Engineering Commons^™

Optical Micro-Seismometer Based On Evanescent Field Perturbation Of Whispering Gallery Modes, Jaime Da Silva

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes a light-weight, compact, and accurate optical micro-seismometer that could be used in many applications, such as planetary exploration. The sensor proposed here is based on the principle of whispering gallery optical mode (WGM) resonance shifts of a dielectric micro-resonator due to disturbances of its evanescent field. The micro-seismometer could be used in place of the traditional bulky seismometers. The design of a waveguide-resonator and mechanical structure to disturb the evanescent field are presented. A proof-of-concept a seismometer model that uses a 5µm ring resonator is numerically tested with actual seismic data. The results show that a WGM-based …

Optimizing The Plasmonic Enhancement Of Light In Metallic Nanogap Structures For Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Stephen Joseph Bauman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technology based on the interaction between light and matter has entered something of a renaissance over the past few decades due to improved control over the creation of nanoscale patterns. Tunable nanofabrication has benefitted optical sensing, by which light is used to detect the presence or quantity of various substances. Through methods such as Raman spectroscopy, the optical spectra of solid, liquid, or gaseous samples act as fingerprints which help identify a single type of molecule amongst a background of potentially many other chemicals. This technique therefore offers great benefit to applications such as biomedical sensors, airport security, industrial waste …

Growth And Characterization Of Silicon-Germanium-Tin Semiconductors For Future Nanophotonics Devices, Bader Saad Alharthi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The bright future of silicon (Si) photonics has attracted research interest worldwide. The ultimate goal of this growing field is to develop a group IV based Si foundries that integrate Si-photonics with the current complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) on a single chip for mid-infrared optoelectronics and high speed devices. Even though group IV was used in light detection, such as photoconductors, it is still cannot compete with III-V semiconductors for light generation. This is because most of the group IV elements, such as Si and germanium (Ge), are indirect bandgap materials. Nevertheless, Ge and Si attracted industry attention because they are …

Growth And Behaviors Of Inn/Gan Multiple Quantum Wells By Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy, Chen Li

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fully realizing the potential of InGaN semiconductors requires high quality materials with arbitrary In-content. To this date the growth of In-rich InGaN films is still challenging since it suffers from the low growth temperatures and many detrimental alloying problems. InN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) and super lattices (SLs) are expected to be promising alternatives to random InGaN alloys since in principle they can achieve the equivalent band gap of InGaN random alloys with arbitrarily high In-content and at the same time bypass many growth difficulties.

This dissertation focuses on studying the growth mechanisms, structural properties and energy structures of InN/GaN …

Mems Variable Area Capacitor For Room Temperature Electrometry, George C. Underwood, Tod V. Laurvick

Faculty Publications

This paper introduces a new way to detect charge using MEMS variable capacitors for extremely sensitive, room temperature electrometry. It is largely based on the electrometers introduced by Riehl et al. [1] except variable capacitance is created by a changing area, not a changing gap. The new scheme will improve MEMS electrometers by eliminating the effects of squeeze-film damping and by theoretically increasing the maximum charge resolution by 70%. The charge conversion gain (the increase in output voltage per input unit charge) for this system is derived. The result show good agreement with MATLAB calculations.

Effective Magnetic And Electric Response Of Composite Materials, Mona Hassan Alsaleh

Doctoral Dissertations

Metamaterials (MMs) are nanocomposite materials consisting of metal-dielectric resonators much smaller in size than the wavelength of the incident light. Common examples of metamaterials are based on split ring resonators (SRRs), parallel wires or strips and fishnet structures. These types of materials are designed and fabricated in order to provide unique optical responses to the incident electromagnetic radiation that are not available in naturally existing materials. The MMs can exhibit unusual properties such as strong magnetism at terahertz (THz) and optical frequencies. Additionally, negative index materials (NIMs) can provide negative index of refraction which can be used in many applications …

Electromagnetic Wave-Matter Interactions In Complex Opto-Electronic Materials And Devices, Raj Kumar Vinnakota

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the fundamentals of light-matter interaction towards applications in the field of Opto-electronic and plasmonic devices. In its core, this dissertation attempts and succeeds in the the modeling of light-matter interactions, which is of high importance for better understanding the rich physics underlying the dynamics of electromagnetic field interactions with charged particles. Here, we have developed a self-consistent multi-physics model of electromagnetism, semiconductor physics and thermal effects which can be readily applied to the field of plasmotronics and Selective Laser Melting (SLM). Plasmotronics; a sub-field of photonics has experienced a renaissance in recent years by providing a large …

Transcribing Braille Code: Learning Equations Across Platforms, Deegan Atha, Courtney Balogh

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Deegan Atha, a graduating senior in electrical engineering and a future engineer, is interested in human-centered design and developing technology that helps students engage and be successful in STEM.

Courtney Balogh, a junior in mechanical engineering, is interested in human-centered design and the importance it plays in product development. Deegan and Courtney are members of the Purdue EPICS project, Learning Equations Across Platforms (LEAP). They partnered with the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI) to develop a braille transcription device and web application that converts braille to print in real time.

Genetic Algorithm Design Of Photonic Crystals For Energy-Efficient Ultrafast Laser Transmitters, Troy A. Hutchins-Delgado

Shared Knowledge Conference

Photonic crystals allow light to be controlled and manipulated such that novel photonic devices can be created. We are interested in using photonic crystals to increase the energy efficiency of our semiconductor whistle-geometry ring lasers. A photonic crystal will enable us to reduce the ring size, while maintaining confinement, thereby reducing its operating power. Photonic crystals can also exhibit slow light that will increase the interaction with the material. This will increase the gain, and therefore, lower the threshold for lasing to occur. Designing a photonic crystal for a particular application can be a challenge due to its number of …

Optimal Design Of A Switched Reluctance Motor With Magnetically Disconnected Rotor Modules Using A Design Of Experiments Differential Evolution Fea-Based Method, Vandana Rallabandi, Jie Wu, Ping Zhou, David G. Dorrell, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Switched reluctance (SR) machines are attractive because they present relatively high efficiency and torque density in spite of lacking permanent magnets. This paper focuses on a two-objective optimization of an external rotor SR motor with a stator that has concentrated coils and a rotor with magnetically isolated modules. The objectives are minimum loss and mass, and 11 independent dimensionless geometric variables are considered as inputs that affect them. A combined design of experiments (DOE) and differential evolution (DE) approach is proposed. The DOE methodology is used to reduce the search space by eliminating from consideration input variable values, leading to …

Two-Level Surrogate-Assisted Differential Evolution Multi-Objective Optimization Of Electric Machines Using 3-D Fea, Narges Taran, Dan M. Ionel, David G. Dorrell

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

A two-level surrogate-assisted optimization algorithm is proposed for electric machine design using 3-D finite-element analysis (FEA). The algorithm achieves the optima with much fewer FEA evaluations than conventional methods. It is composed of interior and exterior levels. The exploration is performed mainly in the interior level, which evaluates hundreds of designs employing affordable kriging models. Then, the most promising designs are evaluated in the exterior loop with expensive 3-D FEA models. The sample pool is constructed in a self-adjustable and dynamic way. A hybrid stopping criterion is used to avoid unnecessary expensive function evaluations.

Effects Of Fabrication Errors On The Focusing Performance Of A Sector Metalens, S. S. Stafeev, A. G. Nalimov, Liam O’Faolain, M. V. Kotlyar

Cappa Publications

Using e-beam lithography, a 16-sector spiral metalens was fabricated in an amorphous silicon, capable of converting linearly polarized incident light into an azimuthally polarized optical vortex. When illuminated by a 633-nm linearly polarized laser beam, the metalens generated a near-surface subwavelength focal spot equal to 0.75 of the incident wavelength at full-width of half-maximum intensity. The focusing performance of the spiral metalens was numerically shown to be sensitive to the deviation of the factual microrelief from the calculated height. For the designed microrelief height, a circularly polarized incident beam was focused into a bright ring with a reverse energy flow …

Hyperspectral Imaging For Characterizing Single Plasmonic Nanostructure And Single-Cell Analysis, Nishir Sanatkumar Mehta

LSU Master's Theses

Orientation of plasmonic nanostructures is an important feature in many nanoscale applications such as photovoltaics, catalyst, biosensors DNA interactions, protein detections, hotspot of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and fluorescence resonant energy transfer (FRET) experiments. Silver nanocubes with significant spectral signatures between 400-700 nm are observed in this experimental research. Whereas study of single cells will enable the analysis of cell-to-cell variations within a heterogeneous population. These variations are important for further analysis and understanding of disease propagation, drug development, stem cell differentiation, embryos development, and how cells respond to each other and their environment. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells possess the …

Thermal And Mechanical Energy Harvesting Using Lead Sulfide Colloidal Quantum Dots, Taher Ghomian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The human body is an abundant source of energy in the form of heat and mechanical movement. The ability to harvest this energy can be useful for supplying low-consumption wearable and implantable devices. Thermoelectric materials are usually used to harvest human body heat for wearable devices; however, thermoelectric generators require temperature gradient across the device to perform appropriately. Since they need to attach to the heat source to absorb the heat, temperature equalization decreases their efficiencies. Moreover, the electrostatic energy harvester, working based on the variable capacitor structure, is the most compatible candidate for harvesting low-frequency-movement of the human body. …

Study Of Physical Layer Security And Teaching Methods In Wireless Communications, Zhijian Xie, Christopher Horne

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

In most wireless channels, the signals propagate in all directions. For the communication between Alice and Bob, an Eavesdropper can receive the signals from both Alice and Bob as far as the Eavesdropper is in the range determined by the transmitting power. Through phased array antenna with beam tracking circuits or cooperative iteration, the signals are confined near the straight line connecting the positions of Alice and Bob, so it will largely reduce the valid placement of an Eavesdropper. Sometimes, this reduction can be prohibitive for Eavesdropper to wiretap the channel since the reduced space can be readily protected. Two …

A Narrow-Wall Complementary-Split-Ring Slotted Waveguide Antenna For High-Power-Microwave Applications, Xuyuan Pan

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

A narrow-band, rugged, complementary-split-ring (CSR) slotted waveguide antenna (SWA) with significant size reduction is presented. The antenna is to be vertically front mounted on a land vehicle, with a horizontally polarized fan-beam radiation pattern. The radiation characteristics of a CSR slot in the narrow-wall of a rectangular waveguide are studied for the first time in this work. Both simulation and experimental results show that the complementary-split-ring slot radiates a linearly polarized wave with a total efficiency and gain close to those of conventional longitudinal slots, while the proposed CSR slots have a maximal outer diameter of 0.23λ₀, much …

Standing-Wave Dielectric Array Antennas, Ayman Althuwayb

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Due to the evolutions in wireless communication systems, antenna engineers have been confronting a number of challenges regarding improving the performance of antennas, miniaturizing the size as well as considering the fabrication simplicity. Although dielectric resonator antennas typically suffer from exhibiting low gain, they have been thoroughly under investigating as they are being excellent candidates to be utilized to fulfill contemporary communication systems requirements and specifications, especially at high-frequency ranges. The reason behind this solicitude is because they have several advantageous features, including but not limited to the simplicity of the used excitation mechanism and fabrication easiness.

One of the …

Tailoring The Asymmetric Magnetoimpedance Response In Exchange-Biased Ni - Fe Multilayers, Ufuk Kilic, Carolina Ross, Carlos Garcia

Ufuk Kilic

Investigation Of Opto-Mechanics In Thin-Film Photonic Crystal Membranes, Brett D. Poulsen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Opto-mechanical interactions in photonic crystals (PC) require further investigation for their realization in practical applications. In particular their dynamic response and opto-mechanical coupling is not well understood. The static response of a thin-film 2D PC membrane was studied and the mechanical sensitivity of a static pressure sensor was increased by a factor of 4.9 times. A novel model formulation, correctly accounting for the fluid-structure interaction and the influence of nano-features, was developed to describe the dynamic response of a thin-film 2D PC membrane. The model accurately predicted damping response to within 10% as compared to experimental measurements. A novel 2D …

Instrumentation For Cryogenic Dynamic Nuclear Polarization And Electron Decoupling In Rotating Solids, Faith Joellen Scott

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) increases the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) using the higher polarization of electron radical spins compared to nuclear spins. The addition of electron radicals for DNP to the sample can cause hyperfine broadening, which decreases the resolution of the NMR resonances due to hyperfine interactions between electron and nuclear spins. Electron decoupling has been shown to attenuate the effects of hyperfine coupling in rotating solids. Magic angle spinning (MAS) DNP with electron decoupling requires a high electron Rabi frequency provided by a high-power microwave source such as a frequency-agile gyrotron. This dissertation describes the development …

Indirect Imaging Using Heterodyne Remote Digital Holography, Muralidhar Madabhushi Balaji

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Conventional line-of-sight imaging techniques rely on detecting light paths bouncing from the object and reaching directly to the detector. Absence of any such direct light paths from object to detector results in a failure to recover any useful information using conventional techniques. The absence of direct light paths from object to detector can be observed in several real-world scenarios such as looking around a corner, imaging through turbid media, imaging through tissue etc.

The focus of this thesis is pertaining to the problem of looking around corners (or) imaging object hidden from line of sight at macroscopic scales. This thesis …

A High-Efficiency Low Power Rectifier For Wireless Power Transfer, Zachary Loy, Alden Fisher, Brian Vaughn, Dimitrios Peroulis

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

With the number of implantable devices that utilize electronics increasing, there is an increasing need to find alternative ways of powering them. Currently, surgery is required to replace a battery for these devices; however, with advancements in Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) methods, the need for further surgeries will become negated. This paper explores the ability of WPT as an alternative powering method by investigating rectifier Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE). The rectifier converts high frequency waves to Direct Current (DC) energy that can provide usable power to devices requiring electrical power. It is targeted for low power applications centered around a …

Experimental Evaluation Of A Krypton Propellant Arrangement In A T-100-3 Hall-Effect Thruster, Adam Patel, Javier Cortina Fernandez, Justin Chow, Osvaldo Alejandro Martin, Alexey Shashurin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Stationary Hall thrusters are electric, moderate-specific impulse propulsion systems developed in Russia. These devices manipulate electric and magnetic fields to expel ionized gas (plasma) components, resulting in thrust. The success of Hall-effect engines in USSR satellite-transfer missions quickly sparked western interest in the design. Extensive government and academic study commenced shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the technology was made available to the United States. The common SPT-100 model was the primary subject of such studies. Unfortunately, limited literature exists for rare and uncommon Hall thruster models. The T-100-3 stationary plasma thruster suffers from this gap; few …

Remote Sensing Using I-Band And S-Band Signals Of Opportunity, Kadir Efecik, Benjamin R. Nold, James L. Garrison

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Measurement of soil moisture, especially the root zone soil moisture, is important in agriculture, meteorology, and hydrology. Root zone soil moisture is concerned with the first meter down the soil. Active and passive remote sensing methods used today utilizing L-band(1-2GHz) are physically limited to a sensing depth of about 5 cm or less. To remotely sense the soil moisture in the deeper parts of the soil, the frequency should be lowered. Lower frequencies cannot be used in active spaceborne instruments because of their need for larger antennas, radio frequency interference (RFI), and frequency spectrum allocations. Ground-based passive remote sensing using …

Spice Based Compact Model For Electrical Switching Of Antiferromagnet, Xe Jin Chan, Jan Kaiser, Pramey Upadhyaya

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

A simulation framework that can model the behavior of antiferromagnets (AFMs) is essential to building novel high-speed devices. The electrical switching of AFMs allows for high performance memory applications. With new phenomena in spintronics being discovered, there is a need for flexible and expandable models. With that in mind, we developed a model for AFMs which can be used to simulate AFM switching behavior in SPICE. This approach can be modified for adding modules, keeping pace with new developments. The proposed AFM switching model is based on the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation (LLG). LLG along with an exchange coupling module is implemented …

Imaging Characterization Of Current Generating Lipid-Protein Membranes, Joel D. Kamwa

Graduate School Student Works

Imaging Characterization of Current Generating Lipid-protein Membranes

Room Temperature Operation Of Quantum Cascade Lasers Monolithically Integrated Onto A Lattice-Mismatched Substrate, Rowel Go

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) are semiconductor devices that, currently, have been observed to emit radiation from ~ 2.6 μm to 250 μm (1 to 100 terahertz range of frequencies.) They have established themselves as the laser of choice for spectroscopic gas sensing in the mid-wavelength infrared (3-8 μm) and long-wavelength infrared (8-15 μm) region. In the 4-12 μm wavelength region, the highest performing QCL devices, in terms of wall-plug efficiency and continuous wave operation, are indium phosphide (InP) based. The ultimate goal is to incorporate this InP-based QCL technology to silicon (Si) substrate since most opto-electronics are Si-based. The main …

Opto-Thermal Characterization Of Plasmon And Coupled Lattice Resonances In 2-D Metamaterial Arrays, Vinith Bejugam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing population and climate change inevitably requires longstanding dependency on sustainable sources of energy that are conducive to ecological balance, economies of scale and reduction of waste heat. Plasmonic-photonic systems are at the forefront of offering a promising path towards efficient light harvesting for enhanced optoelectronics, sensing, and chemical separations. Two-dimensional (2-D) metamaterial arrays of plasmonic nanoparticles arranged in polymer lattices developed herein support thermoplasmonic heating at off-resonances (near infrared, NIR) in addition to regular plasmonic resonances (visible), which extends their applicability compared to random dispersions. Especially, thermal responses of 2-D arrays at coupled lattice resonance (CLR) wavelengths were comparable …

High-Sn-Content Gesn Alloy Towards Room-Temperature Mid Infrared Laser, Wei Dou

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Si photonics is a rapidly expanding technology that integrates photonic circuits onto a Si substrate. The integration of Si electronics and photonics has been a successful technology for a wide range of applications. Group-IV alloy GeSn has drawn great attentions as a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor compatible optoelectronic material for Si photonics. The devices based on GeSn alloy could be monolithically integrated into well-established and high-yield Si integrated circuits, which is favorable for chip-scale Si photonics featuring smaller size, lower cost, and higher reliability.

The relaxed GeSn with high material quality and high Sn composition is highly desirable to cover mid-infrared wavelength. …

Hybrid Perovskite Characterization And Device Applications., Kasun Fernando

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hybrid perovskites are a group of materials that has shown a great impact in the field of scientific research in the past decade due to the efficiency gain within a short period of time. Hot casting is one technique that has been producing high efficient and stable solar cells. Electrical transportation of lateral device structure by such film is explored to understand basic properties and predict possible device applications using it. Under dark, memristive ability of the film was explored using various experiments. Unique uni-polar memristor ability was observed. Using the experimental results, a model is hypothesized using the concepts …