Luminescence from Tube-Arrest Bubbles in Pure Glycerin

Single transient cavitation bubble with luminescence has been generated in pure glycerin by using the ‘tube arrest‘ method. The analyses of high-speed photograph and light emission data suggest that the light emission would be a single bubble sonoluminescence. The luminescence pulse width is observed to vary from sub-nanosecond to about 30 ns. The width and intensity of luminescence pulses increases with the height of the liquid column height and decreases with the liquid temperature.     

Coherence Measurement of White Light Emission from Femtosecond Laser Propagation in Air

Strong white light emission is observed from femtosecond laser propagation in air. The divergence angle of the white light emission is measured to be about 5mrad. Young＇s double-slits and a Michelson interferometer are used to investigate the coherence. The wavelength components of the white light emission are identified to have a good spatial coherence and a coherence time of about 0.5ps.     

Light intensity distribution of a new type of contact laser scalpel

The emergent light distribution of a new type of contact laser scalpel is measured in three different states using a light sensor.The relationship between the angle and the light intensity is analyzed.The results show that the strongest light is emitted from two sides and the front of the scalpel.The light from the front mainly plays a role of cutting.The light from two sides contributes to stanch the wound so as to remain a clear visual field during the surgery.It also helps to increase the cutting efficiency.     

Investigation on an all-optical intensity modulator based on an optical microfiber coupler

An all-optical intensity modulator based on an optical microfiber coupler(OMC) is presented. The modulator works at 1550 nm wavelength and is modulated directly by heating the coupling region with 980 nm pump light injected through the coupling port of the OMC. The OMC is controlled to have at least a 30 mm long coupling region with diameter smaller than 8 μm, and the uniform waist region diameter is about 3 μm. This is helpful to ensure the optical modulation function based on the light induced thermal effect in the coupling region, while pump light is injected. The modulation response is measured to show good linearity when the 980 nm pump light has a lower intensity(with power below 2.5 mW), which proves that the OMC acts as an all-optical modulator.The bandwidth of the modulator can be at 0.2–50 kHz with the average power of the intensity-modulated pump light about 2 mW, which can be further improved by optimizing the design of the coupler. The demonstrated modulator may have potential value for the application in an all-optical integration system.     

Relationship between normalized light intensity and attenuated total reflection ratio

Attenuated total reflection （ATR） ratio is usually utilized to study the properties of surface plasmon resonance （SPR） sensors. The relationship between normalized light intensity and ATR ratio is investigated, and a modification coefficient is put forward to describe the relationship. A mathematical expression is built up for the coefficient based on Fresnel principle. The result shows that the ATR ratio, which cannot be measured directly in experiments, can be determined with the coefficient and the normalized intensity of light. The characteristic of the coefficient is also discussed.     

Output Intensity Variations of the Laser Used in a Prism Coupling System and Its Application

The output intensity variations of the laser used in a prism coupling system are observed and found to be induced by the external optical feedback, which comes from the reflection on the prism. The intensity variations are explained with laser theory. The trough in the intensity variation corresponds to the position of the prism when the output light beam propagates perpendicularly to the prism. Based on the trough a new method for rotating the prism and reading out the step numbers is proposed, by which the angle 0° in the system need not to be calibrated. It is proven by experiment that the new method would improve the accuracy of the refractive index up to ±0.00001 and thickness to ±1 nm.     

Determination of aerosol extinction coefficient and mass extinction efficiency by DOAS with a flashlight source

With the method of differential optical absorption spectroscopy （DOAS）, average concentrations of aerosol particles along light path were measured with a flashlight source in Chiba area during the period of one month. The optical thickness at 550 nm is compared with the concentration of ground-measured suspended particulate matter （SPM）. Good correlations are found between the DOAS and SPM data, leading to the determination of the aerosol mass extinction efficiency （MEE） to be possible in the lower troposphere. The average MEE value is about 7.6m^2.g^-1 , and the parameter exhibits a good correlation with the particle size as determined from the wavelength dependence of the DOAS signal intensity.     

Spatially modulated polarimetry based on a vortex retarder and Fourier analysis

We report a spatially modulated polarimetry scheme by using a zero-order vortex half-wave retarder(ZVHR)and a spatial Fourier analysis method.A ZVHR is employed to analyze the input polarized light and convert it into a vectorial optical field,and an analyzer is set after the ZVHR to form an hourglass intensity pattern due to the spatial polarization modulation.Then,the input light’s Stokes parameters can be calculated by spatial Fourier analysis of the hourglass pattern with a single shot.The working principle of the polarimeter has been analyzed by the Stokes-Mueller formalism,and some quantitative measuring experiments of different polarization states have been demonstrated.The experimental results indicate that the proposed polarimeter is accurate,robust,and simple to use.     

The manipulation of light pulse from subluminal to superluminal propagation in a degenerate two-level Cs atomic system

We experimentally demonstrate the propagation of light pulse from subluminal to superluminal light based on quantum coherence in a degenerate two-level atomic system in a Cs vapor cell.It is shown that the group velocity of light pulse can be switched from subluminal to superluminal propagation via changing the coupling field from a traveling wave to a standing wave,while can also be continuously manipulated by varying the intensity of two waves superposed to form a standing wave.The observed maximum delay and advance times are about 0.45 and 0.54μs,corresponding to the group velocity of g=168km/s and g=138 km/s,respectively.This investigation may have the practical applications of devices for optical tunable delay lines,optical switching and optical buffering.     

Linearity of quadrant avalanche photodiode in laser tracking system

The tracking precision of laser tracking system is affected by the angular resolution of quadrant avalanche photodiode. According to the detecting principle of quadrant avalanche photodiode, the light spot area, the optical intensity distribution, the non-uniformity of response, and the signal-to-noise ratio （SNR） that affect the linearity of the detector are studied. The light optical spot area and the optical intensity distribution can be adjusted through software. The non-uniformity of response and the SNR are influenced by the noise of the detector. Because the noise is affected by the optical intensity of the incident laser, it is difficult to obtain the law of the linearity caused by noise. When the light spot area and the optical intensity distribution are fixed, the other factors can be measured. With the detector scanned in raster scanning mode, the non-uniformity of response is measured at different SNRs. The linearity of detector is measured by a moving target that can reflect the illuminating laser to the detector in diffuse reflection mode. The nonlinear error of the linearity of detector can be minimized by increasing the SNR.     

Theoretical analysis of a collimated hollow-laser-beam generated by a single axicon using diffraction integral

A novel method to generate a collimated hollow-laser-beam (HLB) by only a single axicon is proposed. With some reasonable assumptions, the radial light intensity distribution is calculated in detail by diffraction integral theory.The result of numerical simulation shows that this method is valid.Compared with other methods of generating HLB,this scheme is extraordinarily simple in principle and can be utilized experimentally to construct a light trap in atomic fountain for convenience.     

Relationship between normalized light intensity and attenuated total reflection ratio

Attenuated total reflection(ATR)ratio is usually utilized to study the properties of surface plasmon res- onance(SPR)sensors.The relationship between normalized light intensity and ATR ratio is investigated, and a modification coefficient is put forward to describe the relationship.A mathematical expression is built up for the coefficient based on Fresnel principle.The result shows that the ATR ratio,which cannot be measured directly in experiments,can be determined with the coefficient and the normalized intensity of light.The characteristic of the coefficient is also discussed.     

Intensity tuning characteristics of double-mode He--Ne laser with optical feedback

This paper investigates the intensity tuning characteristics of a double longitudinal modes He--Ne laser subjected to optical feedback. The intensity undulations of the total light and the two modes are observed for different external cavity length. Two modulations of the internal cavity length are performed. One is only for the internal cavity length being modulated and the other is for both the internal and the external cavity length being modulated. The undulation frequency of the total light is found to be determined by the ratio of external cavity length to internal cavity length in both modulations. When the external cavity length is integral times of the internal cavity length, the fringe frequency of the total light could be seven or even more times of that in conventional optical feedback. A simple theoretical analysis is presented, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. The potential use of the experimental results is also discussed.     

Slowdown of Group Velocity of Light Using Coherent Population Oscillation

We investigate the reduction of the group velocity propagation resulting from the steep change of the refractive index by the coherent population oscillation in erbium-doped optical fibre. The largest delay is measured to be about 8.75ms corresponding to a group index of 1.312×10^6. The time delay or advancement depends on the pump intensity. Influences of the ion density on the fractional delay and the group velocity reduction of light propagation are studied. Based on our discussion the optimization parameters should be selected in order to obtain more appropriate time delay and the slowdown of group velocity.     

Diffracted field distribution from a knife-edge truncated semi-Gaussian beam as an atomic （molecular） mirror

We investigate the diffraction characteristics of an incident Gaussian beam cut by a straight edge bounding a semi-infinite opaque plane using Kirchhoff scalar wave theory in the Fresnel limit, and propose a new and simple mirror scheme to reflect atoms by using the intensity gradient induced by a blue-detuned semi-Gaussian laser beam. The optical potential of the diffracted light of the knife-cut semi-Gaussian beam for $^{85}$Rb atom and its spontaneous emission probability are calculated and compared with the performance of the evanescent-wave mirror. Our study shows that the optical potential of the diffracted light of the semi-Gaussian beam is far higher than that of the evanescent light wave, and the maximum normal velocity of the incident atoms can be far greater than that of the evanescent light wave under the same parameters, so the blue-detuned semi-Gaussian beam, as a novel atomic mirror, can be used to efficiently reflect cold atoms with a normal velocity of greater than 1 m/s. However, the intensity gradient (force) of the diffracted light of the semi-Gaussian-beam is much smaller than that of the evanescent light wave, so its spontaneous emission probability is greater than that from the evanescent-wave when the normal velocity of incident atoms is greater.     

Theoretical and experimental study of the intensity distribution in biological tissues

Based on the diffusion approximate theory （DA）, a theoretical model about the distribution of the intensity of a narrow collimation beam illuminating on a semi-lnfinite biological tissue is developed. In order to verify the correctness of the model, a novel method of measuring the distributions of the intensity of light in Intralipid-10% suspension at 650 nm is presented and ts of the distributions of the distance-dependent intensity of scattering light in different directions are made. The investigations show that the results from our diffusion model are in good agreement with the experimental results beyond and in the areas around the light source, and the distance-dependent intensity in the incident direction attenuates approximately in the exponential form. Furthermore, our theoretic results indicate the anisotropic characteristics of the intensity in different directions of scattering light inside the biological tissue.     

Study of the near-field modulation property of microwaviness on a KH2PO4 crystal surface

The KH 2 PO 4 crystal is a key component in optical systems of inertial confinement fusion (ICF).The microwaviness on a KH 2 PO 4 crystal surface is strongly related to its damage threshold which is a key parameter for application.To study the laser induced damage mechanism caused by microwaviness,in this paper the near-field modulation properties of microwaviness to the incident wave are discussed by the Fourier modal method.Research results indicate that the microwaviness on the machined surface will distort the incident wave and thus lead to non-uniform distribution of the light intensity inside the crystal;in a common range of microwaviness amplitude,the light intensity modulation degree increases about 0.03 whenever the microwaviness amplitude increases 10 nm;1 order diffraction efficiencies are the key factors responsible for light intensity modulation inside the crystal;the light intensity modulation is just around the microwaviness in the form of an evanescent wave,not inside the crystal when the microwaviness period is below 0.712 μm;light intensity modulation degree has two extreme points in microwaviness periods of 1.064 μm and 1.6 μm,remains unchanged between periods of 3 μm and 150 μm,and descends above the period of 150 μm to 920 μm.     

Simultaneous measurement of SO_2 and NO_2 concentration using an optical fiber-based LP-DOAS system

SO2 and NO2 are the most important pollution in atmosphere.An optimized long path(LP)differential optical absorption spectroscopy(DOAS)system of high light intensity at an ultraviolet(UV)wavelength is proposed and used to measure the concentration of SO2 and NO2 simultaneously.In contrast to the traditional DOAS,the system adopted a Y-type optical fiber structure instead of a combination of mirrors in the telescope.The UV light intensity test shows that the light intensity of UV can arrive to above 80% of the max measuring range when the light path reaches 135 m,and the integral time of the spectrograph is only 15 ms.The system is proved to be efficacious through laboratory calibration.The maximum error of SO2 calibration is 4.19%,and is 5.22% for NO2.The error of the SO2 and NO2 mixture calibration is within 10%.Field measurement is implemented in a wastewater treatment plant in winter.The measurement light path is 738 m.The concentration of SO2 varies from 6μg/m^3(2.26 ppb)to 20μg/m^3(7.52 ppb),and the concentration of NO2varies from 100μg/m^3(53.2 ppb)to 200μg/m^3(106.4 ppb)approximately.The results are in accordance with the data from a monitoring station nearby in magnitude order and variation tendency mostly.     

Preparation of the four-qubit cluster states in cavity QED and the trapped-ion system

This paper proposes a simple scheme to generate a four-atom entangled cluster state in cavity quantum electrodynamics. With the assistantce of a strong classical field the cavity is only virtually excited and no quantum information will be transferred from the atoms to the cavity during the preparation for a four-atom entangled cluster state, and thus the scheme is insensitive to the cavity field states and cavity decay. Assuming that deviation of laser intensity is 0.01 and that of simultaneity for the interaction is 0.01, it shows that the fidelity of the resulting four-atom entangled cluster state is about 0.9886. The scheme can also be used to generate a four-ion entangled cluster state in a hot trapped-ion system. Assuming that deviation of laser intensity is 0.01, it shows that the fidelity of the resulting four-ion entangled cluster state is about 0.9990. Experimental feasibility for achieving this scheme is also discussed.     

Method for rapid measuring retardation of a quarter-wave plate based on simultaneous phase shifting technique

A method for rapid measuring retardation of a quarter-wave plate based on simultaneous phase shifting technique is presented.The simultaneous phase shifting function is realized by an orthogonal grating,a diaphragm,an analyzer array,and a 4-quadrant detector.The intensities of the light beams fl'om the four analyzers with different azimuths are measured simultaneously.The retardation of the quarter-wave plate is obtained through the four light intensity values.In this method,the major axis position of the quarter-wave plate need not be determined in advance.In addition,the measured result is free of the intensity fluctuation of light source.The feasibility of the method is verified by the experiments.