Analysis and optimization of propagation losses in LiNbO3 optical waveguides produced by swift heavy-ion irradiation

The propagation losses (PL) of lithium niobate optical planar waveguides fabricated by swift heavy-ion irradiation (SHI), an alternative to conventional ion implantation, have been investigated and optimized. For waveguide fabrication, congruently melting LiNbO3 substrates were irradiated with F ions at 20 MeV or 30 MeV and fluences in the range 1013–1014 cm−2. The influence of the temperature and time of post-irradiation annealing treatments has been systematically studied. Optimum propagation losses lower than 0.5 dB/cm have been obtained for both TE and TM modes, after a two-stage annealing treatment at 350 and 375∘C. Possible loss mechanisms are discussed.

Particle Patterning on Lithium Niobate waveguides via photovoltaic tweezers

Successful micro and nano-particle patterning on iron doped lithium niobate waveguides using photovoltaic fields is reported. This technique previously used in bulk crystals is here applied to waveguide configuration. Well defined particle patterns are obtained using two types of planar waveguides (by proton exchanged and swift heavy ion irradiation) and metallic and dielectric neutral particles. The use of waveguide configuration has allowed a reduction of the light exposure time until 3 s, two orders of magnitude smaller than typical values used in bulk.

Novel method to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the far-field results obtained from planar near-field measurements

A method to reduce the noise power in far-field pattern without modifying the desired signal is proposed. Therefore, an important signal-to-noise ratio improvement may be achieved. The method is used when the antenna measurement is performed in planar near-field, where the recorded data are assumed to be corrupted with white Gaussian and space-stationary noise, because of the receiver additive noise. Back-propagating the measured field from the scan plane to the antenna under test (AUT) plane, the noise remains white Gaussian and space-stationary, whereas the desired field is theoretically concentrated in the aperture antenna. Thanks to this fact, a spatial filtering may be applied, cancelling the field which is located out of the AUT dimensions and which is only composed by noise. Next, a planar field to far-field transformation is carried out, achieving a great improvement compared to the pattern obtained directly from the measurement. To verify the effectiveness of the method, two examples will be presented using both simulated and measured near-field data.

Reduction of truncation errors in planar, cylindrical and partial spherical near-field antenna measurements

A method to reduce truncation errors in near-field antenna measurements is presented. The method is based on the Gerchberg-Papoulis iterative algorithm used to extrapolate band-limited functions and it is able to extend the valid region of the calculated far-field pattern up to the whole forward hemisphere. The extension of the valid region is achieved by the iterative application of a transformation between two different domains. After each transformation, a filtering process that is based on known information at each domain is applied. The first domain is the spectral domain in which the plane wave spectrum (PWS) is reliable only within a known region. The second domain is the field distribution over the antenna under test (AUT) plane in which the desired field is assumed to be concentrated on the antenna aperture. The method can be applied to any scanning geometry, but in this paper, only the planar, cylindrical, and partial spherical near-field measurements are considered. Several simulation and measurement examples are presented to verify the effectiveness of the method.

Planar compact array with parasitic elements for MIMO systems

A compact planar array with parasitic elements is studied to be used in MIMO systems. Classical compact arrays suffer from high coupling which makes correlation and matching efficiency to be worse. A proper matching network improves these lacks although its bandwidth is low and may increase the antenna size. The proposed antenna makes use of parasitic elements to improve both correlation and efficiency. A specific software based on MoM has been developed to analyze radiating structures with several feed points. The array is optimized through a Genetic Algorithm to determine parasitic elements position in order to fulfill different figures of merit. The proposed design provides the required correlation and matching efficiency to have a good performance over a significant bandwidth.

New methods to reduce leakage errors in planar near-field measurements

This paper describes two methods to cancel the effect of two kinds of leakage signals which may be presented when an antenna is measured in a planar near-field range. One method tries to reduce leakage bias errors from the receiver¿s quadrature detector and it is based on estimating the bias constant added to every near-field data sample. Then, that constant is subtracted from the data, removing its undesired effect on the far-field pattern. The estimation is performed by back-propagating the field from the scan plane to the antenna under test plane (AUT) and averaging all the data located outside the AUT aperture. The second method is able to cancel the effect of the leakage from faulty transmission lines, connectors or rotary joints. The basis of this method is also a reconstruction process to determine the field distribution on the AUT plane. Once this distribution is known, a spatial filtering is applied to cancel the contribution due to those faulty elements. After that, a near-field-to-far-field transformation is applied, obtaining a new radiation pattern where the leakage effects have disappeared. To verify the effectiveness of both methods, several examples are presented.

Projector Model for Efficient List-Mode Reconstruction in PET Scanners with Parallel Planar Detectors

We have developed a new projector model specifically tailored for fast list-mode tomographic reconstructions in Positron emission tomography (PET) scanners with parallel planar detectors. The model provides an accurate estimation of the probability distribution of coincidence events defined by pairs of scintillating crystals. This distribution is parameterized with 2D elliptical Gaussian functions defined in planes perpendicular to the main axis of the tube of response (TOR). The parameters of these Gaussian functions have been obtained by fitting Monte Carlo simulations that include positron range, acolinearity of gamma rays, as well as detector attenuation and scatter effects. The proposed model has been applied efficiently to list-mode reconstruction algorithms. Evaluation with Monte Carlo simulations over a rotating high resolution PET scanner indicates that this model allows to obtain better recovery to noise ratio in OSEM (ordered-subsets, expectation-maximization) reconstruction, if compared to list-mode reconstruction with symmetric circular Gaussian TOR model, and histogram-based OSEM with precalculated system matrix using Monte Carlo simulated models and symmetries.

Fast Correction of Tiled Display Systems on Planar Surfaces

A method for fast colour and geometric correction of a tiled display system is presented in this paper. Such kind of displays are a common choice for virtual reality applications and simulators, where a high resolution image is required. They are the cheapest and more flexible alternative for large image generation but they require a precise geometric and colour correction. The purpose of the proposed method is to correct the projection system as fast as possible so in case the system needs to be recalibrated it doesn’t interfere with the normal operation of the simulator or virtual reality application. This technique makes use of a single conventional webcam for both geometric and photometric correction. Some previous assumptions are made, like planar projection surface and negligibleintra-projector colour variation and black-offset levels. If these assumptions hold true, geometric and photometric seamlessness can be achievedfor this kind of display systems. The method described in this paper is scalable for an undefined number of projectors and completely automatic.

Modular Planar Antenna at X-band for satellite communications

An antenna which has been conceived as a portable system for satellite communications based on the recommendations ITU-R S.580-6 [1] and ITU-R S.465-5 [2] for small antennas, i.e., with a diameter lower than 50 wavelengths, is introduced. It is a planar and a compact structure with a size of 40×40×2 cm. The antenna is formed by an array of 256 printed elements covering a large bandwidth (14.7%) at X-Band. The specification includes transmission (Tx) and reception (Rx) bands simultaneously. The printed antenna has a radiation pattern with a 3dB beamwidth of 5°, over a 31dBi gain, and a dual and an interchangeable circular polarization

Optimizing three-phase planar transformer construction

A three-phase transformer with flat conductor layers is proposed in this article. This arrangement is used for high current density transformers. Cost effectiveness in planar magnetic are related with the optimization in the number of layers in each winding. This fact takes more relevance for the medium and high power three-phase transformers where the number of parallels to achieve the required DCR is increased. The proposed method allows the use of off-the-shell core shapes that are used for single phase transformers. Cost impact is significant and design implications become more flexible. The proposed solution has been validated and compared using the conventional and the proposed methodologies to design a high power (20 kW) transformer.

Single - and double energy swift and slow heavy ion irradiated optical waveguides in Er: Tungstene-Tellurite glass and BGO for telecom applications

The fabrication of broadband amplifiers in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) around 1.55 m, as they exhibit large stimulated cross sections and broad emission bandwidth. Bi4Ge3O12 (eultine type BGO) - well known scintillator material, also a rare-earth host material, photorefractive waveguides produced in it only using light ions in the past. Recently: MeV N+ ions and swift O5+ and C5+ ions, too*. Bi12GeO20 (sillenite type BGO) - high photoconductivity and photorefractive sensitivity in the visible and NIR good candidate for real-time holography and optical phase conjugation, photorefractive waveguides produced in it only using light ions. No previous attempts of ion beam fabrication of waveguides in it.

Automatized connection of the layers of planar transformers with parallel windings to improve the component behavior

Transformers with parallel windings are commonly used to reduce the losses in the windings. Windings losses depend on the winding positioning and the frequency effects because each winding affects the current sharing of itself and the neighboring windings. In this paper a methodology for determining the connections of the parallel windings that reduces the power losses (and temperature) in the windings of multi-winding transformers is presented. Other applications of the method, such as balanced current sharing and voltage drop reduction are also explored. In this paper a methodology for determining the connections of the parallel windings that reduces the power losses (and temperature) in the windings of multi-winding transformers is presented. Other applications of the method, such as balanced current sharing and voltage drop reduction are also explored.

An alternative for reducing the layers in the construction of three-phase planar transformers

A modified winding layout for three-phase transformers with PCB windings is proposed in this paper. This modified layout can be used in high current transformers with many PCB layers to simplify the fabrication process. One of the key factors that might increase the cost and complexity in the construction of planar transformers is the number of layers of each PCB winding. This issue becomes even more important in medium-high power three-phase transformers, where the number of PCB layers is higher. In addition to that, the proposed method allows the use of commercial core shapes that are commonly used to design single-phase transformers. This fact makes possible the reduction of cost and flexibility of the design solutions. The proposed solution has been validated and compared using the conventional and the proposed methodologies to design a high power (20 kW) transformer.

Super-resolution properties of the Spherical Geodesic Waveguides using the perfect drain

Perfect drain for the Maxwell Fish Eye (MFE) is a nonmagnetic dissipative region placed in the focal point to absorb all the incident radiation without reflection or scattering. The perfect drain was recently designed as a material with complex permittivity ? that depends on frequency. However, this material is only a theoretical material, so it can not be used in practical devices. Recently, the perfect drain has been claimed as necessary to achieve super-resolution [Leonhard 2009, New J. Phys. 11 093040], which has increased the interest for practical perfect drains suitable for manufacturing. Here, we analyze the superresolution properties of a device equivalent to the MFE, known as Spherical Geodesic Waveguide (SGW), loaded with the perfect drain. In the SGW the source and drain are implemented with coaxial probes. The perfect drain is realized using a circuit (made of a resistance and a capacitor) connected to the drain coaxial probes. Superresolution analysis for this device is done in Comsol Multiphysics. The results of simulations predict the superresolution up to ? /3000 and optimum power transmission from the source to the drain.

On the design of a planar phased array radar antenna architecture for space debris situational awareness

The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) program from the European Space Agency (ESA) protects Europe's citizens and their satellite-based services by detecting space hazards. ESA Ground Systems (GS) division is currently designing a phased array radar composed of thousands of radiating elements for future stages of the SSA program [1]. The radar shall guarantee the detection of most of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space debris, providing a general map of space junk. While range accuracy is mainly dictated by the radar waveform, the detection and tracking of small objects in LEO regimes is highly dependent on the angular accuracy achieved by the smart phased array antenna, demonstrating the important of the performance of this architecture.