Trevor M. Benson

Analytical formulation for the shielding effectiveness of enclosures with apertures

An analytical formulation has been developed for the shielding effectiveness of a rectangular enclosure with an aperture. Both the magnetic and electric shielding may be calculated as a function of frequency, enclosure dimensions, aperture dimensions and position within the enclosure. Theoretical values of shielding effectiveness are in good agreement with measurements. The theory has been extended to account for circular apertures, multiple apertures, and the effect of the enclosure contents.

Feature selective validation (FSV) for validation of computational electromagnetics (CEM). part I-the FSV method

A goal for the validation of computational electromagnetics (CEM) is to provide the community with a simple computational method that can be used to predict the assessment of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) data as it would be undertaken by individuals or teams of engineers. The benefits of being able to do this include quantifying the comparison of data that has hitherto only been assessed qualitatively, to provide the ability to track differences between model iterations, and to provide a means of capturing the variability and range of opinions of groups and teams of workers. The feature selective validation (FSV) technique shows great promise for achieving this goal. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the FSV method, setting it firmly in the context of previous comparison techniques; it suggests the relationship between validation of graphically presented data and the psychology of visual perception. A set of applicability tests to judge the effectiveness of computer-based CEM validation techniques is also proposed. This paper is followed by a detailed comparison with visual assessment, which is presented in Part II

Porous silicon multilayer optical waveguides

Optical waveguiding is demonstrated in porous silicon multilayers. Depth variations in porosity, and therefore refractive index, are achieved by switching between high and low current densities during the anodic etch process. Planar waveguiding has been demonstrated at λ = 1.28 μm. The wavelength range has been extended to the visible (λ = 0.6328 μm) by oxidising the samples to produce layered porous oxide structures. Two-dimensional strip-loaded waveguides have been produced, for both the visible and infrared, by etching into each top layer through a pre-deposited photolithographically-defined mask.

Progress in rare-earth-doped mid-infrared fiber lasers.

The progress, and current challenges, in fabricating rare-earth-doped chalcogenide-glass fibers for developing mid-infrared (IR) fiber lasers are reviewed. For the first time a coherent explanation is forwarded for the failure to date to develop a gallium-lanthanum-sulfide glass mid-IR fiber laser. For the more covalent chalcogenide glasses, the importance of optimizing the glass host and glass processing routes in order to minimize non-radiative decay and to avoid rare earth ion clustering and glass devitrification is discussed. For the first time a new idea is explored to explain an additional method of non-radiative depopulation of the excited state in the mid-IR that has not been properly recognized before: that of impurity multiphonon relaxation. Practical characterization of candidate selenide glasses is presented. Potential applications of mid-infrared fiber lasers are suggested.

Accurate simulation of two-dimensional optical microcavities with uniquely solvable boundary integral equations and trigonometric Galerkin discretization

A fast and accurate method is developed to compute the natural frequencies and scattering characteristics of arbitrary-shape two-dimensional dielectric resonators. The problem is formulated in terms of a uniquely solvable set of second-kind boundary integral equations and discretized by the Galerkin method with angular exponents as global test and trial functions. The log-singular term is extracted from one of the kernels, and closed-form expressions are derived for the main parts of all the integral operators. The resulting discrete scheme has a very high convergence rate. The method is used in the simulation of several optical microcavities for modern dense wavelength-division-multiplexed systems.

Thulium pumped mid-infrared 0.9-9μm supercontinuum generation in concatenated fluoride and chalcogenide glass fibers.

We theoretically demonstrate a novel approach for generating Mid-InfraRed SuperContinuum (MIR SC) by using concatenated fluoride and chalcogenide glass fibers pumped with a standard pulsed Thulium (Tm) laser (T(FWHM)=3.5ps, P0=20kW, ν(R)=30MHz, and P(avg)=2W). The fluoride fiber SC is generated in 10m of ZBLAN spanning the 0.9-4.1μm SC at the -30dB level. The ZBLAN fiber SC is then coupled into 10cm of As2Se3 chalcogenide Microstructured Optical Fiber (MOF) designed to have a zero-dispersion wavelength (λ(ZDW)) significantly below the 4.1μm InfraRed (IR) edge of the ZBLAN fiber SC, here 3.55μm. This allows the MIR solitons in the ZBLAN fiber SC to couple into anomalous dispersion in the chalcogenide fiber and further redshift out to the fiber loss edge at around 9μm. The final 0.9-9μm SC covers over 3 octaves in the MIR with around 15mW of power converted into the 6-9μm range.

Periodicity-induced effects in the scattering and absorption of light by infinite and finite gratings of circular silver nanowires

We study numerically the effect of periodicity on the plasmon-assisted scattering and absorption of visible light by infinite and finite gratings of circular silver nanowires. The infinite grating is a convenient object of analysis because of the possibility to reduce the scattering problem to one period. We use the well-established method of partial separation of variables however make an important improvement by casting the resulting matrix equation to the Fredholm second-kind type, which guarantees convergence. If the silver wires have sub-wavelength radii, then two types of resonances co-exist and may lead to enhanced reflection and absorption: the plasmon-type and the grating-type. Each type is caused by different complex poles of the field function. The low-Q plasmon poles cluster near the wavelength where dielectric function equals -1. The grating-type poles make multiplets located in close proximity of Rayleigh wavelengths, tending to them if the wires get thinner. They have high Q-factors and, if excited, display intensive near-field patterns. A similar interplay between the two types of resonances takes place for finite gratings of silver wires, the sharpness of the grating-type peak getting greater for longer gratings. By tuning carefully the grating period, one can bring together two resonances and enhance the resonant scattering of light per wire by several times.

Optical Theorem Helps Understand Thresholds of Lasing in Microcavities With Active Regions

Within the framework of the recently proposed approach to view the lasing in open microcavities as a linear eigenproblem for the Maxwell equations with exact boundary and radiation conditions, we study the correspondence between the modal thresholds and field overlap coefficients. Macroscopic gain is introduced into the cavity material within the active region via the “active” imaginary part of the refractive index. Each eigenvalue is constituted of two positive numbers, namely, the lasing wavenumber and the threshold value of material gain. This approach yields clear insight into the lasing thresholds of individual modes. The Optical Theorem, if applied to the lasing-mode field, puts the familiar “” condition on firm footing. It rigorously quantifies the role of the spatial overlap of the mode E-field with the active region, whose shape and location are efficient tools of the threshold manipulation. Here, the effective mode volume in open resonator is introduced from first principles. Examples are given for the 1-D cavities equipped with active layers and distributed Bragg reflectors and 2-D cavities with active disks and annular Bragg reflectors.

Directional Emission, Increased Free Spectral Range, and Mode

Achieving single-mode operation and highly directional (preferably unidirectional) in-plane light output from whispering-gallery (WG)-mode semiconductor microdisk resonators without seriously degrading the mode Q-factor challenges designers of low-threshold microlasers. To address this problem, basic design rules to tune the spectral and emission characteristics of microscale optical cavity structures with nanoscale features by tailoring their geometry are formulated and discussed in this paper. The validity and usefulness of these rules is demonstrated by reviewing a number of previously studied cavity shapes with global and local deformations. The rules provide leads to novel improved WG-mode cavity designs, two of which are presented: a cross-shaped photonic molecule with introduced asymmetry and a photonic-crystal-assisted microdisk resonator. Both these designs yield degenerate-mode splitting, as well as Q-factor enhancement and directional light output of one of the split modes

Q

We present a study of chalcogenide glass fiber lasers doped with Dy3+, Pr3+ or Tb3+ that would operate in the mid-infrared wavelength range. A set of chalcogenide glass samples doped with different concentrations of rare earth ions is fabricated. The modeling parameters are directly extracted from FTIR absorption measurements of the fabricated bulk glass samples using Judd-Ofelt, Fuchtbauer–Ladenburg theory and McCumber theory. The modeling results show that, for all the dopants considered, an efficient mid-infrared laser action is possible if optical losses are kept at the level of 1dB/m or below.