Fundamental Electromagnetic Emissions by a Weak Electron Beam in Solar Wind Plasmas with Density Fluctuations

The generation of Langmuir wave turbulence by a weak electron beam in a randomly inhomogeneous plasma and its subsequent electromagnetic radiation are studied owing to two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in conditions relevant to type III solar radio bursts. The essential impact of random density fluctuations of average levels of a few percents of the background plasma on the characteristics of the electromagnetic radiation at the fundamental plasma frequency ω p is shown. Not only wave nonlinear interactions but also processes of Langmuir waves’ transformations on the density fluctuations contribute to the generation of such emissions. During the beam relaxation, the amount of electromagnetic energy radiated at ω p in a plasma with density fluctuations strongly exceeds that observed when the plasma is homogeneous. The fraction of Langmuir wave energy involved in the generation of electromagnetic emissions at ω p saturates around 10−4, i.e., one order of magnitude above that reached when the plasma is uniform. Moreover, whereas harmonic emission at 2ω p dominates over fundamental emission during the time evolution in a homogeneous plasma, fundamental emission is strongly dominant when the plasma contains density fluctuations, at least during several thousands of plasma periods before being overcome by harmonic emission when the total electromagnetic energy begins to saturate.

INCREASING THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF THE AC ELECTRIC LOKOMOTIVE TRACTION DRIVE

The study of the energy characteristics of the active traction converter with pulse-width modulation as part of the traction electric drive of an AC electric locomotive was held during the research. Active traction converter provides pulse-width control of the collector DC traction motors voltage and belongs to the basic AC / DC circuit. The transient process when switching transistor switches is accompanied by significant voltage surge, due to the scattering inductance reaction of the traction transformer. Studies have shown that the diode discharge buffer circuits do not provide discharge of the electromagnetic energy accumulated in the winding of the transformer. An active traction converter control algorithm has been developed, which implies the use of pulse-width and phase regulation of rectified voltage. Switching of transistor switches occurs in the presence of a parallel current circuit. This creates the conditions for the discharge of electromagnetic energy accumulated in the secondary winding circuit of the traction transformer. The developed mathematical model allows to investigate the electromagnetic processes that occur during the switching of transistor switches and to evaluate the energy efficiency of the electric locomotive with active traction converter. In the simulation process, the influence of active traction converter parameters and control algorithms on the power rate of the converter, the total THD distortion rate of current and voltage and the relative values of the rectified voltage were investigated. Measures to increase the power rate and to reduce the emission level of higher current harmonics into the traction network were proposed.

Magnetic modulation of Fano resonances in optically thin terahertz superlattice metasurfaces

Optically thin metasurfaces operating at sub-skin depth thicknesses are intriguing because of its associated low plasmonic losses (compared to optically thick, beyond skin-depth metasurfaces). However, their applicability has been restricted largely because of reduced free space coupling with incident radiations resulting in limited electromagnetic responses. To overcome such limitations, we propose enhancement of effective responses (resonances) in sub-skin depth metasurfaces through incorporation of magneto-transport (Giant Magneto Resistance, GMR) concept. Here, we experimentally demonstrate dynamic magnetic modulation of structurally asymmetric metasurfaces (consisting of superlattice arrangement of thin (~ 10 nm each) magnetic (Ni)/ nonmagnetic (Al) layers) operating at terahertz (THz) domain. With increasing magnetic field (applied from 0 to 30 mT approximately, implies increasing superlattice conductivity), we observe stronger confinement of electromagnetic energy at the resonances (both in dipole and Fano modes). Therefore, this study introduces unique magnetically reconfigurable ability in Fano resonant THz metamaterials, which directly improves its performances operating in the sub-skin depth regime. Our study can be explained by spin-dependent terahertz magneto-transport phenomena in metals and can stimulate the paradigm for on-chip spin-based photonic technology enabling dynamic magnetic control over compact, sub-wavelength, sub-skin depth metadevices.

Influence of Spatial Dispersion on the Electromagnetic Properties of Magnetoplasmonic Nanostructures

Magnetoplasmonics based on composite nanostructures is widely used in many biomedical applications. Nanostructures, consisting of a magnetic core and a gold shell, exhibit plasmonic properties, that allow the concentration of electromagnetic energy in ultra-small volumes when used, for example, in imaging and therapy. Magnetoplasmonic nanostructures have become an indispensable tool in nanomedicine. The gold shell protects the core from oxidation and corrosion, providing a biocompatible platform for tumor imaging and cancer treatment. By adjusting the size of the core and the shell thickness, the maximum energy concentration can be shifted from the ultraviolet to the near infrared, where the depth of light penetration is maximum due to low scattering and absorption by tissues. A decrease in the thickness of the gold shell to several nanometers leads to the appearance of the quantum effect of spatial dispersion in the metal. The presence of the quantum effect can cause both a significant decrease in the level of energy concentration by plasmon particles and a shift of the maxima to the short-wavelength region, thereby reducing the expected therapeutic effect. In this study, to describe the influence of the quantum effect of spatial dispersion, we used the discrete sources method, which incorporates the generalized non-local optical response theory. This approach made it possible to account for the influence of the nonlocal effect on the optical properties of composite nanoparticles, including the impact of the asymmetry of the core-shell structure on the energy characteristics. It was found that taking spatial dispersion into account leads to a decrease in the maximum value of the concentration of electromagnetic energy up to 25%, while the blue shift can reach 15 nm.