arXiv subjects

Zhaowei Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Zhaowei Liu.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Vibration Analysis of Piezoelectric Kirchhoff-Love Shells based on Catmull-Clark Subdivision Surfaces

An isogeometric Galerkin approach for analysing the free vibrations of piezoelectric shells is presented. The shell kinematics is specialised to infinitesimal deformations and follow the Kirchhoff-Love hypothesis. Both the geometry and physical fields are discretised using Catmull-Clark subdivision bases. It provides the required C1 continuous discretisation for the Kirchhoff-Love theory. The crystalline structure of piezoelectric materials is described using an anisotropic constitutive relation. Hamilton's variational principle is applied to the dynamic analysis to derive the weak form of the governing equations. The coupled eigenvalue problem is formulated by considering the problem of harmonic vibration in the absence of external load. The formulation for the purely elastic case is verified using a spherical thin shell benchmark. Thereafter, the piezoelectric effect and vibration modes of a transverse isotropic curved plate are analysed and evaluated for the Scordelis-Lo roof problem. Finally, the eigenvalue analysis of a CAD model of a piezoelectric speaker shell structure showcases the ability of the proposed method to handle complex geometries.

math.NA↗

arXiv2021

Large Spin-to-Charge Conversion in Ultrathin Gold-Silicon Multilayers

Investigation of the spin Hall effect in gold has triggered increasing interest over the past decade, since gold combines the properties of a large bulk spin diffusion length and strong interfacial spin-orbit coupling. However, discrepancies between the values of the spin Hall angle of gold reported in the literature have brought into question the microscopic origin of the spin Hall effect in Au. Here, we investigate the thickness dependence of the spin-charge conversion efficiency in single Au films and ultrathin Au/Si multilayers by non-local transport and spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance measurements. We show that the spin-charge conversion efficiency is strongly enhanced in ultrathin Au/Si multilayers, reaching exceedingly large values of 0.99 +/- 0.34 when the thickness of the individual Au layers is scaled down to 2 nm. These findings reveal the coexistence of a strong interfacial spin-orbit coupling effect which becomes dominant in ultrathin Au, and bulk spin Hall effect with a relatively low bulk spin Hall angle of 0.012 +/- 0.005. Our experimental results suggest the key role of the Rashba-Edelstein effect in the spin-to-charge conversion in ultrathin Au.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Coupled electro-elastic deformation and instabilities of a toroidal membrane

We analyse here the problem of large deformation of dielectric elastomeric membranes under coupled electromechanical loading. Extremely large deformations (enclosed volume changes of 100 times and greater) of a toroidal membrane are studied by the use of a variational formulation that accounts for the total energy due to mechanical and electrical fields. A modified shooting method is adopted to solve the resulting system of coupled and highly nonlinear ordinary differential equations. We demonstrate the occurrence of limit point, wrinkling, and symmetry-breaking buckling instabilities in the solution of this problem. Onset of each of these "reversible" instabilities depends significantly on the ratio of the mechanical load to the electric load, thereby providing a control mechanism for state switching.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2020

Assessment of an Isogeometric Approach with Catmull-Clark Subdivision Surfaces using the Laplace-Beltrami Problems

An isogeometric approach for solving the Laplace-Beltrami equation on a two-dimensional manifold embedded in three-dimensional space using a Galerkin method based on Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces is presented and assessed. The scalar-valued Laplace-Beltrami equation requires only C0 continuity and is adopted to elucidate key features and properties of the isogeometric method using Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces. Catmull-Clark subdivision bases are used to discretise both the geometry and the physical field. A fitting method generates control meshes to approximate any given geometry with Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces. The performance of the Catmull-Clark subdivision method is compared to the conventional finite element method. Subdivision surfaces without extraordinary vertices show the optimal convergence rate. However, extraordinary vertices introduce error, which decreases the convergence rate. A comparative study shows the effect of the number and valences of the extraordinary vertices on accuracy and convergence. An adaptive quadrature scheme is shown to reduce the error.

math.NA↗

arXiv2019

Isogeometric FEM-BEM coupled structural-acoustic analysis of shells using subdivision surfaces

We introduce a coupled finite and boundary element formulation for acoustic scattering analysis over thin shell structures. A triangular Loop subdivision surface discretisation is used for both geometry and analysis fields. The Kirchhoff-Love shell equation is discretised with the finite element method and the Helmholtz equation for the acoustic field with the boundary element method. The use of the boundary element formulation allows the elegant handling of infinite domains and precludes the need for volumetric meshing. In the present work the subdivision control meshes for the shell displacements and the acoustic pressures have the same resolution. The corresponding smooth subdivision basis functions have the $C^1$ continuity property required for the Kirchhoff-Love formulation and are highly efficient for the acoustic field computations. We validate the proposed isogeometric formulation through a closed-form solution of acoustic scattering over a thin shell sphere. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of the proposed approach to handle complex geometries with arbitrary topology that provides an integrated isogeometric design and analysis workflow for coupled structural-acoustic analysis of shells.

math.NA↗

arXiv2017

An isogeometric boundary element method for electromagnetic scattering with compatible B-spline discretizations

We outline the construction of compatible B-splines on 3D surfaces that satisfy the continuity requirements for electromagnetic scattering analysis with the boundary element method (method of moments). Our approach makes use of Non-Uniform Rational B-splines to represent model geometry and compatible B-splines to approximate the surface current, and adopts the isogeometric concept in which the basis for analysis is taken directly from CAD (geometry) data. The approach allows for high-order approximations and crucially provides a direct link with CAD data structures that allows for efficient design workflows. After outlining the construction of div- and curl-conforming B-splines defined over 3D surfaces we describe their use with the electric and magnetic field integral equations using a Galerkin formulation. We use Bézier extraction to accelerate the computation of NURBS and B-spline terms and employ H-matrices to provide accelerated computations and memory reduction for the dense matrices that result from the boundary integral discretization. The method is verified using the well known Mie scattering problem posed over a perfectly electrically conducting sphere and the classic NASA almond problem. Finally, we demonstrate the ability of the approach to handle models with complex geometry directly from CAD without mesh generation.

math.NA↗

arXiv2016

Robustness of the far-field response of nonlocal plasmonic ensembles

Contrary to classical predictions, the optical response of few-nm plasmonic particles depends on particle size due to effects such as nonlocality and electron spill-out. Ensembles of such nanoparticles (NPs) are therefore expected to exhibit a nonclassical inhomogeneous spectral broadening due to size distribution. For a normal distribution of free-electron NPs, and within the simple nonlocal Hydrodynamic Drude Model (HDM), both the nonlocal blueshift and the plasmon linewidth are shown to be considerably affected by ensemble averaging. Size-variance effects tend however to conceal nonlocality to a lesser extent when the homogeneous size-dependent broadening of individual NPs is taken into account, either through a local size-dependent damping (SDD) model or through the Generalized Nonlocal Optical Response (GNOR) theory. The role of ensemble averaging is further explored in realistic distributions of noble-metal NPs, as encountered in experiments, while an analytical expression to evaluate the importance of inhomogeneous broadening through measurable quantities is developed. Our findings are independent of the specific nonclassical theory used, thus providing important insight into a large range of experiments on nanoscale and quantum plasmonics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Janus Lenses and Their Extraordinary Imaging Properties

Optical lenses are pervasive in various areas of sciences and technologies. It is well-known that the resolving power of a lens and thus optical systems is limited by the diffraction of light. Recently, various plasmonics and metamaterials based superlenses have been emerging to achieve super resolution. Here, we show that the phase compensated negative refraction lenses perform as "Janus Lenses", i.e. either converging lenses or diverging lenses depending on the illumination directions. Extraordinary imaging equations and properties that are different from those of all the existing optical lenses are also presented. These new imaging properties, along with the super resolving power, significantly expand the horizon of imaging optics and optical system design.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2007

Molding the flow of light at deep sub-wavelength scale

The diffractive nature of light has limited optics and photonics to operate at scales much larger than the wavelength of light. The major challenge in scaling-down integrated photonics is how to mold the light flow below diffraction-limit in all three dimensions. A high index solid immersion lens can improve the spatial resolution by increasing the medium refractive index, but only to few times higher than in air. Photonic crystals can guide light in three dimensions, however, the guided beam width is around a wavelength. Surface plasmons has a potential to reach the sub-wavelength scales; nevertheless, it is confined in the two-dimensional interface between metals and dielectrics. Here, we present a new approach for molding the light flow at the deep sub-wavelength scale, using metamaterials with uniquely designed dispersion. We develop a design methodology for realizing sub-wavelength ray optics, and demonstrate lambda/10 width light beams flow through three-dimensional space.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2006

Theory of optical imaging beyond the diffraction limit with a far-field superlens

Recent theoretical and experimental studies have shown that imaging with resolution well beyond the diffraction limit can be obtained with so-called superlenses. Images formed by such superlenses are, however, in the near field only, or a fraction of wavelength away from the lens. In this paper, we propose a far-field superlens (FSL) device which is composed of a planar superlens with periodical corrugation. We show in theory that when an object is placed in close proximity of such a FSL, a unique image can be formed in far-field. As an example, we demonstrate numerically that images of 40 nm lines with a 30 nm gap can be obtained from far-field data with properly designed FSL working at 376nm wavelength.

physics.optics↗