Reconstruction and modeling of the complex refractive index of nonlinear glasses from terahertz to optical frequencies.

The linear complex refractive index of a set of borosilicate and tellurite as well as heavy metal oxide silicate, germanate and fluoride glasses has been determined using the Kramers-Kronig analysis on combined data from terahertz time domain (THz-TD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers in the ultrabroadband range of 0.15 THz to 200 THz. Debye, Lorentz and shape language modeling (SLM) approaches are applied. Far-infrared absorption power-law model parameters are determined via searching for the largest frequency range that minimizes the root mean squared error (RMSE) of a linear least squares fit for the set of glasses and other glass literature data. Relationships between the absorption parameters, glass properties and compositions are explored.

Full-Scale Use of Microwave Heating in Construction of Longitudinal Joints and Crack Healing in Asphalt Pavements.

Asphalt pavement construction technology is an industry branch that undergoes constant development. Analyzing the directions of the development, one can divide it into two mainstreams: the development of roadworks equipment and the development of roadworks technology. Microwave heating technique has been mentioned in the road industry from the early '70s, but research records from practical full-scale use are very rare. This article presents the evaluation of the possible use of microwave heating technique during a particular aspect of the construction process, namely, the formation of longitudinal joints and the potential repair process of the cracked asphalt pavement. Research results showed that joints constructed using microwave-assisted heating performed the same or even better with regards to tensile characteristics comparing to other techniques. Also, the highest level of compaction was reached among the other tested techniques applied to the wearing course level. The second part of the research experiment showed the large potential of the microwave crack healing technique. The asphalt pavement was healed on its full depth of 10 cm with the single healing operation applied. Although some limitations may occur in the practical use of microwave heating, the test results suggest that it is a very promising technique and should be further developed (for, e.g., shielding concerns, electricity supply). The microwave heating technique is powered with electricity, which is important when there is a constant need for further reductions of CO2 emissions. It can be reached in parallel with clean energy or clean electricity sources.

Rigorous broadband study of the intrinsic ferromagnetic linewidth of monocrystalline garnet spheres.

This work demonstrates the first application of direct broadband (1 GHz-30 GHz) quality (Q) factor measurements of the uniform precession mode in magnetised garnet spheres for the accurate determination of the room-temperature intrinsic ferromagnetic linewidth (ΔH). The spheres were enclosed in a subwavelength cavity, so that the measured Q-factor depended mainly on their magnetic losses and the conduction losses of the cavity walls. The contribution of the latter is assessed by means of the recently proposed magnetic plasmon resonance model and has been found to be negligible. A total of 10 samples made from commercially available pure yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and gallium-substituted YIG have been measured, differing in diameter and/or saturation magnetisation Ms. The dependence of the intrinsic ΔH on the internal magnetic field is found to have near-perfect linear dependence, which cannot be said about the typically studied extrinsic ΔH even at high frequencies. It is found that the difference between the two linewidths, which becomes significant at low frequencies, can be attributed to a geometric effect. Due to its fundamental nature, this work is applicable not only to magnetic material characterization, but also to the study of the origins of losses in magnetic materials.

Ferromagnetic Resonance Revised - Electrodynamic Approach.

Resonance in a ferromagnetic sphere, known in the body of literature as the mode of uniform precession, has recently been proven to be magnetic plasmon resonance (MPR). This finding has prompted research which is presented in this paper on the relation between the Q-factor at the MPR and the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) linewidth ΔH, which is a parameter of magnetized gyromagnetic materials. It is proven in this paper that ΔH can be unequivocally determined from the Q-factor measured at the MPR, if all losses in the resonance system are properly accounted for. It can be undertaken through a rigorous but simple electrodynamic study involving the transcendental equation, as proposed in this paper. The present study also reveals that electric losses have a substantially reduced impact on ΔH due to the large magnetic to electric energy storage ratio at the MPR. Theoretical results are supported by measurements of the Q-factors on a monocrystalline yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere.

Electrodynamic study of YIG filters and resonators.

Numerical solutions of coupled Maxwell and Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations for a magnetized yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere acting as a one-stage filter are presented. The filter is analysed using finite-difference time-domain technique. Contrary to the state of the art, the study shows that the maximum electromagnetic power transmission through the YIG filter occurs at the frequency of the magnetic plasmon resonance with the effective permeability of the gyromagnetic medium µr ≈ -2, and not at a ferromagnetic resonance frequency. Such a new understanding of the YIG filter operation, makes it one of the most commonly used single-negative plasmonic metamaterials. The frequency of maximum transmission is also found to weakly depend on the size of the YIG sphere. An analytic electromagnetic analysis of resonances in a YIG sphere is performed for circularly polarized electromagnetic fields. The YIG sphere is situated in a free space and in a large spherical cavity. The study demonstrates that both volume resonances and magnetic plasmon resonances can be solutions of the same transcendental equations.

Hybrid finite-difference time-domain Fresnel modeling of microscopy imaging.

Full-wave electromagnetic analysis by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is combined with the scalar diffraction method to obtain a numerical tool for optical lens imaging. The FDTD method is applied to the modeling of scattering phenomenon in the vicinity of a target. Afterward, obtained results are coupled with the Fresnel diffraction method to project an image through the lens onto the image plane. The FDTD algorithm is able to provide the solution of the electromagnetic analysis of the target with all its geometrical complexity. It is also relatively effective, since it allows the arbitrarily shaped geometry of the target to be analyzed in a specified spectrum range with only one simulation run. Such coupled FDTD-Fresnel modeling exploits the advantages of both methods, maintaining the required accuracy and speeding up the overall computation of the image.