Self-Stabilizing Laser Sails Based on Optical Metasurfaces

Siegel, Joel; Wang, Anthony Y.; Menabde, Sergey G.; Kats, Mikhail A.; Jang, Min Seok; Brar, Victor W.

doi:10.1021/acsphotonics.9b00484

Cited by 44 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…[ 37 ] In this context, the necessary and sufficient condition for marginal stability of the sail requires the eigenvalues of the sail's dynamics projected on the transverse plane of the laser beam to have positive real parts. These eigenvalues are given by

λ_{1} = λ_{2} = 0.5 false(k_{1} - k_{4} + \sqrt{{false(k_{1} - k_{4} false)}^{2} + 4 k_{1} k_{4} + 4 k_{2} k_{3}} false)

and

λ_{3} = λ_{4} = 0.5 false(k_{1} - k_{4} - \sqrt{{false(k_{1} - k_{4} false)}^{2} + 4 k_{1} k_{4} + 4 k_{2} k_{3}} false)

wherein the coefficient k 1, 2, 3, 4 are given by the partial derivative of force and torque with respect to transverse displacements and rotations as [37, 43, 45]:

k_{1} = - \frac{1}{m} \frac{\partial F_{x}}{\partial x} = - \frac{1}{m} \frac{\partial F_{y}}{\partial y}

k_{2} = \frac{1}{m} \frac{\partial F_{x}}{\partial θ_{y}} = - \frac{1}{m} \frac{\partial F_{y}}{\partial θ_{x}}

k_{3} = - \frac{1}{I_{CM}} \frac{\partial τ_{x}}{\partial y} = \frac{1}{I_{CM}} \frac{\partial τ_{y}}{\partial x}

k_{4} = \frac{1}{I_{CM}} \frac{\partial τ_{x}}{\partial θ_{x}} = \frac{1}{}

…”

Section: Analysis Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, acceleration is determined by an interplay of the sail's reflectivity along the beam propagation direction [ 31,40 ] and the spacecraft's mass while the stability degree depends on the transverse anisotropy of light scattering across the sail as well as spacecraft's mass and its center‐of‐mass distance from the sail. [ 42,43,45 ] The proportionality of acceleration and stability degree to the longitudinal and transverse light scattering, respectively imposes a trade‐off between these requirements such that a design with highest possible acceleration (a flat opaque sail) is unstable while a design with highest stability degree has the smallest acceleration.…”

Section: Inverse Design Of the Meta‐sailmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[ 40,41 ] Moreover, employing a graded nanostructured pattern across these light sails can be used to passively stabilize the beam riding with a flat macroscopic geometry by giving rise to a light scattering with transverse anisotropy similar to the scattering from a conformal surface. [ 42–45 ] Given that this stabilization mechanism relies on anomalous reflection and diffraction effects in metasurfaces and meta‐gratings, these sails are referred to as meta‐sails. [ 46,47 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Inverse Design of Diffractive Relativistic Meta‐Sails via Multi‐Objective Optimization

Salary

Mosallaei

2021

Advcd Theory and Sims

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Photonic propulsion of light sails using the radiation pressure of an intense laser beam is a promising route to achieve relativistic velocities for deep space exploration. A successful photonic design of such relativistic sails requires efficient acceleration and maintaining stability of the beam‐riding across a Doppler‐broadened propulsion band due to considerable red‐shift of the wavelength in the frame of the moving sail. While efficient acceleration of the sail requires maximizing the optical force along the beam propagation direction, the stability degree of the sail depends on the magnitude of lateral forces in the transverse plane of the beam. This establishes a trade‐off between these two requirements which calls for their synergistic engineering. In this work, an evolutionary multi‐objective optimization technique for the inverse design of diffractive relativistic meta‐sails with a genetic pixelated geometry is adopted. The goal is to identify a set of Pareto optimal solutions which provides the designer with an intuitive understanding of the ultimate trade‐off between acceleration and stability degree of the sail in a vast design space, and allows for a well‐informed decision on the best design given the requirements for the acceleration time and distance as well as the tolerance with respect to mispointings and misalignments.

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λ_{1} = λ_{2} = 0.5 false(k_{1} - k_{4} + \sqrt{{false(k_{1} - k_{4} false)}^{2} + 4 k_{1} k_{4} + 4 k_{2} k_{3}} false)

and

λ_{3} = λ_{4} = 0.5 false(k_{1} - k_{4} - \sqrt{{false(k_{1} - k_{4} false)}^{2} + 4 k_{1} k_{4} + 4 k_{2} k_{3}} false)

wherein the coefficient k 1, 2, 3, 4 are given by the partial derivative of force and torque with respect to transverse displacements and rotations as [37, 43, 45]:

k_{1} = - \frac{1}{m} \frac{\partial F_{x}}{\partial x} = - \frac{1}{m} \frac{\partial F_{y}}{\partial y}

k_{2} = \frac{1}{m} \frac{\partial F_{x}}{\partial θ_{y}} = - \frac{1}{m} \frac{\partial F_{y}}{\partial θ_{x}}

k_{3} = - \frac{1}{I_{CM}} \frac{\partial τ_{x}}{\partial y} = \frac{1}{I_{CM}} \frac{\partial τ_{y}}{\partial x}

k_{4} = \frac{1}{I_{CM}} \frac{\partial τ_{x}}{\partial θ_{x}} = \frac{1}{}

…”

Section: Analysis Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inverse Design Of the Meta‐sailmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Inverse Design of Diffractive Relativistic Meta‐Sails via Multi‐Objective Optimization

Salary

Mosallaei

2021

Advcd Theory and Sims

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…An effective photonic propulsion requires the sail to exhibit an optimal tradeoff between mass and reflectivity to maximize the acceleration [16,17]. Furthermore, the sail should provide restoring forces and counterbalancing torques to stabilize the beam-riding and remain within the beam area for the entire acceleration phase [18,19,20,21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifunctional metasails for self-stabilized beam-riding and optical communication

2022

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show abstract

“…Successful propulsion of macroscopic ultrathin laser-driven lightsails to high speeds, as envisioned by the Breakthrough Starshot initiative, will critically depend on the ability to passively stabilize their dynamics during propulsion [1]. Recently, stable acceleration of ultralight objects via laser radiation pressure has been reported by employing Bloch-wave type scatterers [2], beam-steering optical metasurfaces [3], and diffractive lightsails [4]. In addition to the stabilization mechanism, the exerted pressure can be enhanced by structuring the sail surface with asymmetric resonant cavity arrays [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%