielectric rod can be flexibly tuned to coincide with that of the patch array. Magneto-electric (ME) dipole, composed of a slot and two parasitic monopoles, is constructed to replace the conventional 3-D waveguide feeder, which can excite the dielectric rod effectively. The complementary structure is helpful to obtain a pencil beam. The 2 × 2 patch array has the size of 70 × 70 mm2 and is fed by a four-way power divider. Due to no overlapping radiating aperture, the two radiators can work independently with high port isolation. The measured peak gain in the two bands is 12.5 dBi and 12.7 dBi. The measured 3-dB beamwidth at 5.8 GHz and 24 GHz is 42° and 39° in x-z plane, and 43° and 42° in the y-z plane. The proposed antenna features a small beamwidth difference in two frequency bands, thus being attractive for dual-band radar systems.

A system approach to enable digital beamforming with direct radiating arrays: The joint use of precoding and sparse arrays

SummaryDigital beamforming with an active array antenna has become, these past years, the holy grail for flexible satellite payloads. This architecture enables a power, frequency and beam steering flexibility that meets the requirements of a wide range of user terminal distributions. Matching these distributions may be challenging, especially if user terminals are co‐located. In this case, narrower beams are needed to utilise high‐frequency reuse factors while avoiding inter‐beam interference. Small beamwidths, however, require large antenna diameters, which implies for conventional antenna arrays many radiating elements and subsequently an increased complexity. A way to reduce the number of radiating elements is to resort to sparse arrays with an irregular layout of radiating elements. A disadvantage of this type of antenna is their high side lobe levels when scanning the beams. A robust on‐board precoding strategy based on the knowledge of the users' positions and the antenna gain over the coverage is proposed to mitigate the interference arising from high side lobe levels. A circular direct radiating array and a sparse direct radiating array based on a sunflower design are compared with respect to the capacities they can achieve, and the complexity of the processor required to perform full digital beamforming.

Propagation properties of partially coherent quasi-rectangular beams in a turbulent atmosphere

A class of random, wide-sense stationary optical beams with uniform correlations, named the partially coherent quasi-rectangular beam, is introduced theoretically. Based on the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle, the analytical expressions for the cross-spectral density (CSD), effective radius of curvature, and beam wander of the beam in the non-Kolmogorov turbulence are derived. It is found that the position of maximum intensity of the partially coherent quasi-rectangular beams shifts farther from the axis at intermediate distance, the shift in the turbulence is depressed compared to that in free space. As the effective radius of curvature decreases from infinity to a constant with the increase of the coherence length, it always takes a higher value than that in free-space propagation when the other parameters are fixed. In addition, the beam wander can be reduced by picking a relative small initial beam width, short coherence length, or long wavelength. These results are of importance for optical systems operating through long-range turbulent channels in which a beam must have a range-dependent tilt, e.g. on travelling around an obstacle on the axis.

Dynamical behavior and propagation characteristic of partially coherent sinh-Airy beams in oceanic turbulence

By introducing the hyperbolic sine function to Airy beam, the dynamic behavior and propagation characteristics of partially coherent sinh-Airy beams in oceanic turbulence are studied using approximate analytical intensity expression. The influence of sinh modulation parameter, coherence length and ocean parameters on intensity evolution, beam width and kurtosis parameter is mainly discussed. The results show that a non-zero sinh modulation parameter presents not only the insensitivity to oceanic turbulence, but a smaller beam width. Furthermore, it also improves kurtosis parameter. These findings bring advantages in signal reception for long distance. In addition, a larger relative intensity of temperature or salinity fluctuations, mean square temperature dissipation rate, or a smaller dissipation rate of turbulence kinetic energy is more liable to increase beam width, or decrease intensity and kurtosis parameter of partially coherent sinh-Airy beams. The results provide an opportunity for improving signal reception of underwater communication or target detection by Airy beams or their groups.

Comparative Study of Spiral Spectrum of Elegant and Standard Laguerre–Gaussian Beams in Atmospheric Turbulence

We derive the analytical expression of the probability density of orbital angular momentum modes for elegant and standard Laguerre–Gaussian beams in turbulence. The results show that we can increase the initial topological charge of the beams to reduce the detrimental mode crosstalk induced by the turbulence. We also discuss the influence of the beam parameters on the probability of signal and the variances of crosstalk probability. The results obtained show that the beams with smaller beam width and longer wavelength have higher detection probabilities of signal and are less affected by turbulence. Comparing with the results of elegant and standard Laguerre–Gaussian beams, we find that elegant Laguerre–Gaussian beams display stronger turbulence resistance. Our results will be useful in free-space optical communications.

Design and Analysis of Efficient H-Shaped Multiband Antenna with DGS for Wireless Applications

An efficient H-shaped micro strip multiband antenna is constructed and simulated with slot structure of Split Ring Resonator (SRR) in a ground plane as Defected Ground Structure (DGS) for high frequency applications is proposed. Micro Strip patch antenna is mostly preferred because of its very good radiation properties. Also it is the light weight and low cost device so its usage is very high and its fabrication method is very easy. DGS is used to alter the current path in the ground part of the patch antenna by making this it provides multiband support. The H shape patch antenna with the proper ground plane is normally chosen for increasing the bandwidth of the antenna by providing impedance matching and reduce loss. This type of antenna mostly used in where small size and broad beam width are required. In the simulation VSWR, radiation pattern, gain, return loss were measured using simulation software HFSS.

A Wideband Beamforming Antenna Array for 802.11ac and 4.9 GHz in Modern Transportation Market

In this work, a novel antenna structure has been proposed, which consists of multiple sub-array features i.e., a field selectable beam (90°, 180°, 270°, and 360°) and the choice of gain (11.16, 14.59 and 17.25 dBi) that can be easily adapted to cater for the dynamic scenarios in the transportation environment. The sub-arrays were designed using the microstrip patch antenna (MPA) concept with capacitive feed and dual substrate stacked up configuration for superior operating bandwidth covering the entire 802.11ac (5.17 to 5.85 GHz Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) band), in addition to the extended coverage for 4.92 to 4.98 GHz licensed band with narrow azimuth beamwidth of 24°. The sub-array was designed, simulated and experimentally evaluated and the beamforming results revealed that the antenna structure can be integrated with beamforming concepts to provide an enhanced wireless link between the ground base station and the mobile terminals that allows beam steering to focus on the targeted direction and null the interference directions with small beam width. It is expected that the proposed configurable gain/beam beamforming antenna array will further reduce the deployment cost and enhance the anti-interference performance by two-fold, and shall bring the user experience in the transportation market to the next level.

A Frequency-Scanned Slow-Wave Waveguide Antenna at Millimeter-Wave Frequencies

In this paper we describe the design, theory, implementation, and measurement results of a novel frequency-scanned slow-wave slotted waveguide antenna. The slow-wave antenna is fabricated by periodically loading a standard WR22 waveguide using cylindrical posts. The antenna has a backward radiation and can steer the beam from −72° to −12° by changing the frequency from 32.5 GHz to 37.4 GHz. The gain of the antenna remains within a 3 dB range from the maximum gain of 17 dBi throughout the steering range. The antenna is $29 \lambda $ in length and $0.69 \lambda $ in width. The antenna radiation efficiency is between 74% and 92% throughout its frequency range which allows for further extension of its length in order to achieve a higher gain and a smaller beamwidth. Moreover, the small lateral width of the antenna allows placing several of them side-by-side to either narrow or facilitate scanning the beam in the transverse plane. The antenna has a fast and constant scanning rate of 4.3° over a 1% bandwidth and a return loss of less than −10 dB throughout its operating frequency range.

Influence of Partial Coherent Light on the Transmission Spectrum and Goos-Hänchen Shift in Rydberg Atomic Medium

A cold atomic medium (Rydberg medium) with cascade configuration under the blockade mechanism is considered. A partial coherent light (PCL) beam is incident on the medium, which makes an angle θ with z-axis. We study the influence of PCL field on the transmission spectrum and find high transmission of probe field for PCL field. Conversely, it is investigated that the transparency of probe field decrease for coherent light field. The transmission of probe field is also studied via beam width of PCL field and investigated high transmission of probe field for small beam width and vice versa. Interestingly, the Goos-Hänchen shift (GHS) in the transmitted light (TL) is studied for PCL field. Large negative and positive GHS in the TL are investigated for PCL field and small beam width of PCL field.

Enhancement of unidirectional scattering through magnetic and electric resonances by nanodisks’ chain

Due to all dielectric nanodisks with high refractive index material supporting simultaneously electric and magnetic resonances, unusual properties including entirely forward and backward scattering can be reached by properly design. Here, we show that azimuthally symmetric unidirectional scattering can be achieved by the interference effect of electromagnetic resonances in nanodisks. It is found that unidirectional scattering with small main lobe beamwidth and large magnitude can be further enhanced by a nanoparticle chain. In addition, the dielectric environment, gap distance between nanodisks, and the number of nanodisks in chain are detail analyzed in unidirectional scattering. Our results can be useful in fields of nanoantennas, nanoscale lasers, and photovoltaic elements that need the suppression of backward scattering.