Objective: An imaging device to locate functionalised nanoparticles, whereby therapeutic agents are transported from the site of administration specifically to diseased tissues, remains a challenge for pharmaceutical research. Here, we show a new method based on electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to provide images of the location of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and the excitation of GNPs with radio frequencies (RF) to change impedance permitting an estimation of their location in cell models Methods: We have created an imaging system using quantum cluster GNPs as contrast agent, activated with RF fields to heat the functionalized GNPs, which causes a change in impedance in the surrounding region. This change is then identified with EIT. Results: Images of impedance changes of around 80 ± 4% are obtained for a sample of citrate stabilized GNPs in a solution of phosphate-buffered saline. A second quantification was carried out using colorectal cancer cells incubated with culture media, and the internalization of GNPs into the colorectal cancer cells was undertaken to compare them with the EIT images. When the cells were incubated with functionalised GNPs, the change was more apparent, approximately 40 ± 2%. This change was reflected in the EIT image as the cell area was more clearly identifiable from the rest of the area. Significance: EIT can be used as a new method to locate functionalized GNPs in human cells and help in the development of GNP-based drugs in humans to improve their efficacy in the future.

In this paper, wave propagation in a hollow waveguide with a graded dielectric layer is studied. Analytic formulas are derived for the electric field components as well as general analytical results for the reflection and transmission coefficients for propagating waves. These results are all valid for waveguides of arbitrary cross sections, and the derived reflection and transmission coefficients are in exact asymptotic agreement with those obtained for a wry thin homogeneous dielectric layer using cascading and mode-matching techniques. Furthermore, the power transmission, reflection, and absorption coefficients, as functions of frequency and layer width, are studied, showing the expected behavior of these parameters. The method proposed in this paper gives directly applicable results that do not require cascading and mode matching, while at the same time having the ability to model smooth transitions that are more realistic in several applications.

This article presents a study of transmission through arrays of periodic sub-wavelength apertures. Fundamental limitations for this phenomenon are formulated as a sum rule, relating the transmission coefficient over a bandwidth to the static polarizability. The sum rule is rigorously derived for arbitrary periodic apertures in thin screens. By this sum rule we establish a physical bound on the transmission bandwidth which is verified numerically for a number of aperture array designs. We utilize the sum rule to design and optimize sub-wavelength frequency selective surfaces with a bandwidth close to the physically attainable. Finally, we verify the sum rule and simulations by measurements of an array of horseshoe-shaped slots milled in aluminum foil.

This paper reformulates and extends some recent analytical results concerning a new optical theorem and the associated physical bounds on absorption in lossy media. The analysis is valid for any linear scatterer (such as an antenna), consisting of arbitrary materials (bianisotropic, etc.)  and arbitrary geometries,  as long as the scatterer is circumscribed by a spherical volume embedded in a lossy background medium. The corresponding formulas are here reformulated and extended to encompass magnetic as well as dielectric background media. Explicit derivations, formulas and discussions are also given for the corresponding bounds on scattering and extinction. A numerical example concerning the optimal microwave absorption and scattering in atmospheric oxygen in the 60 GHz communication band is included to illustrate the theory.

We introduce the set of quasi-Herglotz functions and demonstrate that it has properties useful in the modelling of non-passive systems. The linear space of quasi-Herglotz functions constitutes a natural extension of the convex cone of Herglotz functions. It consists of differences of Herglotz functions and we show that several of the important properties and modelling perspectives are inherited by the new set of quasi-Herglotz functions. In particular, this applies to their integral representations, the associated integral identities or sum rules (with adequate additional assumptions), their boundary values on the real axis and the associated approximation theory. Numerical examples are included to demonstrate the modelling of a non-passive gain medium formulated as a convex optimization problem, where the generating measure is modelled by using a finite expansion of B-splines and point masses.

Non-passive approximation is presented as a tool to study the realizability of amplifying media. As an interesting physical example, we derive first a suitable approximation of the plasmonic singularity of a dielectric sphere with respect to a hypothetical amplifying background medium. A non-passive approximation based on convex optimization is then employed to investigate the necessary bandwidth requirements to achieve the approximate pole singularity.

New fundamental upper bounds have recently been given regarding the optimal plasmonic multipole resonances of a rotationally invariant sphere embedded in a lossy surrounding medium. The new theory is based on a generalized optical theorem for the absorption of a sphere in a lossy medium and employs straightforward analysis to explicitly maximize a concave function. The new bounds are briefly summarized in this paper and then employed in a study concerning the effectiveness of using gold nanospheres as absorbers of the sizes typically used in biomedical applications and plasmonic photothermal therapy.

Two different versions of an optical theorem for a scattering body embedded inside a lossy background medium are derived in this paper. The corresponding fundamental upper bounds on absorption are then obtained in closed form by elementary optimization techniques. The first version is formulated in terms of polarization currents (or equivalent currents) inside the scatterer and generalizes previous results given for a lossless medium. The corresponding bound is referred to here as a variational bound and is valid for an arbitrary geometry with a given material property. The second version is formulated in terms of the T-matrix parameters of an arbitrary linear scatterer circumscribed by a spherical volume and gives a new fundamental upper bound on the total absorption of an inclusion with an arbitrary material property (including general bianisotropic materials). The two bounds are fundamentally different as they are based on different assumptions regarding the structure and the material property. Numerical examples including homogeneous and layered (core-shell) spheres are given to demonstrate that the two bounds provide complimentary information in a given scattering problem.

Physical bounds in electromagnetic field theory have been of interest for more than a decade. Considering electromagnetic structures from the system theory perspective, as systems satisfying linearity, time-invariance, causality and passivity, it is possible to characterize their transfer functions via Herglotz functions. Herglotz functions are useful in modeling of passive systems with applications in mathematical physics, engineering, and modeling of wave phenomena in materials and scattering. Physical bounds on passive systems can be derived in the form of sum rules, which are based on low- and high-frequency asymptotics of the corresponding Herglotz functions. These bounds provide an insight into factors limiting the performance of a given system, as well as the knowledge about possibilities to improve a desired system from a design point of view. However, the asymptotics of the Herglotz functions do not always exist for a given system, and thus a new method for determination of physical bounds is required. In Papers I–II of this thesis, a rigorous mathematical framework for a convex optimization approach based on general weighted L^p-norms, 1≤p≤∞, is introduced. The developed framework is used to approximate a desired system response, and to determine an optimal performance in realization of a system satisfying the target requirement. The approximation is carried out using Herglotz functions, B-splines, and convex optimization. 

Papers III–IV of this thesis concern modeling and determination of optimal performance bounds for causal, but not passive systems. To model them, a new class of functions, the quasi-Herglotz functions, is introduced. The new functions are defined as differences of two Herglotz functions and preserve the majority of the properties of Herglotz functions useful for the mathematical framework based on convex optimization. We consider modeling of gain media with desired properties as a causal system, which can be active over certain frequencies or  frequency intervals.  Here, sum rules can also be used under certain assumptions.

In Papers V–VII of this thesis, the optical theorem for scatterers immersed in lossy media is revisited. Two versions of the optical theorem are derived: one based on internal equivalent currents and the other based on external fields in terms of a T-matrix formalism, respectively. The theorems are exploited to derive fundamental bounds on absorption by using elementary optimization techniques. The theory has a potential impact in applications where the surrounding losses cannot be neglected, e.g., in medicine, plasmonic photothermal therapy, radio frequency absorption of gold nanoparticle suspensions, etc.  In addition to this, a new method for detection of electrophoretic resonances in a material with Drude-type of dispersion, which is placed in a straight waveguide, is proposed.

A passive approximation problem is formulated where the target function is an arbitrary complex-valued continuous function defined on an approximation domain consisting of a finite union of closed and bounded intervals on the real axis. The norm used is a weighted L-p-norm where 1 <= p <= infinity. The approximating functions are Herglotz functions generated by a measure with Holder continuous density in an arbitrary neighborhood of the approximation domain. Hence, the imaginary and the real parts of the approximating functions are Holder continuous functions given by the density of the measure and its Hilbert transform, respectively. In practice, it is useful to employ finite B-spline expansions to represent the generating measure. The corresponding approximation problem can then be posed as a finite-dimensional convex optimization problem which is amenable for numerical solution. A constructive proof is given here showing that the convex cone of approximating functions generated by finite uniform B-spline expansions of fixed arbitrary order (linear, quadratic, cubic, etc.) is dense in the convex cone of Herglotz functions which are locally Holder continuous in a neighborhood of the approximation domain, as mentioned above. As an illustration, typical physical application examples are included regarding the passive approximation and optimization of a linear system having metamaterial characteristics, as well as passive realization of optimal absorption of a dielectric small sphere over a finite bandwidth.