Subwavelength Sensing Using Nonlinear Feedback in a Wave-Chaotic Cavity
Abstract
Typical imaging systems rely on the interactions of matter with electromagnetic radiation which can lead to scattered waves that are radiated away from the imaging area. The goal such an imaging device is to collect these radiated waves and focus them onto a measurement detector that is sensitive to the wave's properties such as wavelength (or color) and intensity. The detector's measurements of the scattered fields are then used to reconstruct spatial information about the original matter such as its shape or location. However, when a scattered wave is collected by the imaging device, it diffracts and interferes with itself. The resulting interference pattern can blur spatial information of the reconstructed image. This leads to a so-called diffraction limit, which describes the minimum sizes of spatial features on a scatterer that can be resolved using conventional imaging techniques. The diffraction limit scales with the wavelength of the illuminating field, where the limit for conventional imaging with visible light is approximately 200 nm. Investigating subwavelength objects (<) requires more advanced measurement techniques, and improving the resolving capabilities of imaging devices continues to be an active area of research. Here, I describe a new sensing technique for resolving the position of a subwavelength scatterer (< ) with vastly subwavelength resolution (<<). My approach combines two separate fields of scientific inquiry: time-delayed nonlinear feedback and wave chaos. In typical time-delayed nonlinear feedback systems, the output of a nonlinear device is delayed and fed back to its input. In my experiment, the output of a radio-frequency (15 cm) nonlinear circuit is injected into a complex scattering environment known as a wave-chaotic cavity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA591236
Entities
People
- Seth D. Cohen
Organizations
- Duke University