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Standing Waves in a Cavity

Standing Waves in a Cavity

A household microwave and lasers are examples of standing electromagnetic waves in a cavity. When two conducting metal plates are placed parallel at the nodal planes, it creates a cavity where standing waves are formed. The cavity between the two planes is analogous to a stretched string held at the points x = 0 and x = L. Here, the distance 'L' between the two planes must be an integer multiple of half of the wavelength. The wavelengths that satisfy this condition are given by:

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The starting point for expressing the modes of standing waves is understanding the boundary conditions that the waves must follow. The boundary conditions are derived from the physical understanding of how the standing waves are sustained, that is, how the vibrating particles of the medium behave at the boundaries imposed on them.
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A close look at earthquakes provides evidence for the conditions appropriate for resonance, standing waves, and constructive and destructive interference. A building may vibrate for several seconds with a driving frequency matching the building's natural frequency of vibration; this produces a resonance that results in one building collapsing while the neighboring buildings do not. Often, buildings of a certain height are devastated, while other taller buildings remain intact. This phenomenon...

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Evaluating Plasmonic Transport in Current-carrying Silver Nanowires

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Published on: December 11, 2013

Novel complex modes in asymmetrical nanoscale plasmonic waveguides.

Nikolai Berkovitch¹, Meir Orenstein, Stephen G Lipson

¹EE Department, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel. nikolaib@tx.technion.ac.il

|October 30, 2008

Summary

Highly asymmetrical plasmonic waveguides guide light below cut-off dimensions. A new method reveals complex guided modes, aiding nanoscale plasmonic guiding in lossy photonics.

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Area of Science:

Photonics and Plasmonics
Nanotechnology

Background:

Plasmonic waveguides are crucial for nanoscale light manipulation.
Guiding light below theoretical cut-off dimensions remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the guiding properties of highly asymmetrical plasmonic waveguides.
To discover new modes that enable sub-wavelength guiding.

Main Methods:

Employing the effective index method.
Analyzing asymmetrical waveguides with losses.

Main Results:

Discovery of a new family of discrete complex guided modes.
Demonstration of guiding below expected cut-off dimensions.
Identification of modes with real effective index lower than substrate index.

Conclusions:

Highly asymmetrical plasmonic waveguides facilitate sub-wavelength guiding.
The identified complex modes can assist in nano plasmonic guiding.
These modes are also observable in regular lossy photonic structures.