Elastic light scattering with a LiNbO3 waveguide

We present the measurements of hemispherical elastic scattering of light guided by different modes of a planar LiNbO3 waveguide. It is shown that the fundamental and the lowest-order modes are more sensitive to the scattering properties of the air-core interface, whereas higher-order modes are more sensitive to the optical inhomogeneities of the core-substrate interface. We also demonstrate that because of static polarization of LiNbO3 crystal, the air-core interface is sensitive to the presence of dust particles in air, which causes a change in the scattered light based on time of observation. This sensitivity could be used to elaborate compact sensors of air contamination.     

Acoustic scattering by a circular semi-transparent conical surface

The scattering of a plane acoustic wave by a circular semi-transparent conical surface with impedance-type boundary conditions is studied. The analytic solution is constructed on the basis of the incomplete separation of variables and the reduction of the problem to a functional difference equation of the second order. Although the latter is equivalent to a Carleman boundary-value problem for analytic vectors, the solution is studied by means of the direct reduction method, that is, converting the functional difference equations to a Fredholm-type integral equation. Its unique solvability is then studied and the expression for the scattering amplitude of the spherical wave from the vertex is discussed. Some numerical results for axial incidence are also presented.     

Large area ZnO:Al films with tailored light scattering properties for photovoltaic applications

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide films on glass are promising substrates for use in thin film solar cells based on amorphous and amorphous/microcrystalline silicon absorber material. The films can be produced by magnetron sputtering on large scale at relative low cost. Especially reactive sputtering of metallic Zn/Al compound targets is a cheap way to produce films at high deposition rate. One drawback of amorphous silicon is the low absorption in the near infrared spectral range. Wet chemical etching has been used to produce a rough TCO surface that enables light trapping in the absorber. The etching behaviour of ZnO:Al films can be tuned by changing oxygen partial pressure during deposition. The etching behaviour is compared to ZnO structure and discussed regarding the performance of solar cells deposited onto the etched films.     

A symmetric Galerkin BEM for multi-connected bodies: a new approach

The non-uniqueness of the symmetric Galerkin boundary element method in its standard form when applied to multiple connected bodies was highlighted in [Pérez-Gavilán JJ, Aliabadi MH. Symmetric Galerkin BEM for multi connected bodies, (submitted for publication)]. An alternative method based on a multi-region formulation is proposed as a way of overcoming the non-uniqueness problem whilst preserving the symmetry of the system matrix. An example is solved to demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Integral equation analysis of scattering by a spherical microparticle coupled to a subwavelength-diameter wire waveguide

A rigorous integral equation analysis of the coupling between a fiber waveguide and an adjacent spherical particle is developed. The solution is obtained by applying the entire-domain Galerkin technique, based on Mie-type spherical wave expansion of the field in the sphere and the use of dyadic Green's function of the fiber waveguide. The conversion between cylindrical and spherical wave functions is done through classic analytical formulas. The analysis is applied to numerically investigate transmission through silica wires of subwavelength diameter in the presence of particles of comparable size. The results show the possibility of sensing microparticles through the reduction of transmitted power, which is maximum for certain critical values of the fiber diameter.     

Vesicle sizing by static light scattering: a Fourier cosine transform approach

A Fourier cosine transform method, based on the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye thin-shell approximation, was developed to retrieve vesicle size distribution directly from the angular dependence of scattered light intensity. Its feasibility for real vesicles was partially tested on scattering data generated by the exact Mie solutions for isotropic vesicles. The noise tolerance of the method in recovering unimodal and biomodal distributions was studied with the simulated data. Applicability of this approach to vesicles with weak anisotropy was examined using Mie theory for anisotropic hollow spheres. Aprimitive theory about the first four moments of the radius distribution about the origin, excluding the mean radius, was obtained as an alternative to the direct retrieval of size distributions.     

Measurement of optical waveguide scattering loss: an improved method by the use of a Coblentz mirror

Light scattered from optical waveguides is collected by a Coblentz mirror, which provides a stable, accurate, and relatively high signal-to-noise ratio measurement. The scattering loss of the waveguides is analyzed from the measured scattered-light-power distribution functions, and the results show that the attenuation coefficients of the waveguides can be expressed by the derivative of these scattered-light-power distribution functions, which can be calculated from a least-squares fit to the measured scattered-light-power distribution functions.     

Extinction and scattering of a guided beam in a hollow dielectric waveguide.

We present a theoretical approach to the problem of mode scattering by a spherical object that is placed inside a circular dielectric waveguide. This approach is based on the separation-of-variables method for each subsystem, namely, the spherical inclusion and the circular dielectric cylinder, and on the concept of the generalized recursive T-matrix algorithm for multilayered structures. We apply the technique to the backward and the forward scattering of a quasi-optical beam in the form of the fundamental HE11 mode by a sphere inside a circular hollow dielectric waveguide. The results calculated for the perfectly conducting spherical objects inside the circular hollow dielectric waveguide are compared with corresponding measured data of the backward-and the forward-scattering characteristics at the 4-mm wave band.     

Analysis of cellular structure by light scattering measurements in a new cytometer design based on a liquid-core waveguide

The results of applying a novel microfluidic optical cytometer to generate and observe the light scattered from biological cells over a wide range of angles are presented. This cytometer incorporates a waveguide that increases the intensity of the scattered light to the extent that an inexpensive digital camera can be used to detect the light over a large solid angle. This device was applied to yeast cells and latex beads and experimental data were compared with the results of a finite difference time-domain (FDTD) method of simulation. The simulated scattering patterns were calculated from reported values of optical parameters and are in good qualitative agreement with experiment. It is demonstrated that this system could be used to acquire information on the microstructure and potentially the nanostructure of cells.     

Polarisation and membrane voltage of ellipsoidal particle with a constant membrane thickness: a series expansion approach

The estimation of the membrane voltage and the polarisation factor of biological cells provide a base for the study of bio-manipulation techniques, such as dielectrophoresis, electroporation or electrofusion. To model a biological cell, an ellipsoidal particle with an insulating membrane is sometimes employed, but due to the limitation of the confocal nature of the coordinate system, the membrane thickness is assumed to vary with the position, despite the fact that the lipid bilayer membrane has a uniform thickness. The authors present a method to rigorously treat the uniform-thickness condition in a system having an axial symmetry. The method is based on the harmonic expansion of the field, to include the condition of the uniformmembrane thickness as a series expansion of the geometrical factor, and to solve the field problem as an interaction of the harmonic components. The conventional variable thickness model has been identified as being equivalent to neglecting the harmonic interactions in the uniform-thickness model. Numerical calculations are done of the membrane voltage and the polarisation factor, and it has been found that the discrepancy between the proposed rigorous model and the conventional variable thickness model becomes significant when field deformation is large due to the high axial ratio of the ellipsoid.     

A differential-equation method for the computation of the electromagnetic scattering by an inhomogeneity in a cylindrical waveguide

Summary In this paper an exact method is described for computing numerically the scattering by an inhomogeneity in a cylindrical waveguide. The Generalized Telegraphist's Equations are used to transform the electromagnetic-field equations into a system of ordinary differential equations. The latter system behaves numerically unstable. A method is given to cope with this difficulty. Numerical results are presented for two- and three-dimensional obstacles in a waveguide of rectangular cross-section and they are compared with those obtained by other methods. Our method requires, in general, a relatively small amount of computation time and storage capacity. Another advantage of the method is its flexibility.     

Efficient modeling of localized material failure by means of a variationally consistent embedded strong discontinuity approach

This paper is concerned with a novel embedded strong discontinuity approach suitable for the analysis of material failure at finite strains. Focus is on localized plastic deformation particularly relevant for slip bands. In contrast to already existing models, the proposed implementation allows to consider several interacting discontinuities in each finite element. Based on a proper re‐formulation of the kinematics, an efficient parameterization of the deformation gradient is derived. It permits to compute the strains explicitly that improves the performance significantly. However, the most important novel contribution of the present paper is the advocated variational constitutive update. Within this framework, every aspect is naturally driven by energy minimization, i.e. all unknown variables are jointly computed by minimizing the stress power. The proposed update relies strongly on an extended principle of maximum dissipation. This framework provides enough flexibility for different failure types and for a broad class of non‐associative evolution equations. By discretizing the aforementioned continuous variational principle, an efficient numerical implementation is obtained. It shows, in addition to its physical and mathematical elegance, several practical advantages. For instance, the physical minimization principle itself specifies automatically and naturally the set of active strong discontinuities. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite elements with embedded displacement discontinuity: a generalized variable formulation

This paper is intended to bring a contribution towards a satisfactory simulation of those fracture phenomena which result in the appearance and development of discrete cracks. To this purpose, a general mixed finite element formulation is proposed, based on the concept of generalized variables in Prager's sense. The displacement field inside an element is modelled by the sum of two contributions: a regular (continuous) part which is governed by standard shape functions, and a possibly discontinuous one which is introduced soon after a suitable criterion is satisfied. The formulation is first specialized to a one‐dimensional case, then a triangular element for two‐dimensional problems is described in detail. Analytical and numerical examples are presented in order to clarify the formulation and to point out the essential role of inter‐element conformity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of time-gated imaging through scattering media by a Fourier optics approach

The method of Fourier optics is applied to the problem of time-gated imaging through scattering media. Tb adapt the problem to this treatment, appropriate alterations are made: The continuous medium is replaced by a cascade of thin scatterers, and a spatial filtering process is substituted for the conventional gating processes. Closed-form solutions are derived.     

Development and optimization of a mid-infrared hollow waveguide gas sensor combined with a supported capillary membrane sampler

A gas sensor for application in water analysis was developed by combination of a mid-infrared (MIR) hollow waveguide with a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and coupling of the hollow waveguide gas sensor module to a supported capillary membrane sampler (SCMS) for continuous liquid-gas extraction. Different hollow waveguides have been characterized in this study for developing an optimized optical configuration. Analysis of industrially relevant compounds has been performed, investigating chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs), such as dichloromethane and chloroform, representing highly volatile analytes, and 1,4-dioxane as an example of target compounds with low volatility. The suitability of this spectroscopic IR sensing system for industrial applications is demonstrated under simulated real-world conditions with limits of detection in the ppb (v/v) and ppm (v/v) concentration range for CHCs and 1,4-dioxane, respectively.     

Optical waveguides for imaging applications: Design by an inverse scattering approach

An inverse scattering theory is used to design optical waveguides capable of transmitting spatial images without degradation. The propagation characteristics of N modes each carrying a pixel of the image are specified by a transverse rational reflection coefficient. The Gel'fand-Levitan-Marchenko inverse scattering theory is used to obtain the unique solution of the permittivity profile of the waveguide from the reflection coefficient