Elodie Richalot

Electromagnetic propagation into reinforced-concrete walls

A rigorous method for analyzing building construction materials, using finite-element techniques and an expansion of fields in Floquets modes, is presenteded in this paper. It allows us to precisely study the electromagnetic properties of buildings walls in terms of transmission and reflection characteristics, which can be useful in the design of wireless communication systems. First, we present the influence of the walls parameters, namely, its thickness, the square side length, and the steel diameter of a concrete grid. The influence of the angle of arrival of the incident wave and the effect of considering the diffused field on the electromagnetic properties are then presented.

Statistical model of an undermoded reverberation chamber

Weibull distribution is adopted to model the electric field component of a Reverberation Chamber (RC). Its first property is to include the asymptotic laws, such as Rayleigh and exponential, and its main advantage lies in the fact that the Weibull shape parameter enables a model of the departure from overmoded to undermoded RC regime. Applications are given, such as an RC modal finite element modeling and a Monte Carlo simulation: they prove that the Weibull two-parameter distribution correctly models the quality factor influence. Moreover, the relevance of the use of this extreme value distribution is illustrated

Chaoticity of a Reverberation Chamber Assessed From the Analysis of Modal Distributions Obtained by FEM

Wave chaos theory is used to study a modeled reverberation chamber (RC). The first 200 modes at a given stirrer position are determined by the finite element method, and the Weyl formula is checked for various RC geometries, from integrable to chaotic. The eigenfrequency spacing distribution varies according to the degree of ray chaos in the RC related to its geometry. The eigenmode distributions are also analyzed and compared to the theoretical Gaussian distribution: close to the lower useable frequency, the modes of the studied chaotic RC fairly respect this asymptotic property. A general result of chaotic systems is illustrated: when perturbed by the stirrer rotation, the resonant frequencies of a chaotic RC avoid crossing. This implies that the frequency sweeps tend to vanish at high frequency.

Experimental width shift distribution: A test of nonorthogonality for local and global perturbations

The change of resonance widths in an open system under a perturbation of its interior has been recently introduced by Fyodorov and Savin [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 184101 (2012)] as a sensitive indicator of the nonorthogonality of resonance states. We experimentally study universal statistics of this quantity in weakly open two-dimensional microwave cavities and reverberation chambers realizing scalar and electromagnetic vector fields, respectively. We consider global as well as local perturbations, and also extend the theory to treat the latter case. The influence of the perturbation type on the width shift distribution is more pronounced for many-channel systems. We compare the theory to experimental results for one and two attached antennas and to numerical simulations with higher channel numbers, observing a good agreement in all cases.

Cavity losses modeling using lossless FDTD method

The impulse response of a lossless resonant system, usually obtained using the finite-difference time-domain method, permits us to determine the resonant frequencies through the Fourier transform. However, the obtained spectrum has no physical meaning since the losses have not been implemented. Rather than modeling physically the losses, we propose to apply a specific time-domain window to the already simulated signal of the lossless system. This Losses window depends on a user-defined quality factor. The advantage of this postsimulation losses implementation is a capability of parametric study of composite losses. Losses of various physical origins are found for example in the case of reverberation chambers.

Comparison Between Different Criteria for Evaluating Reverberation Chamber Functioning Using a 3-D FDTD Algorithm

This paper is devoted to the comparison between different criteria used to evaluate the functioning of a mechanically stirred reverberation chamber. Usual criteria based on power or electric fields are considered, and we also propose a criterion based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, called in this paper ldquosuccess ratio to Kolmogorov-Smirnov testrdquo (SRKS). The SRKS represents the acceptation ratio of this test applied at several points of the working volume, when considering a field component and its associated theoretical distribution. After a presentation of the criteria and of the studied chamber, data issued from 3-D finite-difference time-domain simulations and measurements are used to analyze the chamber functioning by the use of these criteria. This study is performed on a large frequency band, in the lossless case as well as with a lossy chamber, and for several stirrer shapes, to emphasize the influence of these parameters. The comparison of the usual criteria with the SRKS shows the SKRS is an accurate test to estimate the lowest usable frequency of a given reverberation chamber.

On the FEM Modal Approach for a Reverberation Chamber Analysis

We review the difficulties linked to the modal approach when modeling a reverberation chamber by the finite element method (FEM). The numerical challenge is due to the large-scale problem involved by the overdimensioned cavity. Moreover, the field singularity on the stirrer has to be captured by the FEM. First, the following issues are discussed: existence of null-frequency solutions, convergence rate for h and p adaption, and formulation type in E or H field. The modal analysis is then compared to the classical harmonic one. Focus is put on the field singularity at the source point

Analysis of Fabry-Perot optical micro-cavities based on coating-free all-Silicon cylindrical Bragg reflectors

We study the behavior of Fabry-Perot micro-optical resonators based on cylindrical reflectors, optionally combined with cylindrical lenses. The core of the resonator architecture incorporates coating-free, all-silicon, Bragg reflectors of cylindrical shape. The combined effect of high reflectance and light confinement produced by the reflectors curvature allows substantial reduction of the energy loss. The proposed resonator uses curved Bragg reflectors consisting of a stack of silicon-air wall pairs constructed by micromachining. Quality factor Q ~1000 was achieved on rather large cavity length L = 210 microns, which is mainly intended to lab-on-chip analytical experiments, where enough space is required to introduce the analyte inside the resonator. We report on the behavioral analysis of such resonators through analytical modeling along with numerical simulations supported by experimental results. We demonstrate selective excitation of pure longitudinal modes, taking advantage of a proper control of mode matching involved in the process of coupling light from an optical fiber to the resonator. For the sake of comparison, insight on the behavior of Fabry-Perot cavity incorporating a Fiber-Rod-Lens is confirmed by similar numerical simulations.

Comparison of Reverberation Chamber Shapes Inspired From Chaotic Cavities

Using the knowledge gained from the wave chaos theory, we present simple shapes of resonant cavities obtained by inserting metallic hemispheres or caps on the walls of a parallelepiped-shaped cavity. The presented simulation results show a significant improvement of the field statistical properties when the number of hemispheres or caps increases, and the comparison with a classical reverberation chamber geometry shows an improved homogeneity and isotropy can be attained using these new proposed shapes.

Optical trapping and binding of particles in an optofluidic stable Fabry–Pérot resonator with single-sided injection

In this article, microparticles are manipulated inside an optofluidic Fabry-Pérot cylindrical cavity embedding a fluidic capillary tube, taking advantage of field enhancement and multiple reflections within the optically-resonant cavity. This enables trapping of suspended particles with single-side injection of light and with low optical power. A Hermite-Gaussian standing wave is developed inside the cavity, forming trapping spots at the locations of the electromagnetic field maxima with a strong intensity gradient. The particles get arranged in a pattern related to the mechanism affecting them: either optical trapping or optical binding. This is proven to eventually translate into either an axial one dimensional (1D) particle array or a cluster of particles. Numerical simulations are performed to model the field distributions inside the cavity allowing a behavioral understanding of the phenomena involved in each case.