Low Driving Voltage and Analysis of Azobenzene Polymer Doped Liquid Crystal Grating

We mix azobenzene polymer and liquid crystal in certain ratio. Then the mixture is injected into cells. Nonlinearly photoinduced birefringence takes place when linearly polarized ultraviolet is applied with the pattern photomask covering on the cells, which results in the formation of azobenzene polymer doped liquid crystal grating. The obtained grating is characterized by an optical microscope and a He-Ne laser. The results indicate that the samples have clear grating structure, and the diffraction efficiencies can be modulated by electric field. The sample driving voltage is 0.6 V/μm. It is lower than the driving voltage of holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal transmission grating and could be matched with the driving integrated circuit.     

Holographic Grating Formation in Cationic Photopolymers with Dark Reaction

We propose a new formula to describe the dynamics of holographic grating formation under low intensity pulse exposures in cationic photopolymers, in which the dark reaction contributes dominantly to the grating strength. The formula is based on the living polymerization mechanism and the diffusion-free approximation. The analytical solution indicates that the grating formation time depends on the termination rate constant, while the final grating strength depends linearly on the total exposure energy. These theoretical predictions are verified experimentally using the Aprilis HMC-400μm photopolymer. The results can provide guidelines for the control and optimization of the holographic recording conditions in practical applications.     

Temperature or strain induced adjustable-chirp characteristics of uniform fibre grating with tapered metal coating

Temperature and strain characteristics of uniform fibre grating with tapered metal coatings have been analysed theoretically, by which adjustable chirp characteristics of such gratings are shown. Electroplating is adopted to fabricate such gratings, and the tapered metal coating is obtained by gradually drawing the fibre grating out of the solution during the process of electroplating. The gradually changing cross-sectional area of the metal coating is calculated by a newly suggested numerical method. By combining the theoretical and numerical simulation analyses, the gratings' characteristics are given at various temperatures and strains. The results obtained using such a method are also testified by experiments.     

A Hybrid Optical Bistable Device Based on a Fibre Bragg Grating

We prpose a hybrid optical bistable device based on a fibre Bragg grating.The experimental set-up is designed by using real communication components.The optical bistable characteristics are simulated.The feedback nonlinearity and the delay time of the device are emphasized,We discuss the potential of such a device in sensor applications.     

Tightly Focusing of Circularly Polarized Vortex Beams through a Uniaxial Birefringent Crystal

Under the approximation of small birefringence, the properties of circularly polarized vortex beams tightly focused through a uniaxial birefringent crystal are studied. With the proper combination of the topological charge and the birefringence, the small focus, the small bottle beam and the inverse c-shaped intensity profile can be obtained. The effects of the focal shift and the Strehl ratio on the birefringence are analysed. A relation between angular momentum （included spin and orbital） and topological Pancharatnam charge is also presented.     

Optically inscribed surface-relief zone plates in azo polymer films

We describe a simple and cost-effective holographic method for the fabrication of surface-relief zone plates. The zone plate is inscribed by interference between the first- and second-order diffracted waves from an ion-etched Fresnel zone plate. The inscribed surface-relief zone plates are observed by atomic force microscope (AFM). The formation process of the surface grating and the mass diffusion in azo polymer are analyzed.     

High efficiency terahertz diffraction grating with trapezoidal elements

A newly designed grating used in terahertz region is proposed, which is composed of the trapezoidal elements repeated successively along one dimension of the substrate, and uniform interval(the grating period) repeated along the other dimension. The transmission of the grating owns a designable trapezoidal profile dependent on the geometric dimensions of the element. The far-field diffraction patterns of a designed grating at incident broadband terahertz frequencies, with element dimensions of upper, lower side and period of 50, 250, and 300 μm, respectively, are simulated by the scalar diffraction theory. The simulation results indicate that the terahertz grating exhibits a property of single-order diffraction,and the diffraction efficiency of the first order reaches 6.6%, exceeding that of a traditional sinusoidal amplitude grating with identical period and duty cycle. Owing to the regular architecture and the high single-order diffraction efficiency, the grating is easy to fabricate and shows great potential applications in single-shot spectral measurements of weak broadband terahertz pulse.     

Long-Period Fibre Grating Thin Film Sensors Based on Cladding Mode Coupling

Based on a method of rigorous vector-field analysis, a numerical model of triple-clad long-period fibre grating is established. The vector components of the electric field for the HE11 cladding mode are plotted to study the field distribution of the cladding mode. The local intensity curves of the first six l= 1 cladding modes are also given. It is found that the low-order HE modes have a larger proportion of intensity localized in the core than the low-order Eli modes, just like the double-clad LPFG. Further, the coupling constant between the core mode and the cladding mode is analysed. The results show that the coupling constant of the low-order HE increases monotonously when the mode number becomes larger, and it varies monotonously with the film thickness except for a certain specific region.     

Evaluation of absolute phase for 3D profile measurement using fringe projection

A new method of absolute phase evaluation for three-dimensional (3D) profile measurement using fringe projection is presented, which combines the gray code and the phase shift technique. Two kinds of fringe patterns are projected onto the object surface respectively, one is sinusoidal intensity distribution used for phase demodulation and the other is gray code fringe pattern for unwrapping. These images are acquired by camera and stored into computer. The absolute phase is obtained by analyzing these images. The validity of this method is verified experimentally. The method is superior to other phase unwrapping methods.     

Single-row laser beam with energy strengthened ends for continuous scanning laser surface hardening of large metal components

For laser surface hardening of metal components with large superficies,a binary grating is proposed to generate single-row laser beam with proportional-intensity diffractive orders.To obtain a uniform hardened band distribution and improve the wear resistance of the sample surface,the binary grating is designed to produce single-row laser beam with energy strengthened at the two ends.The profile of the laser beam spot was designed to be strip with high length-width ratio to improve the machining efficiency of the hardening of large surfaces.A new advantage is suggested to obtain proportional intensity spots with evenness.The design results show that the diffractive efficiency of the binary grating is more than 70%,and the uniformity is less than 3%.The surface profile of the grating fabricated was measured,which shows that the fabrication error is less than 2%.The application of the binary grating in the laser surface hardening of metal components with large superficies is experimentally investigated,and the results show that the hardness distribution of the modified layer is more uniform than that hardened by Gaussian laser beam or array spots with equal intensity distribution.     

Anomalous Behaviour of Photorefractive Grating Erasure Owing to Existence of both Negative and Positive Carriers

In LiNbO3：Fe, anomalous behaviour of grating erasure is observed with different wavelengths, i.e. rapid grating erasure in the short wavelength range, which deviates from the results predicted by the electron transport band model. The deviation is related to the coexistence of electrons and holes in photorefraction, and charge-transfer process including electrons and hole has been proposed. The electron and hole contributions to photoconductivity have been identified by experiments. We also give the theoretical dependence of electron photo-excitation coefficient S of the Fe centre on the wavelength.     

Influence of Non-uniform Temperature Field on Spectra of Fibre Bragg Grating

We simulate the spectrum characteristics of fibre Bragg grating （FBG） with non-uniform temperature using the transmission matrix method, and the results are analysed. It is found that firstly the modulated coefficient of average refractive index is a very important parameter that influences the spectrum characteristic of the fibre Bragg grating, and secondly the spectrum curves are different in different temperature fields at the same parameter. Hence, we can determine the metrical temperature by analysing the spectrum of fibre Bragg grating.     

Diffraction grating single-shot correlation system for measurement of picosecond laser pulses

We study and experimentally demonstrate a sensitive single-shot correlation system in which only a diffraction grating is used to produce a transverse time delay (TTD) in the reference pulse.The mechanism of the TTD introduced by the grating and the formation of the relative time delay (RTD) in the noncollinear correlation system are analyzed in detail.By using our system,we successfully measured the temporal duration of picosecond laser pulses,and a time resolution of ～0.047 ps is obtained at 1047 nm.The impact of the grating dispersion and the second harmonic beam walk-off effect on the measurement are considered.     

Sinusoidal phase-modulating laser diode interferometer for real-time surface profile measurement

A sinusoidal phase-modulating (SPM) laser diode (LD) interferometer for real-time surface profile measurement is proposed and its principle is analyzed. The phase signal of the surface profile is detected from the sinusoidal phase-modulating interference signal using a real-time phase detection circuit. For 60 x 60 measurement points of the surface profile, the measuring time is 10 ms. A root mean square (RMS) measurement repeatability of 3.93 nm is realized, and the measurement resolution reaches 0.19 nm.     

Single Mode Er-Doped π-Phase-Shifted Distributed Feedback Fibre Grating Laser

A novel method incorporating the shielded method and the post-processing method has been proposed to fabricate the π-phase-shifted fibre grating. Then an Er-doped π-phase-shifted distributed feedback fibre grating laser has been fabricated using the grating. The laser threshold is 20mW. When pumped with 90mW light at 980nm, the laser gives an output of 1.1mW. Its signal-to-noise ratio is better than 60dB. It is demonstrated that the laser is single mode operation by means of a Fabry--Perot scanning interferometer.     

Holographic Grating Formation in Photochromic Diarylethene-Doped Polymeric Thin Films

We introduce a model to describe real-time grating formation in holographic photochromic diarylethene-doped polymeric thin films. This model, which combines photochromic chemical reaction with the coupled-wave theory,indicates that the grating recording time depends on the molecular absorption coefficient of molecules and the quantum yield of the photochromic reaction at a certain holographic recording intensity. The model is validated by comparing its predictions with the experimental results in which photochromic molecule 1,2-bis(2-methyl-5-(4-formylphenyl)-3-thienyl) perfluorocyclopentene doped PMMA films were used.     

Design of a Fused-Silica Subwavelength Polarizing Beam Splitter Grating Based on the Modal Method

A polarizing beam splitter （PBS） design based on a fused-silica lamellar subwavelength transmission grating is demonstrated with the modal method, where TE- and TM-polarized waves are mainly diffracted in the -1st and 0th orders, respectively. The physical explanation of the grating diffraction is illustrated by the interference of the corresponding parts of the two propagating modes, which is very similar to a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. It is shown that diffraction efficients over 99% for a TM-polarized wave in the -1st order and 90% for a TE-polarized wave in the 0th order are obtained at the wavelength of 1.053 μm. The polarization transmission extinction ratios are better than 33 dB and 51 dB for the order 0th and the -1st order, respectively. The splitting properties of the PBS grating designed by the modal method are in good agreement with the results simulated by the rigorous coupled wave analysis method.     

Anchoring properties of substrate with a grating surface

The anchoring properties of substrate with a grating surface are investigated analytically. The alignment of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) in a grating surface originates from two mechanisms, thus the anchoring energy consists of two parts. One originates from the interaction potential between NLC molecules and the molecules on the substrate surface, and the other stems from the increased elastic strain energy. Based on the two mechanisms, the expression of anchoring energy per unit area of a projected plane of this grating surface is deduced and called the equivalent anchoring energy formula. Both the strength and the easy direction of equivalent anchoring energy are a function of the geometrical parameters (amplitude and pitch) of a grating surface. By using this formula, the grating surface can be replaced by its projected plane and its anchoring properties can be described by the equivalent anchoring energy formula.     

Optical properties and microstructure of Ta_2O_5 thin films prepared by oblique angle deposition

Tantalum pentoxide thin films are prepared by oblique angle electron beam evaporation. The influence of flux angle on the surface morphology and microstructure is investigated by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The Ta2O5 thin films are anisotropic with highly orientated nanostructure of slanted columns. The porous microstructure of the as-deposited films results in the decrease of effective refractive index and packing density with increasing deposition angle. The anisotropic structure results in optical birefringence. The in-plane birefringence increases with the increase of deposition angle and reaches the maximum of 0.055 at the deposition angle of 70°. Anisotropic microstructure and critical packing density are the two key factors to influence the in-plane birefringence.     

Light trapping enhancement in thin film silicon solar cells with different front and back grating periodicities

Dual-grating structure thin-film silicon solar cells with different front and back grating periodicities are designed The geometrical parameters of both gratings are investigated. The reflection is greatly reduced by the front grating, whereas the absorption in the long wavelength is increased because of the back grating. The short circuit current of the combined structure is enhanced by 16.8% for a 1μm thick c-Si layer compared with that of the conformal grating structure. The short circuit current can be further increased by creating a relative lateral displacement between the front and back gratings. The displacement results in a more remarkably enhaneed absorption when the thickness of the aetive layer is reduced, indicating its importance in the design of ultra-thin high-efficiency solar cells.