Until now, few rigorous studies of the precursors in structures exhibiting superluminal group velocities have been performed. One dimensional photonic crystals(1DPC) and active Lorentzian media are among the ones which are able to exhibit superluminal propagation. In the first part of the thesis we have studied the evolution of the precursors in active Lorentzian media and 1DPC. The problem of the propagation of the precursors in active Lorentzian media is addressed, by employing the steepest descent method to provide a detailed description of the propagation of the pulse inside the dispersive medium in the time domain. The problem of the time and frequency evolution of the precursors in 1DPC is studied, using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) techniques in conjunction with joint time-frequency analysis (JTFA). Our study clearly shows that the precursor fields associated with superluminal pulse propagation travel at subluminal speeds. It is also shown that FDTD analysis and JTFA can be combined to study the dynamic evolution of the transient and steady state pulse propagation in dispersive media. The second part of the thesis concentrates on the applications of the precursors. An interesting property of the precursors is their lower than exponential attenuation rate inside a lossy dielectric, such as water. This property of the precursors has made them an interesting candidate for applications such as ground penetrating radar and underwater communication. It was recently pointed out that a pulse which is generated inside of water and assumes the shape of the Brillouin precursor would be optimally suited for long range propagation in water (described by the single-pole Debye model). Here, we have considered the optimal pulse propagation problem, accounting for the interaction of the pulse with the air/water interface at oblique incidence. In addition, we argue that pulse excitations which are rough approximation of the Brillouin precursor will eventually evolve into the Brillouin precursor itself shortly after they enter water. Therefore, the excitation of a long-propagating pulse is not sensitive to its shape. Finally, we studied the performance of the optimized pulse in terms of the energy of the scattered field from an object inside water. Based on the simulation results the optimized pulse scattered field has higher energy compared to pulses with the same energy and different temporal distribution. The FDTD technique is employed in all the simulations.

Until now, few rigorous studies of the precursors in structures exhibiting superluminal group velocities have been performed. One dimensional photonic crystals(1DPC) and active Lorentzian media are among the ones which are able to exhibit superluminal propagation. In the first part of the thesis we have studied the evolution of the precursors in active Lorentzian media and 1DPC. The problem of the propagation of the precursors in active Lorentzian media is addressed, by employing the steepest descent method to provide a detailed description of the propagation of the pulse inside the dispersive medium in the time domain. The problem of the time and frequency evolution of the precursors in 1DPC is studied, using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) techniques in conjunction with joint time-frequency analysis (JTFA). Our study clearly shows that the precursor fields associated with superluminal pulse propagation travel at subluminal speeds. It is also shown that FDTD analysis and JTFA can be combined to study the dynamic evolution of the transient and steady state pulse propagation in dispersive media. The second part of the thesis concentrates on the applications of the precursors. An interesting property of the precursors is their lower than exponential attenuation rate inside a lossy dielectric, such as water. This property of the precursors has made them an interesting candidate for applications such as ground penetrating radar and underwater communication. It was recently pointed out that a pulse which is generated inside of water and assumes the shape of the Brillouin precursor would be optimally suited for long range propagation in water (described by the single-pole Debye model). Here, we have considered the optimal pulse propagation problem, accounting for the interaction of the pulse with the air/water interface at oblique incidence. In addition, we argue that pulse excitations which are rough approximation of the Brillouin precursor will eventually evolve into the Brillouin precursor itself shortly after they enter water. Therefore, the excitation of a long-propagating pulse is not sensitive to its shape. Finally, we studied the performance of the optimized pulse in terms of the energy of the scattered field from an object inside water. Based on the simulation results the optimized pulse scattered field has higher energy compared to pulses with the same energy and different temporal distribution. The FDTD technique is employed in all the simulations.

The application of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method for the numerical analysis of complex electromagnetic problems related to wireless communications is considered. Since exact solutions to many complex electromagnetic problems are difficult, if not impossible, the FDTD method is well suited to modelling a wide range of electromagnetic problems. Structures considered include single and twin-slot antennas for millimetre-wave applications, monopole antennas on mobile handsets and chokes for the suppression of currents on coaxial cables. Memory efficient techniques were implemented for the split-field perfectly matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary condition. The frequency-domain far-field transformations were used for the calculation of far-field radiation patterns. Dipole, slot and mobile handset antenna benchmark problems verified the accuracy of the FDTD implementation. The application of slot antennas for millimetre-wave imaging arrays was investigated. An optimal feed network for an offset-fed single-slot antenna was designed for the X band with numerical and experimental results in excellent agreement. A twin-slot antenna structure reduced surface wave coupling by 7.6 dB in the substrate between coplanar waveguide-fed slot antenna elements in a planar array. The reduction of substrate surface waves for the twin-slot antenna allows for closer element spacings with less radiation pattern degradation in array applications. Suppression techniques for currents flowing on the exterior surface of coaxial cables were investigated. These include the use of ferrite beads and a quarter-wave sleeve balun. The frequency dependent behaviour of ferrite based chokes showed highly resonant effects which resulted in less than 5 dB of isolation at the resonant frequencies of the bead. An analysis of air-gaps between the ferrite bead and cable are shown to be extremely detrimental in the isolation characteristics of ferrite bead chokes. An air-gap of 0.5 mm can reduce the isolation effectiveness of a bead by 20 dB. The first rigorous analysis of a quarter-wave sleeve balun is presented, enabling an optimal choke design for maximum isolation. A standard 0.25[symbols] sleeve balun achieved 10.9 dB isolation with [symbols]=4, whereas a choke of optimal length 0.232[symbols] had an isolation of better than -20 dB. Several techniques for the measurement of antenna characteristics of battery powered handsets were compared and perturbation effects associated with the direct connection of a coaxial cable to a mobile handset was quantified. Significant perturbation in both return loss and radiation pattern can occur depending on cable location on the handset chassis. The effectiveness of ferrite chokes in any location was marginal. However, the application of an optimal quarter-wave sleeve balun in the centre of the largest plane of the handset, orthogonal to the primary polarisation resulted in minimal perturbation of both radiation patterns and return loss.

A full wave finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD) combined with thin-wire and thin-slot algorithms to analyze a metamaterial fabricated with periodic mushroom structures, is proposed in this dissertation. This proposed method is suitable for analyzing problems involving large structures with fine structural details. A periodic analysis for mushroom structures is presented. Only a single unit mushroom cell is required to present the phenomena of infinite periodicity with the help of periodic boundary conditions (PBCs). The composite right-/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) approach is introduced and used to approximate CRLH metamaterial through lumped L and C. Finally, several CRLH metamaterial mushroom-based structures are investigated. A 19 by 8 flat microwave lens and a parabolic microwave lens structure composed of 410 unit mushroom cells are investigated. These structures demonstrate negative refractive index (NRI) characteristics while operate in the left-hand (LH) region. The simulation and measurement results of one- and two-dimensional CRLH mushroom-based structures are compared.

New Quasi-optical sensor technology, based on the millimetre and submillimetre band of the electromagnetic spectrum, is actually being implemented for many commercial and scientific applications such as remote sensing, astronomy, collision avoidance radar, etc. These novel devices make use of integrated active and passive structures usually as planar arrays. The electromagnetic design and computer simulation of these new structures requires novel numerical techniques. The Finite Difference Time Domain method (FDTD) is well suited for the electromagnetic analysis of integrated devices using active non-linear elements, but is difficult to use for large and/or periodic structures. A rigorous revision of this popular numerical technique is performed in order to permit FDTD to model practical quasi-optical devices. The system impulse response or discrete Green's function (DGF) for FDTD is determined as a polynomial then the FDTD technique is reformulated as a convolution sum. This new alternative algorithm avoids Absorbing Boundary Conditions (ABC's) and can save large amounts of memory to model wire or slot structures. Many applications for the DGF can be foreseen, going beyond quasi-optical components. As an example, the exact ABC based on the DGF for FDTD is implemented for a single grid wall is presented. The problem of time domain analysis of planar periodic structures modelling only one periodic cell is also investigated. Simple Periodic Boundary Conditions (PBC) can be implemented for FDTD, but they can not handle periodic devices (such as phased shift arrays or dichroic screens) which produce fields periodic in a 4D basis (three spatial dimensions plus time). An extended FDTD scheme is presented which uses Lorentz type coordinate transformations to reduce the problem to 3D. The analysis of non-linear devices using FDTD is also considered in the thesis. In this case, the non linear devices are always model using an equivalent lumped element circuit. These circuits are introduced into the FDTD grid by means of the current density following an iterative implicit algorithm. As a demonstration of the technique a quasi-optically feed slot ring mixer with integral lens is designed for operation at 650 GHz.

The thesis which is hereby presented describes a study of the numerical modelling of the coupled interaction of nanostructures with electromagnetic fields in the range of microwaves. This is a very ambitious task and requires a thorough and rigorous implementation of new algorithms designed to this purpose. The first issue to be encountered is the characterisation and the physical understanding of the behaviour of a nanostructure. The term itself, nanostructure, defines any device which has a nanometric size in at least one dimension, regardless of its material and geometry, hence it is a very wide definition. Carbon Nanotubes (CNT), quantum dots and quantum wells fall into this category, for example, and in electronics these structures are generally composed of semiconductor materials, like Silicon or Gallium Arsenide. The first step to take, in order to model such objects from an electronics point of view, is to solve the Schrodinger equation. The Schrodinger equation is a very general formula, widely used in quantum physics, which, when provided with a certain electrical potential in a material, determines the behaviour of the electrons in this material. Needless to say, the electrical potential is the DNA of a material or, in other words, it is the physical property which affects the propagation of electrons and therefore makes a material conducting or non-conducting. Nanostructures are often composed of several materials, hence the potential is not constant and, with opportune geometries, it is possible, in principle, to guide the electron currents through the device, as, for example, a channel in a MOSFET. This principle holds for very small structures where the electron transport can be considered ballistic, i.e. when the structures are smaller than the free mean path of the particle. The behaviour of the electrons is affected both by external factors, such as temperature or applied electric and magnetic fields, and internal factors, such as the electron mobility or the doping concentration, which are dependent on the used materials. This parameters play a very important role whilst modelling the behaviour of particles such as electrons and in this work the main focus is the study of the impact of external electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic fields (EM fields) are composed of an electric field component and of a magnetic field component, which can be analysed separately in order to better understand the response of nanostructures to their application. A rigorous analysis is presented by showing numerical results, obtained with the modelling of the Schrodinger equation, compared with the expected theoretical results, exploiting simple structures, where it is possible to calculate the solutions analytically. The second part of thesis focuses on the impact of the EM fields on the nanostructure, hence the combined effect of both electric and magnetic fields affecting the electrons' propagation, and the mutual coupling of the fields with the quantum effects. Indeed the study of nanodevices for microwave applications requires to consider the contribution of a parameter called quantum current density, which accounts for the quantum effects generated by the structure. This is normally ignored in conventional devices because the quantum contributions are negligible but, by using opportune materials and opportune geometries, these currents become relevant and they may have an impact on the propagation of the EM fields. For this reason a consistent part of the thesis is dedicated to investigate the mutual coupling between EM fields and quantum effects, by implementing the Maxwell-Schrodinger coupled model. A chapter is dedicated to the novel approaches taken in order to tackle the issues and the limits of the numerical implementation; in particular two solutions are presented, nonuniform domains and the parallelisation of the algorithm. These approaches are vital whilst modelling numerically such physical problems since the required computational capacity increases with the accuracy requirements. Solving the presented algorithms conventionally would limit the potential of the method and thus a thorough study has been made in order to improve the efficiency of the simulations. In the last chapter, three different scenarios are presented, each one of them showing different features of the coupled model. The results are illustrated and discussed, including the limits due to the chosen approximations. References to the analytical solutions are provided in order to validate the obtained numerical results.

<p>Photonic Crystal (PC) devices are the most exciting advancement in the field of photonics. The use of computational techniques has made considerable improvements in photonic crystals design. We present here an ultrahigh quality factor (Q) photonic crystal slab nanocavity formed by the local width modulation of a line defect. We show that only shifting two holes away from a line defect is enough to attain an ultrahigh Q value. We simulated this double heterostructure nano cavity by using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) technique. We observed that photonic crystal cavities are very sensitive to the frequency, size and position of the source. So we must choose the right values for these parameters.</p>

Photonic Crystal (PC) devices are the most exciting advancement in the field of photonics. The use of computational techniques has made considerable improvements in photonic crystals design. We present here an ultrahigh quality factor (Q) photonic crystal slab nanocavity formed by the local width modulation of a line defect. We show that only shifting two holes away from a line defect is enough to attain an ultrahigh Q value. We simulated this double heterostructure nano cavity by using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) technique. We observed that photonic crystal cavities are very sensitive to the frequency, size and position of the source. So we must choose the right values for these parameters.

Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are divided into two different kinds of fibers. The first one, index-guiding PCF, guides light by total internal reflection between a solid core and a cladding region with multiple air-holes. On the other hand, the second one uses a perfectly periodic structure exhibiting a photonic band-gap (PBG) effect at the operating wavelength to guide light in a low index core-region. A compact 2D-FDTD method based on finite-difference time-domain method is formulated and is effectively applied to analysis PCFs and PBGFs. We study the propagation features of fundamental mode and the fundamental characteristics such as effective index, modal-field diameter and chromatic dispersion in index-guiding PCFs. By optimizing the air-hole diameters and the hole-to-hole spacing of index-guiding PCFs, both the dispersion and the dispersion slope can be controlled in a wide wavelength range. We also investigate the propagation features of fundamental mode and band-gap effect of PBGFs.

The finite-difference time domain(FDTD) method is formulated by discretizing Maxwell¡¦s equation over a finite volume and approximating the derivatives with centered difference approximation. The total-field/scattered-field formulation use for simulating the uniform plane wave and the added -source formulation use for simulating the plane wave,compare the result of the electric field within metallic enclosures through aperture excited by uniform plane wave with plane wave,The larger of the exciting plane of the plane wave the more approximate to the result of the uniform plane wave .It must be very large for the induced electrical field within enclosure with a slot which vertical to interference source polarization . Generally speaking, the aperture on the enclosures not the slot but small holes on the condition of don¡¦t know interference source polarization.