Redha Abdeddaim

Controllable emission of a dipolar source coupled with a magneto-dielectric resonant subwavelength scatterer

We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that a local excitation of a single scatterer of relative dielectric permittivity ε = 6 permits to excite broad dipolar and quadrupolar electric and magnetic resonances that shape the emission pattern in an unprecedented way. By suitably positioning the feed with respect to the sphere at a λ/3 distance, this compact antenna is able to spectrally sort the electromagnetic emission either in the forward or in the backward direction, together with a high gain in directivity. Materials with ε = 6 can be found in the whole spectrum of frequencies promising Mie antennas to become an enabling technology in numbers of applications, ranging from quantum single photon sources to telecommunications.

Enhancing the magnetic field intensity with a dielectric gap antenna

We measure strong magnetic field intensities in a subwavelength gap separating two dielectric resonators. This dimer magnetic antenna is characterized in the GHz spectral regime when considering three conditions of illumination. We detail the different magneto-electric couplings involved in the enhancement of the near magnetic field and derive the analytical expressions of the magnetic field intensities. The results reported here in the GHz domain can be extended to other spectral domains, since they are obtained with a dielectric permittivity of 16 that can be observed in a very broad spectrum ranging from optics to radio-frequencies.

Volume coil based on hybridized resonators for magnetic resonance imaging

We present an electromagnetic device based on hybridization of four half-wavelength dipoles which increases the uniformity and the strength of the radio-frequency (RF) field of a Magnetic Resonant Imaging (MRI) apparatus. Numerical results show that this Hybridized Coil (HC) excited with a classical loop coil takes advantage of the magnetic hybrid modes. The distribution of the RF magnetic field is experimentally confirmed on a 7-T MRI with a gelatin phantom. Finally, the HC is validated in vivo by imaging the head of an anesthetized rat. We measure an overall increase of the signal to noise ratio with up to 2.4 fold increase in regions of interest far from the active loop coil.

Molding acoustic, electromagnetic and water waves with a single cloak

We describe two experiments demonstrating that a cylindrical cloak formerly introduced for linear surface liquid waves works equally well for sound and electromagnetic waves. This structured cloak behaves like an acoustic cloak with an effective anisotropic density and an electromagnetic cloak with an effective anisotropic permittivity, respectively. Measured forward scattering for pressure and magnetic fields are in good agreement and provide first evidence of broadband cloaking. Microwave experiments and 3D electromagnetic wave simulations further confirm reduced forward and backscattering when a rectangular metallic obstacle is surrounded by the structured cloak for cloaking frequencies between 2.6 and 7.0 GHz. This suggests, as supported by 2D finite element simulations, sound waves are cloaked between 3 and 8 KHz and linear surface liquid waves between 5 and 16 Hz. Moreover, microwave experiments show the field is reduced by 10 to 30 dB inside the invisibility region, which suggests the multi-wave cloak could be used as a protection against water, sonic or microwaves.

Stacked magnetic resonators for MRI RF coils decoupling

Parallel transmission is a very promising method to tackle B1+ field inhomogeneities at ultrahigh field in magnetic resonant imaging (MRI). This technique is however limited by the mutual coupling between the radiating elements. Here we propose to solve this problem by designing a passive magneto-electric resonator that we here refer to as stacked magnetic resonator (SMR). By combining numerical and experimental methodologies, we prove that this novelty passive solution allows an efficient decoupling of elements of a phased-array coil. We demonstrate the ability of this technique to significantly reduce by more than 10dB the coupling preserving the quality of images compared to ideally isolated linear resonators on a spherical salty agar gel phantom in a 7T MRI scanner.

Analytical, Simulation and Measurement Studies of a Dual-Band Open-Sleeve Curved Meander Line Antenna on a Flexible Substrate

An innovative antenna on flexible substrate with two resonators is presented. The antenna is composed of a metallic wire sewn on the substrate. Two dipolar modes in far field are radiated. To understand the interaction of the resonators with the principal antenna, studies with and without the sleeves are done in near field and far field.

Compressed perovskite aqueous mixtures near their phase transitions show very high permittivities: New prospects for high-field MRI dielectric shimming

Perovskites are greatly used nowadays in many technological applications because of their high permittivity, more specifically in the form of aqueous solutions, for MRI dielectric shimming. In this study, full dielectric characterizations of highly concentrated CaTiO3/BaTiO3 water mixtures were carried out and new permittivity maxima was reached.

Cyclic concentrator, carpet cloaks and fisheye lens via transformation plasmonics

We first review basic equations of plasmonics in anisotropic media. We recall the origin of Maxwell’s gradient index fisheye lens. We then apply tools of transformation optics to the design of a cyclic concentrator and a variety of plasmonic carpet-cloaks. We further give a brief account of the discovery of spoof plasmon polaritons (SfPPs) by Pendry et al (2004 Science 305 847–8) 150 years after Maxwell invented the fisheye lens. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate a concept of a fisheye lens for SfPPs at microwave frequencies. We stress that perfect metal surfaces perforated with dielectrics offer a playground for moulding surface waves in many areas of physics

Single frequency microwave cloaking and subwavelength imaging with curved wired media.

We consider the cloaking properties of electromagnetic wired media deduced from arbitrary coordinate transformations. We propose an interpretation of invisibility via sub-wavelength imaging features. The quality of cloaking is assessed by the level of deformation of the image of a P-shaped source through the stretched wired media: the lesser the image deformation, the more effective the cloaking. We numerically and experimentally demonstrate a tetrahedral wired cloak with longer edge length about 7cm at a frequency of 1GHz (the cloak is thus subwavelength). The wired cloak has two functionalities: it can serve as a high-resolution imaging system over long distances, and it can also perform space transformations such as, but not limited to, cloaking at a single operation frequency.

Mimicking Electromagnetic Wave Coupling in Tokamak Plasma with Fishnet Metamaterials

This paper reports a fishnet hyperbolic metamaterial that mimics the electromagnetic properties of magnetically confined plasma. These electromagnetic properties are strongly anisotropic and different from any conventional material, therefore cannot be mimicked by bulk materials. The structure is made of a stack of thin copper grids spaced by Rohacell foam. We numerically and experimentally show that this kind of structuration matches well the properties of a homogeneous plasma. This solution breaks a long-lasting bottleneck and will accelerate the development of high-frequency heating systems to be used in nuclear fusion.