Transverse Confinement Research Articles

STAR-FDTD: space-time modulated acousto-optic guidestar in disordered media

Abstract We developed a 2D Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method for modeling a space-time modulated guidestar targeting wavefront shaping applications in disordered media. Space-time modulation in general (a particular example being the acousto-optic effect) is used here as a guidestar for the transverse confinement of light around the tagged region surrounded by disorder. Together with the guidestar, the iterative optical phase conjugation (IOPC) method is used to overcome the diffusion of light due to multiple scattering. A phase sensitive lock-in detection technique is utilized to estimate the steady-state amplitude and phase of the modulated wavefronts emerging from the guidestar region continuously operating in the Raman-Nath regime. As the IOPC scheme naturally converges to the maximally transmitting eigenchannel profile, one could use the position of the guidestar within the disorder to channelize the maximal transmission through the tagged region. The associated code developed in MATLAB® is provided as an open source (The MIT License) package. The code package is referred by the acronym STAR-FDTD where STAR stands for Space-Time modulated Acousto-optic guidestaR.

A new analytical model for bond strength between corroded steel strand and concrete

Degradation of bond strength due to corrosion of steel strands is of great importance for serviceability of prestressed concrete structures. An analytical model is proposed to demonstrate the effect of corrosion of steel strand on reduction of bond strength. Corrosion expansion force generated by steel strand corrosion before and after corrosion cracking is firstly estimated. Then, the reduced gripping effect of the concrete, change of friction coefficient between the corroded strand and reduction force on the bearing face are considered in calculating the pre-rib extrusion force. Finally, the enhancement of bond strength due to transverse confinement of stirrups is considered and the ultimate bond strength of corroded steel strand is calculated. Comparison of results between the prediction and experimental result shows the proposed model can be used to reasonably evaluate the bond strength. The prediction result of the bond strength model is affected by the degree of strand corrosion, but almost not by the drawing method.

Fundamental spatial mode high power 808 nm double trench wide ridge waveguide laser

—Lasers operating at a wavelength of 808 nm, with watt-level output power and high beam quality in the fundamental spatial mode, have garnered significant attention due to their potential applications across various fields. Transverse optical confinement in double trench ridge waveguide lasers is determined by the width of the ridge and the refractive index difference between the ridge and trench. In this study, we have designed and fabricated a wide ridge laser operating at 808 nm with high power output and stable fundamental spatial mode based on this principle. The fundamental spatial mode operation was successfully achieved with an 8 μm ridge waveguide laser, producing an impressive output power of 1.3 W. The device exhibits a stable far-field as the current was increased from 0.3 A to 1.8 A. The laser's output power exhibits a 14% reduction with an increase in temperature of 80 °C, demonstrating a decrease rate of only 1.25 mW/°C and a wavelength variation rate of 0.22 nm/°C, indicating low sensitivity to temperature changes.

Electron energy gain due to a laser frequency modulation experienced by electron during betatron motion

Direct laser acceleration of electrons is an important energy deposition mechanism for laser-irradiated plasmas that is particularly effective at relativistic laser intensities in the presence of quasi-static laser-driven plasma electric and magnetic fields. These radial electric and azimuthal magnetic fields provide transverse electron confinement by inducing betatron oscillations of forward-moving electrons undergoing laser acceleration. Electrons are said to experience a betatron resonance when the frequency of betatron oscillations matches the average frequency of the laser field oscillations at the electron position. In this paper, we show that the modulation of the laser frequency as seen by an electron performing betatron oscillations can be another important mechanism for net energy gain that is qualitatively different from the betatron resonance. Specifically, we show that the frequency modulation experienced by the electron can lead to net energy gain in the regime where the laser field performs three oscillations per betatron oscillation. There is no net energy gain in this regime without the modulation because the energy gain is fully compensated by the energy loss. The modulation slows down the laser oscillation near transverse stopping points, increasing the time interval during which the electron gains energy and making it possible to achieve net energy gain.

Hierarchical buckling of elastic fiber under transverse confinement

Hierarchical buckling is a novel phenomenon observed in elastic fibers subjected to transverse confinement; however, the deformation mechanisms and modal transitions of this unique phenomenon remain to be elucidated. This paper investigates the hierarchical buckling of elastic fibers with elliptical (circular) cross-sections under transverse confinement through analytical derivations and numerical simulations. Various magnitudes of hierarchical buckling of fibers are observed with the variation of the controlled elastic matrix stiffness. An analytical solution is first derived for the fiber’s buckling phenomenon, and the hierarchical buckling is accomplished through the superposition of buckling at various modes. The theoretical results are validated against the finite element simulations with good agreement. It is demonstrated from the parametric results that the hierarchical buckling phenomenon is primarily influenced by the stiffness of the external transverse confinement (matrix), which is defined as a dimensionless parameter. It is thus illustrated from the computational results that the buckling of elastic fibers within a solid or fluid matrix can be controlled and customized. The present work provides theoretical guidance for the application of elastic fibers in stretchable conductor fibers and flexible electronic devices.

Enhanced transmission capacity through a specialty multi-channel topological optical fiber

We propose a multi-channel specialty topological fiber based on 1D periodic geometry which supports three coexisting and non-interacting topologically-protected robust light states in the mid-infrared wavelength range. Each channel comprises two topologically-distinct 1D periodic lattices that are characterized by the topological invariant, Zak phase. The interface between the trivial and the nontrivial lattices is made unconventional to provide a strong transverse confinement of the light state. Moreover, the observed multiple interface states exhibit robust simultaneous transmission of light through all the channels keeping in contact with each other with an inter-channel cross-talk of ∼−27 dB. Such highly stable, scatter-free, and robust interface states have the potential to increase the transmission capacity of the existing optical communication channels, and can eventually be utilized as an alternative platform via the space-division multiplexing schemes.

Storage and retrieval of optical solitons in nanofiber-semiconductor quantum dot molecule coupling systems

The best carrier for quantum information transmission is light signal, which has a fast propagation speed and can carry a large amount of information. However, during the propagation of light, dispersion effect and diffraction effect can cause quantum information to be distorted to a certain extent. On the contrary, optical solitons are formed due to the balance between the system’s dispersion (diffraction) effect and nonlinear effect, and they exhibit very high stability and fidelity. Therefore, they have received widespread attention in electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) media with ultracold atoms. However, cold atomic gas media require extremely low operating temperatures, and the performances of the materials are difficult to control precisely. These factors are unfavorable for the miniaturization and integration of future information devices, thus significantly limiting their practical applications. Semiconductor quantum dot media, on the other hand, possess advantages such as discrete energy level structures and spectral properties similar to those of cold atomic gases, longer decoherence times, larger electric dipole moments, more significant nonlinear optical effects, and easy integration, making them an ideal alternative to cold atomic media. In this work, semiconductor quantum dots are coupled with optical fibers, the most common carrier in optical communication, to explore the formation, storage, and retrieval of temporal optical solitons in the coupled system. The results show that due to the tunneling-induced transparency effect between dots in semiconductor quantum dot molecules, light absorption in the system is greatly suppressed. At the same time, the transverse confinement of the nanofiber can enhance the interaction between light and the system, and the enhanced nonlinear response of the system can balance the dispersion effect, resulting in stable temporal optical solitons. Further research indicates that by turning on and off the inter-dot tunneling coupling, the high-efficiency and high-fidelity storage and retrieval of optical solitons can be realized in the system. These findings have certain guiding significance and potential application value for the processing all-optical information in solid quantum materials.

Experimental and numerical investigation on axial behavior of circular and square slender reinforced columns

To investigate the axial performance of slender concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns reinforced by outer steel tube and sandwiched concrete jackets, an axial compression test was conducted on 20 circular and square slender reinforced columns. The study aimed to examine the influence of the cross-sectional shape, steel content of the outer tube, the strength of sandwiched concrete, and slenderness ratio on the failure mode, load-displacement curves, and ultimate load. A comparative test on six slender CFST columns was also conducted. The test results showed that the local buckling degree of the outer steel tube in square reinforced columns was greater than that in circular reinforced columns, while the overall bending deformation was smaller. The influence of the sandwiched concrete strength on the load-displacement curve was weaker compared to the influence of the outer tube thickness and slenderness ratio. As the slenderness ratio increased, both the longitudinal and lateral strains of the specimens tended to decrease. The difference in strain between the tension and compression sides was more pronounced in circular reinforced columns than in square reinforced columns. The average SI values of circular and square reinforced specimens were 1.05 and 1.00, respectively, but the gap in SI values between the two types of reinforced columns is reduced as the slenderness ratio increases. Then, a numerical model on the slender reinforced columns was established by the finite element software ABAQUS. A good agreement was obtained between test results and simulation results. The mechanical mechanism of typical slender reinforced columns was further analyzed, including longitudinal stress contour map of concrete, the development of longitudinal stress of steel tube, as well as distribution of transverse confinement stress. A formula was subsequently proposed based on a design code to predict the load-bearing capacity of the retrofitted columns, the prediction results agreed well with the experimental data.

SA-based concrete seismic stress monitoring: The influence of stirrup confinement and concentric compression

Piezoelectric-based smart aggregates (SA) stress monitoring relies on the establishment of the relationship between macro- and meso-stress of concrete. However, the high-level transversal confinement induced by stirrup confinement and concentric compression can significantly affect the randomness of concrete meso-stress and failure patterns. This study investigates the influence of such high-level confinement on SA-based seismic stress monitoring in concrete. In this light, four identical transversely confined concrete columns and four counterpart plain concrete specimens were prepared, each with a height of 400 mm and a circular cross-section with a diameter of 185 mm. Each specimen has six SAs embedded and a total of 24 SAs were used for confined and unconfined specimens, respectively. Two distinct concentrically compressive loads were successively adopted, including repeated and monotonic loading. The core concrete stress was determined using a finite element model coupled with load and strain monitoring. Additionally, the coefficient of variations of SA output was computed to demonstrate the randomness of meso-scale stress in confined and unconfined concrete. Furthermore, we calculated the SA stress rates for confined and unconfined concrete specimens during the monotonic loading test to detect concrete unloading. The test results show that the influence of the stirrup-confined concrete under concentric compression on SA-based concrete stress monitoring reduces the randomness of meso-stress. Moreover, the stress variation ratio proves effective in identifying concrete crushing in both confined and unconfined concrete.

Lagging propagation phase of spatially structured beams

The structured beams especially with spatially varying phase distribution have attracted tremendous attention in both physics and engineering. Recently, studies have shown that the transverse spatial confinement of optical fields or photons leads to a modification of the group velocity but the phase velocity of propagating structured beams is revealed insufficiently in the experiments. In this work, we provide the theoretical model and experimental observation of propagation phase of structured beams. The analysis suggests that the spatially structured beams with a definite axial component of wavevector kr carry a so called “lagging propagation phase”, which can be considered as a generalized Gouy phase that originally appears within a focal region. Taking the higher-order Bessel beam as an example, the propagation phase difference is demonstrated by mapping to the rotating angle of intensity patterns superposed with different radial and angular phase gradients. Physically, the lagging propagation phase may provide an interpretation for the dynamic evolution of complex structured beams or interfering fringes upon propagation such as the vortex knots or braids. From the application aspect, the lagging propagation phase would facilitate a promising way for structured beams in optical sensing and metrology.

Compressive Performance of Longitudinal Steel-FRP Composite Bars in Concrete Cylinders Confined by Different Type of FRP Composites.

This paper presents an experimental study on the compressive performance of longitudinal steel-fiber-reinforced polymer composite bars (SFCBs) in concrete cylinders confined by different type of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. Three types of concrete cylinders reinforced with (or without) longitudinal SFCBs and different transverse FRP confinements were tested under monotonic compression. The results showed that the post-yield stiffness of SFCBs is higher when confined with high elastic modulus carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite than with low elastic modulus basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite. Decreasing confinement spacing did not significantly improve the compressive strength of SFCBs in concrete cylinders. The compressive failure strain of SFCBs could possibly reach 88% of its tensile peak strain in concrete cylinders confined by CFRP sheets, which is significantly higher than the value (around 50%) in previous studies. Existing design equations, which applied a strength reduction factor or a maximum compressive strain of concrete to consider the compressive contributions of SFCBs in concrete members, underestimate the load-carrying capacity of SFCB-reinforced concrete cylinders. The design equation that considers the actual compressive stress of SFCBs gives the most accurate prediction; however, its applicability and accuracy need to be verified with more experimental data.

Investigation on bond behavior of steel-FRP composite bars in engineered cementitious composites by spliced beam tests

The collaborative utilization of steel-FRP composite bar (SFCB) and engineered cementitious composites (ECC) represents a favorable choice for engineering structures exposed to aggressive environments, offering benefits involving both mechanical behavior and durability. This paper primarily studies the bond performance of SFCB embedded in ECC through spliced beam tests coupled with finite element analysis. The findings demonstrate that with an appropriate cover thickness or transverse confinement, spliced ECC beams exhibit failure modes characterized by splitting and pull-out. Under such conditions, the bond-slip response demonstrates limited sensitivity to changes in cover thickness and transverse confinement. Conversely, increasing the cover thickness or introducing transverse confinement in spliced concrete beams, which exhibit splitting failure, significantly enhances the bond strength. Furthermore, in contrast to spliced concrete beams, spliced ECC beams are observed to demonstrate a bond toughness that is 3.85–12.10 times greater. The discrepancy in bond toughness between ECC and concrete diminishes as the cover thickness and transverse confinement increase. Notably, the uniform distribution of bond stress in the splice region of ECC beams remains unaffected by variations in splice length. To incorporate the impact of bond stress distribution when calculating the splice length of SFCB in ECC beams, a coefficient of 0.85 is introduced.

Stress field model for bond in reinforced concrete ties

The interaction of the reinforcing bars and the surrounding concrete plays an important role in structural concrete as it is decisive for the reinforcing bar anchorage and the load-deformation behaviour, including stiffness and deformation capacity. Therefore, understanding this interaction – commonly known as bond – is highly relevant to a safe and efficient structural concrete design. Bond depends on many parameters, which affect the local reinforcing bar-concrete interface as well as the global load transfer between the reinforcing bars and the surrounding concrete. The latter governs the formation of transverse and longitudinal cracks and the activation of transverse confinement, which are as decisive for bond as the local interface characteristics. Nonetheless, most bond models and code provisions focus on the local interface and merely account for the global configuration by means of empirically calibrated factors accounting, e.g. for good or bad bond conditions in confined or unconfined situations, respectively.This study investigates the potential of stress fields for modelling bond based on the lower-bound theorem of plasticity theory. Stress fields facilitate the investigation of the local interface and the global load transfer consistently in one model, providing valuable insight into the flow of forces. For simplicity, the fundamental case of a concrete tie reinforced with one deformed steel bar is studied in this paper, superimposing axisymmetric discontinuous stress fields originating at each reinforcing bar rib. Each stress field consists of a triaxial nodal zone adjacent to a rib and a conical compression field that spreads the bond force radially, and is equilibrated along its outer perimeter by axial tensile stresses and confining hoops. The model relies on geometric parameters and basic material properties. The validation against experiments on reinforced concrete ties shows a good correlation between the predicted and observed bond strength and the crack spacing. The predictions can be improved by assigning stiffnesses to the stress field components and requiring interface compatibility, i.e. ensuring contact between the concrete and the reinforcing bar at every rib. Even when assuming a simplified, linearly elastic constitutive behaviour for concrete, the consideration of interface compatibility allows for reproducing the steel strain dependency of the local and average bond stresses and the occurrence and impact of splitting cracks.

Photon centroids and their subluminal propagation

We examine properties of the energy-density and photon-probability centroids of electromagnetic wavepackets in free space. In the second-order paraxial approximation, both of these centroids propagate with the same subluminal velocity because of the transverse confinement of the wavepacket and its diffraction. The tiny difference between the energy and probability centroid velocities appears only in the fourth order. We consider three types of wavepackets: Gaussian, Bessel, and non-diffracting Bessel. In all these cases, the subluminal propagation is clearly visible in the intensity distributions and can be measured experimentally in both classical-light and single-photon regimes. For Gaussian wavepackets, the half-wavelength delay is accumulated after propagation over about 12 Rayleigh lengths.

Compressive–Flexural Failure Mechanism and Bearing Capacity Calculation of Over-Ranging Tapered CFDST Members for Support Structures of Offshore Wind Turbines

Upon the higher requirement on high-performance structures of large-scale supporting structures of offshore wind turbines, the systematic analysis on the compressive-flexural behavior and ultimate bearing capacity of tapered concrete-filled double skin steel tubular (CFDST) members designed by over-ranging parameters was performed. Investigating the entire-process mechanism, e.g., the moment–deformation response, stress development, interaction stress, and subassembly contribution, was based on the finite element (FE) analysis, where the moment–deformation curve can be distinguished by four characteristic points, and the transverse local buckling of outer tube partly weakens distribution height of interface pressure in compression zone compared to that in tension zone. Influences of material strengths and geometric parameters were examined by the parametric study, e.g., increasing tapered angle (ψ) slightly reduces the bearing capacity; the higher axial compression ratio (n) contributes a noteworthy action on the post-peak behavior and carrying capacity, e.g., the bearing capacities at n = 0.9 and n = 0.5 reduce by 64.14% and 18.44% compared to capacity at n = 0.1, respectively; influence of Do/to ratio is more significant than Di/ti ratio. Subsequently, the modified cross-sectional stress integration (CSI) method was proposed to predict the moment–strain (M-ε) curves of tapered CFDST members; meanwhile, a confined concrete model with transverse confinement stress as an explicit parameter was modified, and influences of different confined concrete models on predicting M-ε curves were compared. Finally, design methods based on the modified CSI method and limit state method were proposed as a simplified calculation method to determine the correlative relationship of axial compressive strength and moment-resisting capacity (N-M curve).

A hybrid mechanism of 3D optical trapping of particles immersed in a cold buffer gas

A novel mechanism of the formation of a deep optical superlattice (OSL) for three-dimensional (3D) trapping of resonant impurity atoms immersed in a transparent cold buffer gas is proposed and investigated theoretically. This mechanism is associated with the joint action of two factors of different physical nature: rectification effect of the gradient force of light pressure and effect of the light induced drift (LID) of atoms (a consequence of the difference in gas-kinetic cross sections of excited and unexcited atoms). Such a situation can be realised when a gas mixture is irradiated by a bichromatic combined light beam which is a special coaxial superposition of cosine-Gaussian optical beams. Here, the RcGF creates a periodic 1D array of deep potential wells (OSL) along the beam axes, and an effective force, causing LID, pulls resonant particles into the combined light beam and provides their transverse (with respect to the beam axes) confinement in OSL. As a result, there can occur a giant accumulation of impurity particles in the OSL cells, accompanied by a strong spatial particle localization far away from the walls of the reservoir, in which the gas mixture is located.

Use of Waste Tires as Transverse Reinforcement and External Confinement in Concrete Columns Subjected to Axial Loads

Approximately 246 million waste tires are generated annually in the United States. That is roughly three tires per four individuals in the country. Most tires end up in landfills, adversely affecting the environment. In the last two decades, researchers have explored using tire chips in concrete to replace a portion of coarse aggregates. Past studies have indicated that up to 50% of coarse aggregates in concrete can be replaced with tire chips. This research proposes using recycled rubber tires and rubber chips in concrete columns. The tires are used as external transverse reinforcement in plain concrete columns. The tires function as formwork during the pour while providing confinement after curing. The concepts in this research can be used for retrofitting structures with inadequate foundations and constructing new structures. After analyzing the data from this research, the axial compressive test of confined columns was 50% greater on average than unconfined columns. The confinement effectiveness ratio for all confined specimens was greater than one.

Long-range temperature-controlled transport of ultra-cold atoms with an accelerated lattice

We report our method for transporting ultracold atoms over macroscopic distances and trapping them back in a vertical mixed trap, consisting of the superposition of a vertical lattice and a transverse confinement beam. The transport is performed with Bloch oscillations allowing us to move up to of a sub-micro-Kelvin atomic cloud on a distance of the order of 30 cm, without excessive heating and with an excellent control of its final position. The efficiency is lowered to about after trapping them in the vertical mixed trap during extended times.

Transversal effects on the ground state of hard-core dipolar bosons in one-dimensional optical lattices

Polar lattice gases are usually assumed to have an intersite interaction that decays with the interparticle distance $r$ as $1/{r}^{3}$. However, a loose-enough transversal confinement may strongly modify the dipolar decay in one-dimensional lattices. We show that this modification alters significantly the ground-state properties of hard-core dipolar bosons. For repulsive intersite interactions, the corrected decay alters the conditions for devil's staircase insulators, affecting significantly the particle distribution in the presence of an overall harmonic confinement. For attractive interactions, it results in a reduction of the critical dipole interaction for the formation of self-bound clusters, and for a marked enhancement of the region of liquefied lattice droplets.

Numerical Studies of Back Reaction Effects in an Analog Model of Cosmological Preheating.

We theoretically propose an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate as an analog model of backreaction effects during the preheating stage of the early Universe. In particular, we address the out-of-equilibrium dynamics where the initially excited inflaton field decays by parametrically exciting the matter fields. We consider a two-dimensional, ring-shaped BEC under a tight transverse confinement whose transverse breathing mode and the Goldstone and dipole excitation branches simulate the inflaton and quantum matter fields, respectively. A strong excitation of the breathing mode leads to an exponentially growing emission of dipole and Goldstone excitations via parametric pair creation: Our numerical simulations of the BEC dynamics show how the associated backreaction effect results not only in an effective friction of the breathing mode, but also in a quick loss of longitudinal spatial coherence of the initially in-phase excitations. Implications of this result on the validity of the usual semiclassical description of backreaction are finally discussed.