<p> Over the last two decades, the emergence of quantum information science has uncovered many practical applications in areas such as communications, imaging, and sensing where harnessing quantum features of Nature provides tremendous benefits over existing methods exploiting classical physical phenomena. In this effort, one of the frontiers of research has been to identify and utilize quantum phenomena that are not susceptible to environmental and parasitic noise processes. Quantum photonics has been at the forefront of these studies because it allows room-temperature access to its inherently quantum-mechanical features, and allows leveraging the mature telecommunication industry. Accompanying the weak environmental influence, however, are also weak optical nonlinearities. Efficient nonlinear optical interactions are indispensible for many of the existing protocols for quantum optical computation and communication, e.g. high-fidelity entangling quantum logic gates rely on large nonlinear responses at the one- or few-photon-level. </p><p> While this has been addressed to a great extent by interfacing photons with single quantum emitters and cold atomic gases, scalability has remained elusive. In this work, we identify the macroscopic second-order nonlinear polarization as a robust platform to address this challenge, and utilize the recent advances in the burgeoning field of optical microcavities to enhance this nonlinear response. In particular, we show theoretically that by using the quantum Zeno effect, low-noise, single-photon-level optical nonlinearities can be realized in lithium niobate whispering-gallery-mode microcavities, and present experimental progress toward this goal. Using the measured strength of the second-order nonlinear response in lithium niobate, we modeled the nonlinear system in the strong coupling regime using the Schr&ouml;dinger picture framework and theoretically demonstrated that the single-photon-level operation can be observed for cavity lifetimes in excess of 500 ns for all the three waves in the interaction, provided a cavity of radius <i>R </i> &lt; 10 &mu;m is fabricated. </p><p> Experimentally, we showed that the absorption-limited quality (<i> Q</i>) factors for lithium niobate, <i>Q_intrinsic</i> &ap; 10⁸, can be achieved using diamond-turning methods for disk radii, <i>R</i> > 100 &mu;m, whereas for the smaller disks, additional rigorous polishing may be required. We also fabricated resonators as small as <i>R</i> &sim; 40 &mu;m via this method. In a millimeter-sized resonator, we experimentally demonstrated triply resonant sum-frequency generation, which allowed for an observation of the classical manifestation of the quantum Zeno effect, wherein line-splitting occurs due to the high efficiency intracavity frequency conversion. For the sub-100 &mu;m resonators, we present phase-matching calculations and dispersion-management techniques using analytical approximations and rigorous finite-element-method simulations. Experimentally, <i>Q </i>-factor measurements are shown, and we identify the specific short-comings of the fabrication procedure that may have led to the lower, surface-roughness-limited <i> Q</i>-factors. Finally, we identify pathways toward achieving the single-photon-level nonlinear optics using off-resonant nonlinear optics, which requires the simultaneous realization of phase-matching, large cavity lifetimes, and small mode volumes. We believe this would be feasible in the near future as more advanced fabrication and processing methods are developed for crystalline materials and novel nonlinear crystals are synthesized.</p>

This dissertation focuses on four problems: stretching and stirring in chaotic flows, aggregation in chaotic and regular flows, diffusion and reaction in lamellar structures, and breakup in chaotic flows. Stretching and stirring in chaotic flows is simulated for O(10$\sp5$) material points and is modelled as the product of multipliers, defined as the ratios between stretchings accumulated by the points during successive periods. As expected for chaotic flows, the mean stretching increases exponentially with time. The probability density function of multipliers converges--in just two periods or so--to a time-invariant distribution, producing distributions of stretching that become self-similar in about ten periods. Aggregation is simulated in a simple shear flow and in a chaotic flow. The motion of the particles is due solely to the flow; particles aggregate each time they come closer than a distance d. For simple shear flow, segregation is the main element in the dynamics. For extensive enough aggregation, the cluster mass distribution becomes independent of d and exhibits scaling behavior. Chaotic flows continuously destroy segregation and generate "well-mixed" conditions, and under these circumstances a mean field Smoluchowski equation predicts the cluster size distribution, which is self-similar. Simulations of lamellar structures undergoing diffusion and reaction exhibit self-similar striation thickness distributions, allowing us to develop fractal kinetic models that predict the evolution of the concentration of reactants. For long times diffusion becomes the dominant process, the kinetic parameters become asymptotically irrelevant, and the average concentration of reactants C decays with a power law t$\sp{-1/4}$ for a wide range of reaction orders and reactions rate constants. Experiments on breakup of immiscible fluids in chaotic flows produce self-similar drop size distributions which belong to one of two different self-similar families: for low viscosity ratios, mean drop sizes decrease with increasing viscosity and/or shear rate; for higher viscosity ratios, drop size distributions become independent of fluid and/or flow parameters. Each family exhibits a different shape, presumably due to changes in the breakup mechanism. The presence of self-similar distributions in all these systems suggests that approaches based on self-similar concepts might have wide applicability in many other problems as well.

Multi-phase fluid systems are an important concept in fluid mechanics, seen every day in how fluids interact with solids, gases, and other fluids in many industrial, medical, agricultural, and other regimes. In this thesis, the development of a two-dimensional digital microfluidic device is presented, followed by the development of a two-phase microfluidic diagnostic tool designed to simulate sandstone geometries in oil reservoirs. In both instances, it is possible to take advantage of the physics involved in multiphase flows to affect positive outcomes in both. In order to make an effective droplet-based digital microfluidic device, one must be able to precisely control a number of key processes including droplet positioning, motion, coalescence, mixing, and sorting. For planar or open microfluidic devices, many of these processes have yet to be demonstrated. A suitable platform for an open system is a superhydrophobic surface, as suface characteristics are critical. Great efforts have been spent over the last decade developing hydrophobic surfaces exhibiting very large contact angles with water, and which allow for high droplet mobility. We demonstrate that sanding Teflon can produce superhydrophobic surfaces with advancing contact angles of up to 151° and contact angle hysteresis of less than 4°. We use these surfaces to characterize droplet coalescence, mixing, motion, deflection, positioning, and sorting. This research culminates with the presentation of two digital microfluidic devices: a droplet reactor/analyzer and a droplet sorter. As global energy usage increases, maximizing oil recovery from known reserves becomes a crucial multiphase challenge in order to meet the rising demand. This thesis presents the development of a microfluidic sandstone platform capable of quickly and inexpensively testing the performance of fluids with different rheological properties on the recovery of oil. Specifically, these microfluidic devices are utilized to examine how shear-thinning, shear-thickening, and viscoelastic fluids affect oil recovery. This work begins by looking at oil displacement from a microfluidic sandstone device, then investigates small-scale oil recovery from a single pore, and finally investigates oil displacement from larger scale, more complex microfluidic sandstone devices of varying permeability. The results demonstrate that with careful fluid design, it is possible to outperform current commercial additives using the patent-pending fluid we developed. Furthermore, the resulting microfluidic sandstone devices can reduce the time and cost of developing and testing of current and new enhanced oil recovery fluids.

Nowadays, for nanoelectronic devices, inter-atomic interactions and quantum effects are becoming increasingly important. For time dependent problem, such as high frequency electronics responses, or optical responses, the description of the system behaviour necessitates insights on the time dependent electron dynamics. In this dissertation, we proposed new effective modelling and numerical schemes to address the problem of time-dependent quantum simulations. An all-electron realspace real-time framework and TDDFT/ALDA type calculations are used for obtaining time dependent properties of molecules and nanostructures. Direct Hamiltonian diagonalizations are performed by using the innovative linear scaling eigenvalue solver FEAST. The spectral propagation schemes enable us to have much longer time steps, and it has been proven to be stable and highly scalable. A MPI parallel computing architecture is implemented, large monocles and nanostructures can be simulated in timely manner, which gives our model great advantage over traditional TDDFT calculation schemes. Optical absorption spectrum of small molecules are calculated and compared directly with the experimental values. Our results shows good agreement with experiments for a large selection of molecules. Finally, we apply our modelling and numerical schemes to study the (5,5) metallic Carbon Nanotubes, we successfully obtain the ―-and ← electrons plasmon which has been measured in experiments. Also, for the first time, we found the 1-D Luttinger liquid plasmon in 5 unit cell (5,5) CNT, whose plasmon velocity is consistent with other theoretical calculations.

<p>The power quality of modern society relies on the electrical properties of the dielectric insulators used in the power industry. Much research work has been conducted with an aim to understand and predict the insulating behaviour of such materials under different kinds of atmospheric conditions, but still there are many unsolved problems. In particular, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the electrohydrodynamic and electrophysical processes at the insulator surface and the surrounding medium. No detailed knowledge exists at present of the processes governing the development of electrical discharges along the surface of insulators.</p><p>With an aim to enhance the knowledge in this field in general and on the electrical performance of outdoor insulators in particular a detailed study of the positive streamer discharges in air and along dielectric surfaces was conducted. The study was also extended to gain more knowledge on the water drop initiated electrical discharges in air and the attachment of natural lightning flashes to a Franklin conductor.</p><p>In the first phase, the study was focused on positive streamer discharges propagating in air. The spatial distribution of the charge of a branched streamer discharge was obtained and the charge contained in a single streamer branch was quantified. In the second phase measurements and simulations of streamer discharges propagating along insulating surfaces were conducted with an aim to understand how the insulating surfaces interact with streamer discharges. In addition to quantifying the parameters of streamer discharges propagating along insulating surfaces, the results of these studies made it possible to separate and quantify the effects of the dielectric constant and the surface properties on the streamer discharges. In the third phase a comprehensive computer algorithm was developed to simulate 3-dimensional propagation of positive streamer discharges in air and along dielectric surfaces taking into account the branching effect. </p><p>The conditions necessary for the initiation of streamer discharges were applied to obtain the minimum strength of the background electric field required to initiate electrical discharges in the presence of water drops. In particular the study provided an explanation of how lightning flashes are initiated in thunderclouds in background electric fields as low as 200 kV/m. Finally, the study was extended to understand the performance of lightning conductors paying special attention to the influence of conductor radius and the streamer inception criterion.</p>

<p>The optical properties of electrochromic materials can be changed by application of an electrical voltage. The conventional electrochromic device consists of several thin films of electrochromic materials and layers for electron- and ion conduction. The ion conductor in devices intended for applications using visible light is often a polymer electrolyte that is used to laminate two half-cells together. The miniaturization of satellites has led to reduced mass and volume available for systems to handle temperature variations onboard. The satellite will be submitted to large variations in the radiating environment in an earth bound orbit. An electrochromic device could provide adaptable radiation exchange due to its variable infrared optical properties. The polymer electrolyte is not a desirable component in the space environment, but it can be replaced by an inorganic thin film so that an all-thin-film (ATF) device is obtained. </p><p>This thesis investigates the optical properties of amorphous and crystalline WO₃, as well as the performance of ATF devices with sputtered ZrO₂ as the ion conductor. The infrared reflectance for Li-intercalated WO₃ has been measured in the wavelength range 2-50 mm. The near infrared absorption for low intercalation levels showed good agreement with large polaron theory. The infrared reflectance increased with higher intercalation levels and exhibited a free-electron behaviour. The infrared reflectance of a laminated device with polymer electrolyte was measured, and the calculated emittance varied between 0.56 and 0.65. The ATF device consisted of thin films of WO₃, ZrO₂ and NiV_xO_yH_z, as well as evaporated Al top contacts. The substrates were commercial ITO on glass. The emittance for different device designs was calculated from reflectance measurements, and could be varied between 0.33 and 0.59. This makes them strong contenders to other contemporary emittance modulating devices.</p>

<p>In this thesis permanent magnet direct drive generator for power conversion from water currents is studied. Water currents as a power source involves a number of constrains as well as possibilities, especially when direct drive and permanent magnets are considered. The high power fluxes and low current velocities of a water current, in combination with its natural variations, will affect the way the generator is operated and, flowingly, the appearance of the generator. The work in this thesis can, thus, be categorized into two general topics, generator technology and optimization. Under the first topic, fundamental generator technology is used to increase the efficiency of a water current generator. Under the latter topic, water current generators are optimized to a specific environment. The conclusion drawn from this work is that it is possible to design very low speed direct drive generators with good electromagnetic properties and wide efficiency peak.</p>

The power quality of modern society relies on the electrical properties of the dielectric insulators used in the power industry. Much research work has been conducted with an aim to understand and predict the insulating behaviour of such materials under different kinds of atmospheric conditions, but still there are many unsolved problems. In particular, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the electrohydrodynamic and electrophysical processes at the insulator surface and the surrounding medium. No detailed knowledge exists at present of the processes governing the development of electrical discharges along the surface of insulators. With an aim to enhance the knowledge in this field in general and on the electrical performance of outdoor insulators in particular a detailed study of the positive streamer discharges in air and along dielectric surfaces was conducted. The study was also extended to gain more knowledge on the water drop initiated electrical discharges in air and the attachment of natural lightning flashes to a Franklin conductor. In the first phase, the study was focused on positive streamer discharges propagating in air. The spatial distribution of the charge of a branched streamer discharge was obtained and the charge contained in a single streamer branch was quantified. In the second phase measurements and simulations of streamer discharges propagating along insulating surfaces were conducted with an aim to understand how the insulating surfaces interact with streamer discharges. In addition to quantifying the parameters of streamer discharges propagating along insulating surfaces, the results of these studies made it possible to separate and quantify the effects of the dielectric constant and the surface properties on the streamer discharges. In the third phase a comprehensive computer algorithm was developed to simulate 3-dimensional propagation of positive streamer discharges in air and along dielectric surfaces taking into account the branching effect. The conditions necessary for the initiation of streamer discharges were applied to obtain the minimum strength of the background electric field required to initiate electrical discharges in the presence of water drops. In particular the study provided an explanation of how lightning flashes are initiated in thunderclouds in background electric fields as low as 200 kV/m. Finally, the study was extended to understand the performance of lightning conductors paying special attention to the influence of conductor radius and the streamer inception criterion.

The optical properties of electrochromic materials can be changed by application of an electrical voltage. The conventional electrochromic device consists of several thin films of electrochromic materials and layers for electron- and ion conduction. The ion conductor in devices intended for applications using visible light is often a polymer electrolyte that is used to laminate two half-cells together. The miniaturization of satellites has led to reduced mass and volume available for systems to handle temperature variations onboard. The satellite will be submitted to large variations in the radiating environment in an earth bound orbit. An electrochromic device could provide adaptable radiation exchange due to its variable infrared optical properties. The polymer electrolyte is not a desirable component in the space environment, but it can be replaced by an inorganic thin film so that an all-thin-film (ATF) device is obtained. This thesis investigates the optical properties of amorphous and crystalline WO3, as well as the performance of ATF devices with sputtered ZrO2 as the ion conductor. The infrared reflectance for Li-intercalated WO3 has been measured in the wavelength range 2-50 mm. The near infrared absorption for low intercalation levels showed good agreement with large polaron theory. The infrared reflectance increased with higher intercalation levels and exhibited a free-electron behaviour. The infrared reflectance of a laminated device with polymer electrolyte was measured, and the calculated emittance varied between 0.56 and 0.65. The ATF device consisted of thin films of WO3, ZrO2 and NiVxOyHz, as well as evaporated Al top contacts. The substrates were commercial ITO on glass. The emittance for different device designs was calculated from reflectance measurements, and could be varied between 0.33 and 0.59. This makes them strong contenders to other contemporary emittance modulating devices.

In this thesis permanent magnet direct drive generator for power conversion from water currents is studied. Water currents as a power source involves a number of constrains as well as possibilities, especially when direct drive and permanent magnets are considered. The high power fluxes and low current velocities of a water current, in combination with its natural variations, will affect the way the generator is operated and, flowingly, the appearance of the generator. The work in this thesis can, thus, be categorized into two general topics, generator technology and optimization. Under the first topic, fundamental generator technology is used to increase the efficiency of a water current generator. Under the latter topic, water current generators are optimized to a specific environment. The conclusion drawn from this work is that it is possible to design very low speed direct drive generators with good electromagnetic properties and wide efficiency peak.