Search Results (8)

Powerlines are strategic infrastructures for the Italian electro-energetic network, and natural threats represent a potential risk that may influence their operativity and functionality. Geo-hydrological hazards triggered by heavy rainfall, such as shallow landslides, have historically affected electrical infrastructure networks, causing pylon failures and extensive blackouts. In this work, an application of the reworked version of the model proposed by Borga et al. and Tarolli et al. for rainfall-induced shallow landslide hazard assessment is presented. The revised model is called SLEM (Shallow Landslide Express Model) and is designed to merge in a closed-from equation the infinite slope stability with a simplified hydrogeological model. SLEM was written in Python language to automatise the parameter calculations, and a new strategy for evaluating the Dynamic Contributing Area (DCA) and its dependence on the initial soil moisture condition was included. The model was tested for the case study basin of Trebbia River, in the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy) which in the recent past experienced severe episodes of geo-hydrological hazards. The critical rainfall ratio (r_crit) able to trigger slope instability prediction was validated against the available local rainfall threshold curves, showing good performance skills. The rainfall return time (TR) was calculated from r_crit identifying the most hazardous area across the Trebbia basin with respect to the position of powerlines. TR was interpreted as an index of the magnitude of the geo-hydrological events considering the hypothesis of iso-frequency with precipitation. Thanks to its fast computing, the critical rainfall conditions, the temporal recurrence and the location of the most vulnerable powerlines are identified by the model. SLEM is designed to carry out risk analysis useful for defining infrastructure resilience plans and for implementing mitigation strategies against geo-hazards. Full article

Electromagnetic field confinement is significant in enhancing light-matter interactions as well as in reducing footprints of photonic devices especially in Terahertz (THz). Polaritons offer a promising platform for the manipulation of light at the deep sub-wavelength scale. However, traditional THz polariton materials lack active tuning and anisotropic propagation simultaneously. In this paper, we design a graphene/α-MoO₃ heterostructure and simulate polariton hybridization between isotropic graphene plasmon polaritons and anisotropic α-MoO₃ phonon polaritons. The physical fundamentals for polariton hybridizations depend on the evanescent fields coupling originating from the constituent materials as well as the phase match condition, which can be severely affected by the α-MoO₃ thickness and actively tuned by the gate voltages. Hybrid polaritons propagate with in-plane anisotropy that exhibit momentum dispersion characterized by elliptical, hyperboloidal and even flattened iso-frequency contours (IFCs) in the THz range. Our results provide a tunable and flexible anisotropic polariton platform for THz sensing, imaging, and modulation. Full article

We consider isofrequency pairing of geodesic orbits that share the same three orbital frequencies associated with ${\Omega }^{\widehat{r}}$, ${\Omega }^{\widehat{\phi }}$, and ${\Omega }^{\widehat{\omega }}$ in a particular region of parameter space around black string spacetime geometry. We study the effect of a compact extra spatial dimension on the isofrequency pairing of geodesic orbits and show that such orbits would occur in the allowed region when particles move along the black string. We find that the presence of the compact extra dimension leads to an increase in the number of the isofrequency pairing of geodesic orbits. Interestingly we also find that isofrequency pairing of geodesic orbits in the region of parameter space cannot be realized beyond the critical value ${\mathcal{J}}_{cr}\approx 0.096$ of the conserved quantity of the motion arising from the compact extra spatial dimension. Full article

A stratiform hyperbolic metamaterial comprises multiple units of symmetrical metal-dielectric film, stacked to have a precisely equivalent refractive index, admittance, and iso-frequency curve. A metamaterial that is composed of stacks of symmetrical films as a waveguide to couple a diffracted wave into a horizontally propagating plasmonic wave is designed herein. By tuning the parameters of the constituent thin films within a hyperbolic metamaterial, both the loss of the plasmonic wave and admittance matching are minimized and optimized, respectively. Full article

Based on in-plane anisotropy of black phosphorus (BP), anisotropic photonics topological transition (PTT) can be achieved by the proposed hyperbolic metamaterials structure, which is composed of alternating BP/SiO₂ multilayer. Through effective medium theory and calculated iso-frequency contour, PTT can be found by carefully choosing the incident plane and other parameters. With the finite element method and transfer matrix method, a narrow angular optical transparency window with angular full width at half maximum of 1.32° exists at PTT. By changing the working wavelength, thickness of SiO₂, or electron doping of black phosphorus, the incident plane of realizing PTT can be modulated, and anisotropic PTT is achieved. Full article

We describe novel topological phases of isofrequency k-space surfaces in bianisotropic optical materials—tri- and tetrahyperbolic materials—which are induced by the introduction of chirality. This completes the classification of isofrequency topologies for bianisotropic materials, as we showed that all optical materials belong to one of the following topological classes—tetra-, tri-, bi-, mono-, or nonhyperbolic. We showed that phase transitions between these classes occur in the k-space directions with zero group velocity at high k-vectors. This classification is based on the sets of high-k polaritons (HKPs), supported by materials. We obtained the equation describing these sets and characterized the longitudinal polarization-impedance of HKPs. Full article

In this work, a stratiform metamaterial is arranged as multiple periods of metal-dielectric symmetrical film stack to provide precise equivalent refractive index and admittance. There are multiple solutions of equivalent refractive index retrieved from the characteristic matrix of the film stack. The correct refractive index is derived by connecting different branches of solution at different ranges of wavelength or thickness of the dielectric layer. The refractive index of an Ag-TiO₂ five-layered symmetrical film stack shown in previous work is demonstrated to be positive real instead of negative real. The associated type I iso-frequency curve supports negative refraction. In order to extend the operating wavelength of type I metamaterial, the number of the metal-dielectric symmetrical film stack is increased to reduce the thickness of the dielectric film to approach subwavelength requirement. Full article

Topological transition of the iso-frequency contour (IFC) from a closed ellipsoid to an open hyperboloid provides unique capabilities for controlling the propagation of light. However, the ability to actively tune these effects remains elusive, and the related experimental observations are highly desirable. Here, a tunable electric IFC in a periodic structure composed of graphene/dielectric multilayers is investigated by tuning the chemical potential of the graphene layer. Specially, we present the actively controlled transportation in two kinds of anisotropic zero-index media containing perfect electric conductor/perfect magnetic conductor impurities. Finally, by adding variable capacitance diodes into a two-dimensional transmission-line system, we present an experimental demonstration of the actively controlled magnetic topological transition of dispersion based on electrically controllable metamaterials. With the increase in voltage, we measure the different emission patterns from a point source inside the structure and observe the phase-transition process of IFCs. The realization of an actively tuned topological transition will open up a new avenue in the dynamical control of metamaterials. Full article