Deposits of clastic carbonate-dominated (calciclastic) sedimentary slope systems in the rock record have been identified mostly as linearly-consistent carbonate apron deposits, even though most ancient clastic carbonate slope deposits fit the submarine fan systems better. Calciclastic submarine fans are consequently rarely described and are poorly understood. Subsequently, very little is known especially in mud-dominated calciclastic submarine fan systems. Presented in this study are a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) that reveals a >250 m thick calciturbidite complex deposited in a calciclastic submarine fan setting. Seven facies are recognised from core and thin section characterisation and are grouped into three carbonate turbidite sequences. They include: 1) Calciturbidites, comprising mostly of highto low-density, wavy-laminated bioclast-rich facies; 2) low-density densite mudstones which are characterised by planar laminated and unlaminated muddominated facies; and 3) Calcidebrites which are muddy or hyper-concentrated debrisflow deposits occurring as poorly-sorted, chaotic, mud-supported floatstones. These

Phd by thesis

We show that perfect absorption can be achieved in a system comprising a single lossy dielectric layer of thickness much smaller than the incident wavelength on an opaque substrate by utilizing the nontrivial phase shifts at interfaces between lossy media. This design is implemented with an ultra-thin (∼λ/65) vanadium dioxide (VO2) layer on sapphire, temperature tuned in the vicinity of the VO2 insulator-to-metal phase transition, leading to 99.75% absorption at λ = 11.6 μm. The structural simplicity and large tuning range (from ∼80% to 0.25% in reflectivity) are promising for thermal emitters, modulators, and bolometers.

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Ultra-thin perfect absorber employing a tunable phase change material

Homeland security and military defense technology considerations have stimulated intense interest in mobile, high power sources of millimeter-wave (mmw) to terahertz (THz) regime electromagnetic radiation, from 0.1 to 10THz. While vacuum electronic sources are a natural choice for high power, the challenges have yet to be completely met for applications including noninvasive sensing of concealed weapons and dangerous agents, high-data-rate communications, high resolution radar, next generation acceleration drivers, and analysis of fluids and condensed matter. The compact size requirements for many of these high frequency sources require miniscule, microfabricated slow wave circuits. This necessitates electron beams with tiny transverse dimensions and potentially very high current densities for adequate gain. Thus, an emerging family of microfabricated, vacuum electronic devices share many of the same plasma physics challenges that are currently confronting “classic” high power microwave (HPM) generators including long-life bright electron beam sources, intense beam transport, parasitic mode excitation, energetic electron interaction with surfaces, and rf air breakdown at output windows. The contemporary plasma physics and other related issues of compact, high power mmw-to-THz sources are compared and contrasted to those of HPM generation, and future research challenges and opportunities are discussed.

Plasma physics and related challenges of millimeter-wave-to-terahertz and high power microwave generationa)

Radar-absorbing materials are used in stealth technologies for concealment of an object from radar detection. Resistive and/or magnetic composite materials are used to reduce the backscattered microwave signals. Inability to control electrical properties of these materials, however, hinders the realization of active camouflage systems. Here, using large-area graphene electrodes, we demonstrate active surfaces that enable electrical control of reflection, transmission and absorption of microwaves. Instead of tuning bulk material property, our strategy relies on electrostatic tuning of the charge density on an atomically thin electrode, which operates as a tunable metal in microwave frequencies. Notably, we report large-area adaptive radar-absorbing surfaces with tunable reflection suppression ratio up to 50 dB with operation voltages <5 V. Using the developed surfaces, we demonstrate various device architectures including pixelated and curved surfaces. Our results provide a significant step in realization of active camouflage systems in microwave frequencies.

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Graphene-enabled electrically switchable radar-absorbing surfaces

/pdf/graphene-enabled-electrically-switchable-radar-absorbing-k7cvid4dx2.pdf

Graphene-enabled electrically switchable radar absorbing surfaces

Space-charge-limited (SCL) flows in diodes have been an area of active research since the pioneering work of Child and Langmuir in the early part of the last century. Indeed, the scaling of current density with the voltage to the 3/2’s power is one of the best-known limits in the fields of non-neutral plasma physics, accelerator physics, sheath physics, vacuum electronics, and high power microwaves. In the past five years, there has been renewed interest in the physics and characteristics of SCL emission in physically realizable configurations. This research has focused on characterizing the current and current density enhancement possible from two- and three-dimensional geometries, such as field-emitting arrays. In 1996, computational efforts led to the development of a scaling law that described the increased current drawn due to two-dimensional effects. Recently, this scaling has been analytically derived from first principles. In parallel efforts, computational work has characterized the edge enhancement of the current density, leading to a better understanding of the physics of explosive emission cathodes. In this paper, the analytic and computational extensions to the one-dimensional Child–Langmuir law will be reviewed, the accuracy of SCL emission algorithms will be assessed, and the experimental implications of multidimensional SCL flows will be discussed.

/pdf/beyond-the-child-langmuir-law-a-review-of-recent-results-on-2bpjrcgfmd.pdf

Beyond the Child–Langmuir law: A review of recent results on multidimensional space-charge-limited flow

Recent experiments at the University of Maryland using photoemission from a dispenser cathode have yielded some interesting results regarding the effects of the area of emission and of the ratio between the pulse length and the gap transit time on the amount of current that may be drawn from an electron gun before a virtual cathode forms. The experiments show that a much higher current density may be drawn from a short pulse or limited emitter area than is anticipated by the Child–Langmuir limiting current. There is also evidence that the current may be increased even after virtual cathode formation, which leads a distinction between a limiting current density and a current density critical for virtual cathode formation. The experiments have also yielded some interesting results on the longitudinal structure of the current pulse passed through the anode. Some empirical and theoretical scaling laws regarding the formation of virtual cathodes in an electron gun will be presented. This work was motivated by the needs of the University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER) [P. G. O’Shea, M. Reiser, R. A. Kishek et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 464, 646 (2001)] where the goal is to generate pulses that are well-localized in time and space.

/pdf/effects-of-pulse-length-and-emitter-area-on-virtual-cathode-4lj2umxroi.pdf

Effects of pulse-length and emitter area on virtual cathode formation in electron guns

With the use of a simple model, it is shown that a thin film of contaminant on a microwave window may absorb up to 50% of the incident power, even if the film thickness is only a small fraction of its resistive skin depth. This unexpectedly large amount of absorption is conjectured to have played a significant role in window failure. The temperature rise in a thin film is estimated.

Microwave absorption on a thin film

Universal voltage‐current characteristics are presented for a planar diode, showing the general transition from the Fowler–Nordheim relation to the Child–Langmuir law. These curves are normalized to the intrinsic scales that are constructed from the Fowler–Nordheim coefficients A, B. They provide an immediate assessment of the importance of the space charge effects, once the gap voltage, gap spacing, and the Fowler–Nordheim coefficients are specified. An example in the parameter regime of vacuum microelectronics is presented.

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Electron emission: From the Fowler–Nordheim relation to the Child–Langmuir law

It is found that the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) solutions for the space charge limited current density, for both cylindrical and spherical diodes, may be approximated by Japp =(4/9)e0(2e/m)1/2Ec3/2/D1/2 over a wide range of parameters, where Ec is the surface electric field on the cathode of the vacuum diode and D is the anode-cathode spacing. This dependence is valid whether Ra/Rc is greater than or less than unity, where Ra and Rc is respectively the anode and cathode radius. Minor empirical corrections to the above scaling yield fitting formulas that are accurate to within 2.5 percent for 0.002 <; Ra/Rc <; 30000. An explanation of this scaling based on the transit time or capacitor model is given.

https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/bitstream/10356/96015/1/Novel%20scaling%20laws%20for%20the%20Langmuir-Blodgett%20solutions%20in%20cylindrical%20and%20spherical%20diodes.pdf

Y.Y. Lau

Papers

Beyond the Child–Langmuir law: A review of recent results on multidimensional space-charge-limited flow

Effects of pulse-length and emitter area on virtual cathode formation in electron guns

Microwave absorption on a thin film

Electron emission: From the Fowler–Nordheim relation to the Child–Langmuir law

Novel scaling laws for the Langmuir-Blodgett solutions in cylindrical and spherical diode