arXiv subjects

Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez

Publications and source records attributed to Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Reconfigurable Curved Beams at Terahertz Frequencies Using Inverse-Designed Bilayer Diffractive Structures

Curved electromagnetic beams at terahertz (THz) frequencies have recently emerged as a powerful example of wavefront engineering, with applications in imaging and high-capacity wireless communications. Unlike canonical self-accelerating solutions such as Airy beams, general curved-beam propagation enables arbitrary, application-specific trajectories that are not constrained by analytic beam families. Here, we demonstrate a passive and reconfigurable approach for generating trajectory-engineered THz curved beams using inverse-designed bilayer diffractive optical elements (DOEs). Two phase-only diffractive layers are optimized using gradient-based inverse design to produce predetermined curved propagation paths. Reconfiguration is achieved by a 180° rotation of the second layer, which modifies the effective phase profile of the cascaded structure without altering the incident wave or individual layer designs. The proposed system can produce distinct curved trajectories with controlled transverse displacement and beam confinement, as confirmed by scalar diffraction simulations and experimental measurements. Overall, this work establishes inverse-designed cascaded DOEs as a compact and scalable platform for reconfigurable trajectory control of THz beams, providing a flexible alternative to analytic self-accelerating beams for radiative near-field THz communications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Holographic Mapping of Orbital Angular Momentum Using a Terahertz Diffractive Optical Neural Network

Using orbital angular momentum (OAM) in the terahertz (THz) range provides a new degree of freedom for communication and imaging systems. This study presents a compact diffractive optical neural network designed to recognize discrete and superposed OAM states at THz frequencies. The network consists of six diffractive layers trained to spatially separate nine OAM modes with topological charges from 1 to 9. Each mode is projected to a distinct position on the output plane, enabling direct recognition of its state. The structure was fabricated through low-cost 3D printing techniques with high-impact polystyrene (HIPS), allowing for scalable and practical implementations. Experimental validation at 0.3 THz demonstrates good fidelity of mode discrimination and mapping. The proposed approach offers a robust and economical pathway for OAM decoding, offering new opportunities for beam manipulation through THz systems based on diffractive optical neural networks.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Control of Extraordinary Optical Transmission in Resonant Terahertz Gratings via Lateral Depletion in an AlGaN-GaN Heterostructure

Periodic metallic gratings on substrates can support a range of electromagnetic modes, such as leaky waveguide, guided-resonant, and Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity modes, which can strongly modulate optical transmission under resonant excitation. Here, we investigate how this coupling can be dynamically manipulated through charge-density control in a laterally patterned AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. The structure comprises metallic stripes separated by regions containing a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), forming a periodically modulated interface whose electromagnetic response is governed by the charge density between the stripes. In the unbiased state, the conductive 2DEG screens the incident terahertz field and suppresses excitation of guided modes. When the 2DEG is depleted, the change in boundary conditions allows efficient coupling into substrate resonances, producing a strong modulation at particular frequencies where extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) through the structure takes place. The results highlight the sensitive dependence of guided-mode-resonance (GMR) mediated EOT on inter-stripe charge distribution and demonstrate a direct interplay between carrier dynamics and resonant electromagnetic phenomena in the terahertz regime.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Inconsistencies of metalens performance and comparison with conventional diffractive optics

We posit that inconsistent interpretations of experimental data have led to inaccurate claims on metalens focusing efficiencies. By performing a meta-analysis,we show that extraordinary claims of high focusing efficiency at high numerical apertures are, unfortunately, not yet backed by rigorous simulation or experimental results. In this document, we have included the original comment and supplement, as well as the revised versions that correct the errors found in the original.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

LightRidge: An End-to-end Agile Design Framework for Diffractive Optical Neural Networks

To lower the barrier to diffractive optical neural networks (DONNs) design, exploration, and deployment, we propose LightRidge, the first end-to-end optical ML compilation framework, which consists of (1) precise and differentiable optical physics kernels that enable complete explorations of DONNs architectures, (2) optical physics computation kernel acceleration that significantly reduces the runtime cost in training, emulation, and deployment of DONNs, and (3) versatile and flexible optical system modeling and user-friendly domain-specific-language (DSL). As a result, LightRidge framework enables efficient end-to-end design and deployment of DONNs, and significantly reduces the efforts for programming, hardware-software codesign, and chip integration. Our results are experimentally conducted with physical optical systems, where we demonstrate: (1) the optical physics kernels precisely correlated to low-level physics and systems, (2) significant speedups in runtime with physics-aware emulation workloads compared to the state-of-the-art commercial system, (3) effective architectural design space exploration verified by the hardware prototype and on-chip integration case study, and (4) novel DONN design principles including successful demonstrations of advanced image classification and image segmentation task using DONNs architecture and topology.

cs.AR↗

arXiv2023

Broken Symmetry Effects due to Polarization on Resonant Tunneling Transport in Double-Barrier Nitride Heterostructures

The phenomenon of resonant tunneling transport through polar double-barrier heterostructures is systematically investigated using a combined experimental and theoretical approach. On the experimental side, GaN/AlN RTDs are grown by MBE. In-situ electron diffraction is employed to monitor the number of monolayers incorporated into each tunneling barrier. Using this precise epitaxial control at the monolayer level, we demonstrate exponential modulation of the resonant tunneling current as a function of barrier thickness. Both the peak voltage and characteristic threshold bias exhibit a dependence on barrier thickness as a result of the intense electric fields present in the polar heterostructures. To get further insight into the asymmetric tunneling injection, we present an analytical theory for tunneling transport across polar heterostructures. A general expression for the resonant tunneling current with contributions from coherent and sequential tunneling processes is introduced. After applying this theory to the case of GaN/AlN RTDs, their experimental current-voltage characteristics are reproduced over both bias polarities, with tunneling currents spanning several orders of magnitude. This agreement allows us to elucidate the role played by the internal polarization fields on the magnitude of the tunneling current and broadening of the resonant line shape. Under reverse bias, we identify new tunneling features originating from highly attenuated resonant tunneling phenomena, which are completely captured by our model. Our analytical model, provides a simple expression which reveals the connection between the polar RTD design parameters and its current-voltage characteristics. This new theory paves the way for the design of polar resonant tunneling devices exhibiting efficient resonant current injection and enhanced tunneling dynamics, as required in various practical applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Enhancing the Electron Mobility in Si-doped (010) $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ films with Low-Temperature Buffer Layers

We demonstrate a new substrate cleaning and buffer growth scheme in $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ epitaxial thin films using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). For the channel structure, a low-temperature (LT, 600 $^\circ$C) undoped Ga$_2$O$_3$ buffer is grown followed by transition layers to a high-temperature (HT, 810 $^\circ$C) Si-doped Ga$_2$O$_3$ channel layers without growth interruption. The (010) Ga$_2$O$_3$ Fe-doped substrate cleaning uses solvent cleaning followed by an additional HF (49% in water) treatment for 30 mins before the epilayer growth. This step is shown to compensate the parasitic Si channel at the epilayer-substrate interface that originates from the substrate polishing process or contamination from the ambient. SIMS analysis shows the Si peak atomic density at the substrate interface is several times lower than the Fe atomic density in the substrate - indicating full compensation. The elimination of the parasitic electron channel at the epi-substrate interface was also verified by electrical (capacitance-voltage profiling) measurements. In the LT-grown buffer layers, it is seen that the Fe forward decay tail from the substrate is very sharp with a decay rate of $\sim$ 9 nm$/$dec. These channels show record high electron mobility in the range of 196 - 85 cm$^2$/Vs in unintentionally doped and Si-doped films in the doping range of 2$\times$10$^{16}$ to 1$\times$10$^{20}$ cm$^{-3}$. Si delta-doped channels were also grown utilizing this substrate cleaning and the hybrid LT-buffers. Record high electron Hall mobility of 110 cm$^2$/Vs was measured for sheet charge density of 9.2$\times$10$^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$. This substrate cleaning combined with the LT-buffer scheme shows the potential of designing Si-doped $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ channels with exceptional transport properties for high performance gallium oxide-based electron devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Physics-aware Complex-valued Adversarial Machine Learning in Reconfigurable Diffractive All-optical Neural Network

Diffractive optical neural networks have shown promising advantages over electronic circuits for accelerating modern machine learning (ML) algorithms. However, it is challenging to achieve fully programmable all-optical implementation and rapid hardware deployment. Furthermore, understanding the threat of adversarial ML in such system becomes crucial for real-world applications, which remains unexplored. Here, we demonstrate a large-scale, cost-effective, complex-valued, and reconfigurable diffractive all-optical neural networks system in the visible range based on cascaded transmissive twisted nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulators. With the assist of categorical reparameterization, we create a physics-aware training framework for the fast and accurate deployment of computer-trained models onto optical hardware. Furthermore, we theoretically analyze and experimentally demonstrate physics-aware adversarial attacks onto the system, which are generated from a complex-valued gradient-based algorithm. The detailed adversarial robustness comparison with conventional multiple layer perceptrons and convolutional neural networks features a distinct statistical adversarial property in diffractive optical neural networks. Our full stack of software and hardware provides new opportunities of employing diffractive optics in a variety of ML tasks and enabling the research on optical adversarial ML.

cs.ET↗

arXiv2020

Two-coil Wireless Power Transfer System Configured in Series-Series Topology: Fundamental Dynamics and Limitations on Transmitted Power

The dynamics and performance of a two-coil resonant coupled wireless power transfer system are investigated. At high coupling, the frequency-splitting phenomenon occurs, in which the power transferred to the load attains its maximum at two frequencies away from the resonance frequency. However, this behavior is not a universal property; there exist certain regions of resonator intrinsic parameters in which it is not present for any coupling strength. Therefore, in order to suppress such a phenomenon, there is no need to constrain the coupling of the transmitter and receiver below a certain level as widely reported in the literature. For low-power applications, optimizing the received power is essential. We derive a rigorous asymptotic upper bound for the power that can be delivered to an arbitrary load from a generic source. Our results quantitatively reveal the direct impacts of the unloaded $Q-$factors of the two resonators and the coupling between them on the actual output power. We discuss that, in contrast to the often employed operating power gain, the transducer power gain constitutes a more suitable metric to optimize system efficiency. Once the transferred power reaches its physical bound, the two gains collapse to a unique global optimal solution.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2020

Machine Learning enables Ultra-Compact Integrated Photonics through Silicon-Nanopattern Digital Metamaterials

In this work, we demonstrate three ultra-compact integrated-photonics devices, which are designed via a machine-learning algorithm coupled with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modeling. Through digitizing the design domain into "binary pixels" these digital metamaterials are readily manufacturable as well. By showing a variety of devices (beamsplitters and waveguide bends), we showcase the generality of our approach. With an area footprint smaller than ${λ_0}^2$, our designs are amongst the smallest reported to-date. Our method combines machine learning with digital metamaterials to enable ultra-compact, manufacturable devices, which could power a new "Photonics Moore's Law."

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Machine Learning enables Design of On-chip Integrated Silicon T-junctions with footprint of 1.2 $μ$m x 1.2 $μ$m

To date, various optimization algorithms have been employed to design and improve the performance of nanophotonic structures. Here, we propose to utilize a machine-learning algorithm viz. binary-Additive Reinforcement Learning Algorithm (b-ARLA) coupled with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations to design ultra-compact and efficient on-chip integrated nanophotonic 50:50 beam splitters (T-junctions). Here we present the design of two T-junction splitters each with a footprint of only 1.2 $μ$m x 1.2 $μ$m. To the best of our knowledge, these designs are amongst the smallest ever reported till date across either simulations or experiments. The simulated net power transmission efficiency for the first T-junction design is ~ 82% and the second design is ~ 80% $at 4λ= 1.55 μ$m. We envision that the design methodology, as reported herein, would be useful in general for designing any efficient integrated-photonic device for optical communications systems.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2020

Inverse Designed THz Spectral Splitters

This letter reports proof-of-principle demonstration of 3D printable, low-cost, and compact THz spectral splitters based on diffractive optical elements (DOEs) designed to disperse the incident collimated broadband THz radiation (0.5 THz - 0.7 THz) at a pre-specified distance. Via inverse design, we show that it is possible to design such a diffractive optic, which can split the broadband incident spectrum in any desired fashion, as is evidenced from both FDTD simulations and measured intensity profiles using a 500-750 GHz VNA. Due to its straightforward construction without the usage of any movable parts, our approach, in principle, can have various applications such as in portable, low-cost spectroscopy as well as in wireless THz communication systems as a THz demultiplexer.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

The anisotropic quasi-static permittivity of single-crystal beta-Ga2O3

The quasi-static anisotropic permittivity parameters of electrically insulating gallium oxide (beta-Ga2O3) were determined by terahertz spectroscopy. Polarization-resolved frequency domain spectroscopy in the spectral range from 200 GHz to 1 THz was carried out on bulk crystals along different orientations. Principal directions for permittivity were determined along crystallographic axes c, and b, and reciprocal lattice direction a*. No significant frequency dispersion in the real part of dielectric permittivity was observed in the measured spectral range. Our results are in excellent agreement with recent radio-frequency capacitance measurements as well as with extrapolations from recent infrared measurements of phonon mode and high frequency contributions, and close the knowledge gap for these parameters in the terahertz spectral range. Our results are important for applications of beta-Ga2O3 in high-frequency electronic devices

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Role of Fabrication Errors and Refractive Index on Multilevel Diffractive Lens Performance

Multilevel diffractive lenses (MDLs) have emerged as an alternative to both conventional diffractive optical elements (DOEs) and metalenses for applications ranging from imaging to holographic and immersive displays. Recent work has shown that by harnessing structural parametric optimization of DOEs, one can design MDLs to enable multiple functionalities like achromaticity, depth of focus, wide-angle imaging, etc. with great ease in fabrication. Therefore, it becomes critical to understand how fabrication errors still do affect the performance of MDLs and numerically evaluate the trade-off between efficiency and initial parameter selection, right at the onset of designing an MDL, i.e., even before putting it into fabrication. Here, we perform a statistical simulation-based study on MDLs (primarily operating in the THz regime) to analyze the impact of various fabrication imperfections (single and multiple) on the final structure as a function of the number of ring height levels. Furthermore, we also evaluate the performance of these same MDLs with the change in the refractive index of the constitutive material. We use focusing efficiency as the evaluation criterion in our numerical analysis; since it is the most fundamental property that can be used to compare and assess the performance of lenses (and MDLs) in general designed for any application with any specific functionality.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Super-resolution imaging with an achromatic multi-level diffractive microlens array

Compound eyes found in insects provide intriguing sources of biological inspiration for miniaturized imaging systems. Inspired by such insect eye structures, we demonstrate an ultrathin arrayed camera enabled by a flat multilevel diffractive microlens array for super-resolution visible imaging. We experimentally demonstrated that the microlens array can achieve large fill factor (hexagonal close packing with pitch=120um), thickness of 2.6um, and diffraction-limited (strehl ratio = 0.88) achromatic performance in the visible band (450nm to 650nm). We also demonstrate super-resolution imaging with resolution improvement of 1.4 times by computationally merging 1600 images in the array.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Inverse-designed flat lens for imaging in the visible & near-infrared with diameter > 3mm and NA=0.3

It is generally thought that correcting chromatic aberrations in imaging requires multiple surfaces. Here, we show that by allowing the phase in the image plane of a flat lens to be a free parameter, it is possible to correct chromatic aberrations over a large continuous bandwidth with a single diffractive surface. We experimentally demonstrate imaging using a single flat lens of diameter > 3mm, focal length = 5mm (NA = 0.3, f/1.59) that is achromatic from 0.45um to 1um. This combination of size, NA and operating bandwidth has not been demonstrated in a flat lens before. We experimentally characterized the point-spread functions, off-axis aberrations and the broadband imaging performance. In contrast to conventional lens design, we utilize inverse design, where phase in the focal plane is treated as a free parameter. This approach attains a phase-only (lossless) pupil function, which can be implemented as a multi-level diffractive flat lens that achieves achromatic focusing and imaging.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Imaging from the Visible to the Longwave Infrared wavelengths via an inverse-designed flat lens

It is generally assumed that correcting chromatic aberrations in imaging requires optical elements. Here, we show that by allowing the phase in the image plane to be a free parameter, it is possible to correct chromatic variation of focal length over an extremely large bandwidth, from the visible (Vis) to the longwave infrared (LWIR) wavelengths using a single diffractive surface, i.e., a flat lens. Specifically, we designed, fabricated and characterized a flat, multi-level diffractive lens (MDL) with thickness £ 10μm, diameter ~1mm, and focal length = 18mm, which was constant over the operating bandwidth of l=0.45μm (blue) to 15μm (LWIR). We experimentally characterized the point-spread functions, aberrations and imaging performance of cameras comprised of this MDL and appropriate image sensors. We further show using simulations that such extreme achromatic MDLs can be achieved even at high numerical apertures (NA=0.81). By drastically increasing the operating bandwidth and eliminating several refractive lenses, our approach enables thinner, lighter and simpler imaging systems.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2019

Diffractive flat lens enables Extreme Depth-of-focus Imaging

A lens performs an approximately one-to-one mapping from the object to the image planes. This mapping in the image plane is maintained within a depth of field (or referred to as depth of focus, if the object is at infinity). This necessitates refocusing of the lens when the images are separated by distances larger than the depth of field. Such refocusing mechanisms can increase the cost, complexity and weight of imaging systems. Here, we show that by judicious design of a multi-level diffractive lens (MDL) it is possible to drastically enhance the depth of focus, by over 4 orders of magnitude. Using such a lens, we are able to maintain focus for objects that are separated by as large as ~6m in our experiments. Specifically, when illuminated by collimated light at lambda=0.85mm, the MDL produced a beam that remained in focus from 5mm to ~1500mm from the MDL. The measured full-width at half-maximum of the focused beam varied from 6.6um (5mm away from MDL) to 524um (1500mm away from MDL). Since the sidelobes were well suppressed and the main-lobe was close to the diffraction-limit, imaging with a horizontal X vertical field of view of 20deg x 15deg over the entire focal range was demonstrated. This demonstration opens up a new direction for lens design, where by treating the phase in the focal plane as a free parameter, extreme depth-of-focus imaging becomes possible.

physics.optics↗