• Formation and Eruption of Hot Channels during an M6.5 Class Solar Flare

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We investigate the formation and eruption of hot channels associated with the M6.5 class flare (SOL2015-06-22T18:23) occurring in NOAA AR 12371 on 2015 June 22. Two flare precursors are observed before the flare main phase. Observations in 94 {\AA} and 131 {\AA} by SDO/AIA have revealed the early morphology of the first hot channel as a group of hot loops, which is termed as seed hot channel. A few seed hot channels are formed above the polarity inversion line (PIL) and the formation is associated with footpoint brightenings' parallel motion along the PIL, which proceeds into the early stage of the flare main phase. During this process, seed hot channels build up and rise slowly, being accelerated at the peak of the second precursor. They merge in the process of acceleration forming a larger hot channel, which then forms an "inverted {\gamma}" shape kinking structure. Before the flare peak, the second kinking hot channel with negative crossing appears near the first kinking hot channel that has erupted. The eruption of these two hot channels produce two peaks on the main flare's GOES light curve. The footpoint brightenings' propagation along the PIL indicate that the first kinking hot channel may be formed due to zipper reconnection. The occurrence of merging between seed hot channels observed by AIA is supported by the extrapolated nonlinear force-free field models. The observed writhing motion of the first kinking hot channel may be driven by the Lorentz force.

  • Formation and Eruption of Hot Channels during an M6.5 Class Solar Flare

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We investigate the formation and eruption of hot channels associated with the M6.5 class flare (SOL2015-06-22T18:23) occurring in NOAA AR 12371 on 2015 June 22. Two flare precursors are observed before the flare main phase. Observations in 94 {\AA} and 131 {\AA} by SDO/AIA have revealed the early morphology of the first hot channel as a group of hot loops, which is termed as seed hot channel. A few seed hot channels are formed above the polarity inversion line (PIL) and the formation is associated with footpoint brightenings' parallel motion along the PIL, which proceeds into the early stage of the flare main phase. During this process, seed hot channels build up and rise slowly, being accelerated at the peak of the second precursor. They merge in the process of acceleration forming a larger hot channel, which then forms an "inverted {\gamma}" shape kinking structure. Before the flare peak, the second kinking hot channel with negative crossing appears near the first kinking hot channel that has erupted. The eruption of these two hot channels produce two peaks on the main flare's GOES light curve. The footpoint brightenings' propagation along the PIL indicate that the first kinking hot channel may be formed due to zipper reconnection. The occurrence of merging between seed hot channels observed by AIA is supported by the extrapolated nonlinear force-free field models. The observed writhing motion of the first kinking hot channel may be driven by the Lorentz force.

  • A perspective of twisted photonic structures

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Moire superlattices-twisted van der Waals (vdW) structures with small angles-are attracting increasing attention in condensed matter physics, due to important phenomena revealed therein, including unconventional superconductivity, correlated insulating states, and ferromagnetism. Moire superlattices are typically comprised of atomic layers of vdW materials where the exotic physics arises from the quantum electronic coupling between adjacent atomic layers. Recently, moire electronics has motivated their photonic counterparts. In addition to vdW materials, twisted photonic systems can also be comprised of metamaterials, metasurfaces, and photonic crystals, mediated by interlayer electromagnetic coupling instead. The interplay between short-ranged interlayer quantum and long-ranged electromagnetic coupling in twisted structures are expected to yield rich phenomena in nano-optics. This perspective reviews recent progress in twisted structures for nanophotonics and outlooks emerging topics, opportunities, fundamental challenges, and potential applications.

  • Partial Eruption, Confinement, and Twist Buildup and Release of a Double-decker Filament

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We investigate the failed partial eruption of a filament system in NOAA AR 12104 on 2014 July 5, using multiwavelength EUV, magnetogram, and H$\alpha$ observations, as well as magnetic field modeling. The filament system consists of two almost co-spatial segments with different end points, both resembling a C shape. Following an ejection and a precursor flare related to flux cancellation, only the upper segment rises and then displays a prominent twisted structure, while rolling over toward its footpoints. The lower segment remains undisturbed, indicating that the system possesses a double-decker structure. The erupted segment ends up with a reverse-C shape, with material draining toward its footpoints, while losing its twist. Using the flux rope insertion method, we construct a model of the source region that qualitatively reproduces key elements of the observed evolution. At the eruption onset, the model consists of a flux rope atop a flux bundle with negligible twist, which is consistent with the observational interpretation that the filament possesses a double-decker structure. The flux rope reaches the critical height of the torus instability during its initial relaxation, while the lower flux bundle remains in stable equilibrium. The eruption terminates when the flux rope reaches a dome-shaped quasi-separatrix layer that is reminiscent of a magnetic fan surface, although no magnetic null is found. The flux rope is destroyed by reconnection with the confining overlying flux above the dome, transferring its twist in the process.

  • A perspective on meta-boundaries

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The judicious design of electromagnetic boundary provides a crucial route to control light-matter interactions, and it is thus fundamental to basic science and practical applications. General design approaches rely on the manipulation of bulk properties of superstrate or substrate and on the modification of boundary geometries. Due to the recent advent of metasurfaces and low-dimensional materials, the boundary can be flexibly featured with a surface conductivity, which can be rather complex but provide an extra degree of freedom to regulate the propagation of light. In this perspective, we denote the boundary with a non-zero surface conductivity as the meta-boundary. The meta-boundaries are categorized into four types, namely isotropic, anisotropic, biisotropic and bianisotropic meta-boundaries, according to the electromagnetic boundary conditions. Accordingly, the latest development for these four kinds of meta-boundaries are reviewed. Finally, an outlook on the research tendency of meta-boundaries is provided, particularly on the manipulation of light-matter interactions by simultaneously exploiting meta-boundaries and metamaterials.

  • Recent advances of transition radiation: fundamentals and applications

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Transition radiation is a fundamental process of light emission and occurs whenever a charged particle moves across an inhomogeneous region. One feature of transition radiation is that it can create light emission at arbitrary frequency under any particle velocity. Therefore, transition radiation is of significant importance to both fundamental science and practical applications. In this paper, we provide a brief historical review of transition radiation and its recent development. Moreover, we pay special attention to four typical applications of transition radiation, namely the detection of high-energy particles, coherent radiation sources, beam diagnosis, and excitation of surface waves. Finally, we give an outlook for the research tendency of transition radiation, especially its flexible manipulation by exploiting artificially-engineered materials and nanostructures, such as gain materials, metamaterials, spatial-temporal materials, meta-boundaries, and layered structures with a periodic or non-periodic stacking.

  • Free-electron Brewster radiation

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Free-electron radiation offers an enticing route to create light emission at arbitrary spectral regime. However, this type of light emission is generally weak, which is intrinsically limited by the weak particle-matter interaction and unavoidably impedes the development of many promising applications, such as the miniaturization of free-electron radiation sources and high-energy particle detectors. Here we reveal a mechanism to enhance the particle-matter interaction by exploiting the pseudo-Brewster effect of gain materials - presenting an enhancement of at least four orders of magnitude for the light emission. This mechanism is enabled by the emergence of an unprecedented phase diagram that maps all phenomena of free-electron radiation into three distinct phases in a gain-thickness parameter space, namely the conventional, intermediate, and Brewster phases, when an electron penetrates a dielectric slab with a modest gain and a finite thickness. Essentially, our revealed mechanism corresponds to the free-electron radiation in the Brewster phase, which also uniquely features ultrahigh directionality, always at the Brewster angle, regardless of the electron velocity. Counterintuitively, we find that the intensity of this free-electron Brewster radiation is insensitive to the Fabry-Perot resonance condition and thus the variation of slab thickness, and moreover, a weaker gain could lead to a stronger enhancement for the light emission. The scheme of free-electron Brewster radiation, especially along with its compatibility with low-energy electrons, may enable the development of high-directionality high-intensity light sources at any frequency.

  • Low-velocity-favored transition radiation

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: When a charged particle penetrates through an optical interface, photon emissions emerge - a phenomenon known as transition radiation. Being paramount to fundamental physics, transition radiation has enabled many applications from high-energy particle identification to novel light sources. A rule of thumb in transition radiation is that the radiation intensity generally decreases with the particle velocity v; as a result, low-energy particles are not favored in practice. Here we find that there exist situations where transition radiation from particles with extremely low velocities (e.g. v/c<0.001) exhibits comparable intensity as that from high-energy particles (e.g. v/c=0.999), where c is light speed in free space. The comparable radiation intensity implies an extremely high photon extraction efficiency from low-energy particles, up to eight orders of magnitude larger than that from high-energy particles. This exotic phenomenon of low-velocity-favored transition radiation originates from the excitation of Ferrell-Berreman modes in epsilon-near-zero materials. Our findings may provide a promising route towards the design of integrated light sources based on low-energy electrons and specialized detectors for beyond-standard-model particles.

  • Dipole-matter interactions governed by the asymmetry of Maxwell equations

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Directionally molding the near-field and far-field radiation lies at the heart of nanophotonics and is crucial for applications such as on-chip information processing and chiral quantum networks. The most fundamental model for radiating structures is a dipolar source located inside a homogeneous matter. However, the influence of matter on the directionality of dipolar radiation is oftentimes overlooked, especially for the near-field radiation. We show that the dipole-matter interaction is intrinsically asymmetric and does not fulfill the duality principle, originating from the inherent asymmetry of Maxwell equations, i.e., electric charge and current are ubiquitous but their magnetic counterparts are non-existent to elusive. Moreover, we find that the asymmetric dipole-matter interaction could offer an enticing route to reshape the directionality of not only the near-field radiation but also the far-field radiation. As an example, both the near-field and far-field radiation directionality of Huygens dipole (located close to a dielectric-metal interface) would be reversed, if the dipolar position is changed from the dielectric region to the metal region.