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To extend the antenna design on printed circuit boards (PCBs) for more engineers of interest, we propose a simple method that models PCB antennas with a few basic components. By taking two separate steps to decide their geometric dimensions and positions, antenna prototypes can be facilitated with no experience required. Random sampling statistics relate to the quality of dimensions are used in selecting among dimension candidates. A novel image-based classifier using a convolutional neural network (CNN) is introduced to further determine the positions of these fixed-dimension components. Two examples from wearable products have been chosen to examine the entire workflow. Their final designs are realistic and their performance metrics are not inferior to the ones designed by experienced engineers., Comment: 13 pages, 18 figures

Many successful machine learning methods have been developed for microwave inversion problems. However, so far, their inversion has been performed only at the specifically trained frequencies. To make the machine-learning-based inversion method more generalizability for realistic engineering applications, this work proposes a residual fully convolutional network (Res-FCN) to perform microwave inversion of high contrast scatterers at an arbitrary frequency within a wide frequency band. The proposed Res-FCN combines the advantages of the Res-Net and the fully convolutional network (FCN). Res-FCN consists of an encoder and a decoder: the encoder is employed to extract high-dimensional features from the measured scattered field through the residual frameworks, while the decoder is employed to map from the high-dimensional features extracted by the encoder to the electrical parameter distribution in the inversion region by the up-sample layer and the residual frameworks. Five numerical examples verify that the proposed Res-FCN can achieve good performance in the 2-D microwave inversion problem for high contrast scatterers with anti-noise ability at an arbitrary frequency point within a wide frequency band.

We present an accurate spectral integral method (SIM) for the analyses of scattering from multiple circular perfect electric conductor (PEC) cylinders. It solves the coupled surface integral equations by using the Fourier series and addition theorem to decouple the system. The SIM has exponential convergence so that the error decreases exponentially with the sample density on the surfaces, and requires only about 2-3 points per wavelength (PPW) to reach engineering accuracy with less than 1% error. Numerical results demonstrate that the SIM is much more accurate and efficient than the method of moments (MoM), and thus can be potentially used as the exact radiation boundary condition in the finite element and spectral element methods., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

To facilitate the antenna design with the aid of computer, one of the practices in consumer electronic industry is to model and optimize antenna performances with a simplified antenna geometric scheme. Traditional antenna modeling requires profound prior knowledge of electromagnetics in order to achieve a good design which satisfies the performance specifications from both antenna and product designs. The ease of handling multidimensional optimization problems and the less dependence on domain knowledge and experience are the key to achieve the popularity of simulation driven antenna design and optimization for the industry. In this paper, we introduce a flexible geometric scheme with the concept of mesh network that can form any arbitrary shape by connecting different nodes. For such problems with high dimensional parameters, we propose a machine learning based generative method to assist the searching of optimal solutions. It consists of discriminators and generators. The discriminators are used to predict the performance of geometric models, and the generators to create new candidates that will pass the discriminators. Moreover, an evolutionary criterion approach is proposed for further improving the efficiency of our method. Finally, not only optimal solutions can be found, but also the well trained generators can be used to automate future antenna design and optimization. For a dual resonance antenna design with wide bandwidth, our proposed method is in par with Trust Region Framework and much better than the other mature machine learning algorithms including the widely used Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization. When there is no wide bandwidth requirement, it is better than Trust Region Framework., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures

In order to simulate elastic wave propagation in a complex structure with inhomogeneous media, we often need to obtain the propagating eigenmodes of an elastic waveguide. As the waveguide is assumed uniform in one direction, the original 3-D problem can be converted into a so-called 2.5-D problem by using the Fourier transform in that direction. However, the introduction of elastic metamaterials (EMM) broadens the horizon of this subject, and new features are required in EMM waveguides that cannot be obtained by most traditional waveguide solvers. In this work, a spectral element method (SEM) is developed to simulate the elastic/acoustic waveguide problem in anisotropic media with anisotropic mass density and/or negative index parameters. To the best of our knowledge, the SEM has not been introduced previously for such a waveguide problem. For waveguides with anisotropic density that cannot be solved by the FEM in most of commercial software packages, we design an anisotropic density EMM waveguide with our SEM solver to demonstrate some intriguing phenomena. The spectral element results are verified by several numerical examples through comparison with the traditional finite element method (FEM) to show its significant advantages in term of accuracy and computation efficiency., Comment: 28 pages, 19 figures

Doubly enhanced third harmonic generation (THG) is realized by the electric dipole resonance (EDR) in silicon nanodisks placed onto a metallic film at near-infrared. By introducing the metal substrate, the perfect electric conductor (PEC) surface effect can be formed to not only enhance the electric field in silicon, but also improve the near-field distribution. Meanwhile, in consideration of the periodic nanostructure, the silicon nanodisk, acting as a high-refractive-index dielectric grating, can generate a propagating surface plasmon resonance (PSPR) on the metal surface. By flexibly manipulating the array period, PSPR can effectively couple with EDR, which produces further enhancement and novel properties for EDR. On account of the dual enhancements from these two effects, it is demonstrated that the total THG conversion efficiency of the proposed nanostructure is raised by more than eight orders of magnitude as compared with that of the all-dielectric nanostructure. In addition, the influence of silicon Kerr effect on the coupling and THG is investigated as well, manifesting an unprecedent THG efficiency around 10^-2 with input internsity 2 GW/cm^2. This work will pave a new way for improving the multipolar mode in metal-dielectric nanosturctures and facilitate its engineered applications in nonlinear optics, e.g. frequency conversion, spectroscopic and biochemical sensing., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures

The spectral numerical mode-matching (SNMM) method is developed to simulate the 3D layered multi-region structures. The SNMM method is a semi-analytical solver having the properties of dimensionality reduction to reduce computational costs; it is especially useful for microwave and optical integrated circuits where fabrication is often done in a layered structure. Furthermore, at some layer interfaces, very thin surfaces such as good conductor surfaces and metasurfaces can be deposited to achieve desired properties such as high absorbance and/or anomalous reflection/refraction. In this work, the 3D SNMM method is further extended from a single interface to multiple layers so that the electromagnetic propagation and scattering in the longitudinal direction is treated analytically through reflection and transmission matrices by using the eigenmode expansions in the transverse directions. Therefore, it effectively reduces the original 3D problem into a series of 2D eigenvalue problems for periodic structures. We apply this method to characterize metasurfaces and lithography models, and show that the SNMM method is especially efficient when the longitudinal layer thicknesses are large compared with wavelength. Numerical experiments indicate that the SNMM method is highly efficient and accurate for the metasurfaces and the lithography models., Comment: 10 pages

The mixed spectral element method (MSEM) is applied to solve the waveguide problem with Bloch periodic boundary condition (BPBC). Based on the BPBC for the original Helmholtz equation and the periodic boundary condition (PBC) for the equivalent but modified Helmholtz equation, two equivalent mixed variational formulations are applied for the MSEM. Unlike the traditional finite element method and SEM, both these mixed SEM schemes are completely free of spurious modes because of their use of the Gauss' law and the curl-conforming vector basis functions structured by the Gauss-Legendre-Lobatto (GLL) points. A simple implementation method is used to deal with the BPBC and the PBC for the mixed variational formulations so that both schemes can save computational costs over the traditional methods. Several numerical results are also provided to verify that both schemes are free of spurious modes and have high accuracy with the propagation constants.

Hydroxyl (OH) radical is the most important reactive species produced by the plasma-liquid interactions, and the OH in the liquid phase (dissolved OH radical, OHdis) takes effect in many plasma-based applications due to its high reactivity. Therefore, the quantification of the OHdis in the plasma-liquid system is of great importance, and a molecular probe method usually used for the OHdis detection might be applied. Herein we investigate the validity of using the molecular probe method to estimate the [OHdis] in the plasma-liquid system. Dimethyl sulfoxide is used as the molecular probe to estimate the [OHdis] in an air plasma-liquid system, and the partial OHdis is related to the formed formaldehyde (HCHO) which is the OHdis-induced derivative. The analysis indicates that the true concentration of the OHdis should be estimated from the sum of three terms: the formed HCHO, the existing OH scavengers, and the OHdis generated H2O2. The results show that the measured [HCHO] needs to be corrected since the HCHO destruction is not negligible in the plasma-liquid system. We conclude from the results and the analysis that the molecular probe method generally underestimates the [OHdis] in the plasma-liquid system. If one wants to obtain the true concentration of the OHdis in the plasma-liquid system, one needs to know the destruction behavior of the OHdis-induced derivatives, the information of the OH scavengers (such as hydrated electron, atomic hydrogen besides the molecular probe), and also the knowledge of the OHdis generated H2O2., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures,3 tables

Whether there exist independent transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes in a metallic waveguide filled with an anisotropic medium is a fundamental question in electromagnetics waveguide theory, but so far no definitive answers have been published. This paper establishes a necessary and sufficient condition for having independent TE and TM modes in a waveguide filled with a homogeneous lossless anisotropic medium based on both waveguide theory in electromagnetics and basic knowledge in mathematics. Moreover, for the independent TE modes, we prove the propagation constants obtained from both the longitudinal scalar magnetic field stimulation and the transverse vector electric field stimulation are the same; for the independent TM modes, the propagation constants obtained from both the longitudinal scalar electric field stimulation and the transverse vector magnetic field stimulation are the same. This necessary and sufficient condition is a new theoretical result in electromagnetic waveguide theory, and is expected to be valuable for the design of waveguides filled with anisotropic media.

Based on the idea of the Abelian group theory in mathematics,this paper finds a sufficient condition of having independent TE and TM modes in a waveguide filled with homogenous anisotropic lossless medium. For independent TE modes, we prove the nonzero cut-off wavenumbers obtained from longitudinal scalar magnetic field stimulation and transverse vector electric field stimulation are same in theory. For independent TM modes, we also prove the nonzero cut-off wavenumbers obtained from longitudinal scalar electric field stimulation and transverse vector magnetic field stimulation are same in theory. Finally we carry out several numerical experiments to verify the correctness of the condition given by us.We hope that this condition is useful for the designs of waveguide with homogenous anisotropic lossless medium in microwave engineering community.