Perfect lenses made with left-handed materials: Alice's mirror?

In a recent paper, Pendry [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3966 (2000)] mentioned the possibility of making perfect lenses by using a slab of left-handed material with relative permeability and permittivity equal to -1, a property first stated by Veselago [Sov. Phys. Usp. 10, 509 (1968)]. Pendry gave a demonstration of the vital effect of the evanescent waves in this process, arguing that these waves are amplified inside the slab. We present first a very simple theoretical demonstration that a homogeneous material with both relative permittivity and permeability equal to -1 cannot exist, even for a unique frequency. This demonstration shows that the perfect lens proposed by Pendry can be interpreted as a means to move in real space the virtual perfect image of a point source given by a plane mirror. We show that, owing to evanescent waves, the concept of effective medium for heterogeneous materials is questionable, even when the wavelength of the incident light is much larger than the size of the heterogeneities. The effect of heterogeneities is compared with that of absorption. We conclude that a material able to focus the light more efficiently than the current devices (but not perfectly) could exist.     

声子晶体平板组合成像特性分析

用多重散射方法分析了声子晶体单平板和多平板的成像特性。发现：在特定频率范围内,引入等效负折射率后,单板负折射成像可用反Snell定律描述;多层声子晶体平板成像服从依次成像规律,可类比传统几何光学中共轴球面系统的成像,引入实物实像、虚物虚像等概念;平板透镜不改变出射波的出射方向,仅使出射位置产生平移;多平板透镜的累加成像与等厚度的单一平板透镜成像具有相同的效果。平板透镜的这些成像特点,使其在成像质量、加工方法、系统组合等方面比球面透镜更具优势。     

Microwave focusing and beam collimation using negative index of refraction lenses

Negative index of refraction materials (NIMs) were first postulated by Veselago in 1968 and have recently been realised using structures formed with rings and wires deposited on printed circuit boards. The proof of the existence of negative index of refraction was established using a Snell's law experiment with a wedge. The predicted and measured refraction angles were found to be consistent for a negative index material and in excellent agreement with the theoretical expectations. For microwave lenses NIMs have the advantage of being lighter, having better focusing properties and potentially lower aberrations. Simulation and experimental results on NIM configurations including gradient index of refraction and spherical 3D lenses are presented. Both focusing and beam collimating applications will be considered. These results will be compared to normal positive index of refraction material lenses     

Composite concrete/GFRP slabs for footbridge deck systems

In recent years the use of advanced composite materials has gained wider space in the civil engineering sector, due to some favorable characteristics such as lightweight, high specific strength, resistance to corrosion and fatigue. Innovative systems that combine concrete with advanced composite materials have proved to be a viable and efficient solution as compared to conventional systems. In this work, a new slab system composed of a fiber-reinforced concrete top laid on glass fiber reinforced polymeric (GFRP) wide-flange-section pultruded profiles, filled in with foam blocks, is presented. The material properties of the GFRP profiles were obtained both theoretically and experimentally. Experimental tests to choose the appropriate resin to bond the concrete to the GFRP profiles and to select the appropriate short fiber and volume fraction to be used in the concrete top have also been conducted. The slab was designed to sustain constructive loads and live pedestrian loads for footbridge deck applications. To investigate the slab flexural behavior up to failure, three specimens were tested under four-point bending, and theoretical and finite element analyses were also performed. Comparisons of theoretical, numerical and experimental results show good agreement. Studies under way to complete the development of the proposed slab are briefly described at the end of the work.     

稀土发光材料的研究进展

稀土发光材料是一类很有发展前途的新型功能材料.综述了国内外稀土发光材料的研究进展,总结了稀土发光材料的种类、发光特性、应用、制备方法和发光机理等,同时分析了稀土发光材料在发展过程中亟待深入研究的问题,最后展望了其发展前景.     

The dynamic indentation of an elastic-viscoplastic work-hardening slab by a rigid punch

A unified theory for elastic-viscoplastic work-hardening materials, which requires neither a yield criterion nor loading or unloading conditions, is implemented to solve two-dimensional dynamic problems. Specifically, the theory is applied to the dynamic indentation by a rigid indenter of a slab made of an elastic-viscoplastic material. The contact area between the indenter and the slab at any time is not known in advance but should be determined from the process of the solution. An iterative numerical procedure is proposed by which the complete solution is determined from the dynamic elastic-viscoplastic equations, the moving mixed boundary conditions, the requirement that the contact normal stresses are compressive and that no interpenetration occurs outside the contact area. The method is applied to the indentation problem of a viscoplastic slab by a long rigid circular cylinder, and by a wedge-shaped die. Comparisons with the corresponding perfectly elastic problems are given.     

提高食品包装材料安全性的途径

食品包装材料迁移引起的食品安全危害日趋突出.国家有关部门应当进一步完善食品包装材料的安全性标准,建立科学的食品包装材料安全体系,实施良好的生产管理规范,严格市场准入制度和监管机制,并在此基础上,应用新型环保无苯型增塑剂、无苯无酮环保型油墨、聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯和聚丙烯等新材料,同时采用活性包装、抗菌包装、用氧化法漂白替代含氯物质漂白等新技术,从根本上提高我国食品包装材料的安全性.     

Numerical evaluation of the retrofit effectiveness for GFRP retrofitted concrete slab subjected to blast pressure

For retrofitting structures against blast loads, sufficient ductility and strength should be provided by using high-performance materials such as fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. The effectiveness of retrofit materials needs to be precisely evaluated for the retrofitting design based on the dynamic material responses under blast loads. In this study, refined FEM analysis with high-strain rate dependent material model and debonding failure model is conducted for evaluating the FRP retrofitting effectiveness. The structural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) slab retrofitted with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) under blast pressure is simulated and the analysis results are verified with the previous experimental results.     

Electromechanically driven variable-focus lens based on transparent dielectric elastomer

Dielectric elastomers with low elastic stiffness and high dielectric constant are smart materials that produce large strains (up to 300%) and belong to the group of electroactive polymers. Dielectric elastomer actuators are made from films of dielectric elastomers coated on both sides with compliant electrode material. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), which is known as a transparent conducting polymer, has been widely used as an interfacial layer or polymer electrode in polymer electronic devices. In this study, we propose the transparent dielectric elastomer as a material of actuator driving variable-focus lens system using PEDOT as a transparent electrode. The variable-focus lens module has light transmittance up to 70% and maximum displacement up to 450. When voltage is applied to the fabricated lens module, optical focal length is changed. We anticipate our research to be a starting point for new model of variable-focus lens system. This system could find applications in portable devices, such as digital cameras, camcorder, and cell phones.     

Bifurcations in the mechanics of hypoelastic composite materials

This paper analyses the modification of a hypoelastic material behavior at the small variations of the material parameters, using elements of the bifurcation theory. The considered material is obtained by the combination of two granular hypoelastic materials, which have the memory of the initial stress state, and their stress work depends on stress history. Its constitutive equation is deduced by means of the constitutive equations of the component materials. In consequence, mechanical properties of those two materials are interpenetrated, generating, for the new material, domains of stability, as well as surfaces in stress space, surfaces on which the strain–stress system is not invertible. It results that it is necessary to choose correctly the component materials, their share and the process of forming the new material, so that the imposed solicitation by the operation conditions should be accessible to a composite material. When we are modelling, the choice of the component materials means the choice of their constitutive equations—the share of the component materials will fix the stability domain of the composite material—the forming process chosen correctly will determine that the initial stress state (from which the loading path will start) should be in the stability domain of the material.     

既有预应力空心板桥加宽设计的荷载横向分布计算方法

既有预应力空心板桥加宽时,一般将新旧空心板连接起来共同工作,荷载横向分布系数是该类型桥加宽设计的关键问题之一.该文根据铰接板法的基本假定,应用力法原理推导出了铰接板法的一般力法方程,可用于空心板截面、间距和材料属性等均不同的任意铰接空心板桥的荷载横向分布影响线计算.编制程序求解了荷载横向分布影响线、横向分布最不利位置和横向分布系数,对一座普通空心板桥和一座加宽空心板桥进行了计算分析.通过对比原规范与现行规范中相应汽车荷载,提出了旧桥加宽后各板最大横向分布系数允许值,以该值为标准校核各板横向分布系数计算值可以确定需要加固的空心板.通过对比各板横向分布系数值的变化,确定了需要增强横向联系的空心板.     

Density functional calculations on the thermodynamic properties of a series of nitrosocubanes having the formula C8H8-x(NO)x)x=1-8

Recent studies have suggested that octanitrocubane and heptanitrocubane may be two of the most powerful non-nuclear high-energy materials currently known. Progressive substitution of the hydrogen atoms on cubane for nitroso groups is expected to also produce a new potential high-energy material, which should have thermodynamic properties similar to nitrocubane. In this study we predict optimized structures, vibrational frequencies, enthalpies of formation, and specific enthalpies of combustion for a series of nitrosocubanes ranging from mononitrosocubane to octanitrosocubane. Our results indicate, on the basis of the specific enthalpies of combustion alone, that mononitrosocubane should make the best new high-energy material; however, we speculate that the velocity of detonation of octa- and heptanitrosocubane will make them better high-energy materials.     

Microwave heating of materials with impurities

The microwave heating of materials is important in many industrial processes. For example, it is used for the smelting of metals and the sintering of ceramics. Hot-spots (localised areas of high temperature) can develop in the material being heated or in the microwave oven itself, with disastrous consequences. Impurities in the material or in a component of the microwave oven can have different electromagnetic and thermal properties to the surrounding material. Different rates of heating occur at these sites, which gives rise to differential heating, which can lead to the generation of hot-spots. The generation of hot-spots by this mechanism is considered for a finite one-dimensional slab with a single impurity at its centre. A fixed-temperature boundary condition is applied at both ends of the slab and one end of the slab is irradiated by microwaves of constant amplitude. The heat absorption at the impurity is assumed to have a power-law dependence on temperature (hence hot-spot generation can occur via thermal runaway). Depending on the electrical and thermal properties of the material there are two possibilities; either a hot-spot occurs or a steady-state solution occurs due to a balance between heat absorption in the material and heat loss through the boundaries. These steady-state solutions are found for both linear and non-linear thermal absorptivity and constant and decaying electric-field amplitude. If possible the region of parameter space in which they occur (in the rest of the parameter space hot-spots occur) is also found. In addition, numerical solutions are developed to verify the steady-state solutions and to investigate cases where analytical solutions are difficult to derive, such as for materials with multiple impurities.     

High efficiency, diode pumped Nd:YAG ceramics slab laser with 230 W continuous-wave output power

Diode pumped zig-zag slab lasers are widely adopted for continuous-wave high power or pulsed high energy applications. Recently [J. Eur. Opt. Soc.-Rapid 6, 11041 (2011)] we started to investigate a new thin slab format in which pumping radiation input is obtained through the thin lateral faces (edge pumping) and the beam propagation takes place bouncing on these same lateral faces ("edge zig-zag"). We report on the optimized operation of a ceramic Nd:YAG laser, based on this geometry, extracting 230 W at a 43% output power to diode power conversion efficiency. Thorough investigation of the thermal lens effect allows us to analyze the optical cavity and thus to define the main aspects limiting the present laser configuration.     

Crystal microstructure suitable for high-performance thermoelectric bulk materials

The resultant thermoelectric power factor P and figure of merit Z of two types of composite device composed of a sandwich structure (A/B/A) were calculated by treating these devices electrical and thermal circuits. When the direction of the temperature gradient is perpendicular to a sandwiched slab with a lower ρ and a higher κ than those of the dominant material (a) and is parallel to a slab with a higher ρ and a lower κ than those of the dominant material (b), P increased significantly at an optimum slab thickness for device (a), in accordance with the result obtained by Bergman and Fel for a similar composite device, but decreased abruptly with increasing slab thickness for device (b), while Z remained almost unchanged with slab thickness for both devices as long as a thin slab is used. It was clarified that well-known high-performance thermoelectrics have crystal structures or microstructures corresponding to either device (a) or (b) fitted to enhance the boundary effect at the interface. Therefore, it is expected that when a number of thinly layered phases aligned in one direction are introduced into the microstructures of high-performance bulk materials; they enable the significant enhancement of boundary effect alone, resulting in a significant increase in Z of such bulk materials.     

Materials for the 80's and 90's

The factors governing the application of new materials and manufacturing process are reviewed and the criteria for successful exploitation are described. It is shown that developments should be targetted on specific components but there should preferably be several of these in different industries to reduce the risk and maximise the benefits of success. Composite materials — combinationsof two or more material types are believed to have the best future provided that the necessary production and quality control techniques can be developed.     

路基注浆对高速铁路轨道-路基体系动力特性的影响

翻浆冒泥是多雨地区铁路路基的常见病害,土颗粒流失后导致道床脱空,影响列车安全运行.高聚物注浆是修复路基翻浆冒泥的有效手段,但注浆对轨道-路基体系动力特性的影响有待进一步研究.通过全比尺无砟轨道路基模型试验重现了列车运行荷载下路基的翻浆冒泥现象,开展了路基注浆驱水和填充加固试验,测定了正常路基、路基翻浆冒泥及注浆修复后等...     

A Quasi-Optical Free-Space Measurement Setup Without Time-Domain Gating for Material Characterization in the W-Band

In this paper, a new free-space measurement setup at millimeter waves for material characterization is presented. Using specific Gaussian optics lens antennas and a thru, reflect, and line calibration, the setup provides the free-space four S-parameters over the W-band of planar dielectric slabs without time-domain gating. An efficient optimization procedure is implemented to extract complex permittivity from the four S-parameters of homogeneous dielectric materials. Nonhomogeneous materials can also be tested, and measurements are presented. Very good agreement is observed between simulated and measured four S-parameters of various dielectric plates. Thanks to this new specific calibration and measurement procedure, automation of the test bench is easily achieved     

Negative refraction in semiconductor metamaterials

An optical metamaterial is a composite in which subwavelength features, rather than the constituent materials, control the macroscopic electromagnetic properties of the material. Recently, properly designed metamaterials have garnered much interest because of their unusual interaction with electromagnetic waves. Whereas nature seems to have limits on the type of materials that exist, newly invented metamaterials are not bound by such constraints. These newly accessible electromagnetic properties make these materials an excellent platform for demonstrating unusual optical phenomena and unique applications such as subwavelength imaging and planar lens design. 'Negative-index materials', as first proposed, required the permittivity, epsilon, and permeability, mu, to be simultaneously less than zero, but such materials face limitations. Here, we demonstrate a comparatively low-loss, three-dimensional, all-semiconductor metamaterial that exhibits negative refraction for all incidence angles in the long-wave infrared region and requires only an anisotropic dielectric function with a single resonance. Using reflection and transmission measurements and a comprehensive model of the material, we demonstrate that our material exhibits negative refraction. This is furthermore confirmed through a straightforward beam optics experiment. This work will influence future metamaterial designs and their incorporation into optical semiconductor devices.