Effect of the incorporation of N,N′-methylene-bis-acrylamide on the multiplexing of holograms in a hydrophilic acrylamide photopolymer

The behaviour of a hydrophilic acrylamide photopolymer, with and without crosslinker (N,N′-methylene-bis-acrylamide), in solid layers 700 μm thick is analyzed. Slanted diffraction gratings are multiplexed at constant and variable exposure. Variable exposure time scheduling, with increased exposure time by steps is used in order to determine the effect on the dynamic range and the homogenization of diffraction efficiency values. This scheduling results in a greater dynamic range compared with constant time multiplexing. For crosslinked photopolymer, those exposure times are excessive (higher energetic sensitivity) and there is overlapping of the individual angular response curves for each stored diffraction grating.     

Hologram multiplexing in acrylamide hydrophilic photopolymers

Unslanted diffraction gratings are recorded in a 900 μm thick acrylamide photopolymer by means of peristrophic multiplexing. A solid state Nd:YAG (λ = 532 nm) laser is used as the recording beam, with a total incident intensity of 5 mW/cm², and a He-Ne laser as the reconstruction beam. The dye concentration in the photopolymer is optimized so that it does not limit the dynamic range. Nine holograms are recorded using constant exposure time scheduling and variable exposure time scheduling. From the results obtained it may be deduced that optimization of the dye allows us to work in the linear response region of the photopolymer and at the same time obtain high values of diffraction efficiency for each hologram. An exponential increase in exposure time as the number of holograms increases enables the values of diffraction efficiency to be homogenized with regard to the case of constant exposure scheduling. In this way, better use is made of the dynamic range of acrylamide hydrophilic photopolymer.     

Hexagonal (wurtzite) GaN inclusions as a defect in cubic (zinc-blende) GaN

The dependence of the hexagonal fraction with thickness in MBE-grown bulk cubic (c-) GaN epilayer is presented in this paper. A number of c-GaN epilayers with different thicknesses were characterized via PL and XRD measurements. From the PL spectra, the signal due to h-GaN inclusions increases as the thickness of the c-GaN increases. On the contrary, in the XRD diffractogram, c-GaN shows a dominant signal at all thicknesses, and only a weak peak at ∼35° is observed in the diffractogram, implying the existence of a small amount of h-GaN in the c-GaN layer. The best quality of c-GaN is observed in the first 10 μm of GaN on the top of GaAs substrate. Even though the hexagonal content increases with the thickness, the average content remains below 20% in c-GaN layers up to 50 μm thick. The surface morphology of thick c-GaN is also presented.     

Low-pump-threshold tunable optical parametric oscillator using periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3

We fabricated and characterized periodically poled MgO:LiNbO₃ device with five gratings in 0.5 μm increments from 29 μm to 31 μm for optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The OPO operation threshold is 30 μJ using this device with a 50 mm effective length. At 560 mW input pump power, we have achieved 300 mW of the total output power, and the conversion efficiency is 54%. Multi-periods and temperatures tuning of the OPO yields a signal wavelength range from 1.45 to 1.72 μm and an idler wavelength range from 2.8 to 4.05 μm in the mid infrared.     

A spectral interferometric method to measure thickness with large range

We present a spectral interferometric method to measure the thickness of an optical plate or a film with a single layer. The system is based on the Michelson interferometer configuration, and the spectral interference signal of a broadband light source is recorded by a spectrometer. The optical path difference (OPD) between two interfering beams can be obtained by Fourier transform from the spectral interferogram. Gaussian fitting is used to find the exact peak of fringe to enhance the precision of the measurements. When the sample is inserted into the sample beam, the film’s thickness can be calculated by comparing the change of OPD, provided that the sample group refractive index is known. Only a single measurement is needed to determine a film’s thickness after the initial OPD of the system is calibrated. As no moving parts are required, the system has good stability. In particular, a large range of thicknesses, from micrometers up to several millimeters, can be measured. Such a large range is valuable for optical measurements. For demonstration, we measured the thicknesses of preservative film, cover glass and carrier glass, which were 9.6 ± 0.55, 156.1 ± 0.75, 1008.44 ± 0.96 μm, respectively.     

Surface characterization of Pd/Ag23 wt% membranes after different thermal treatments

Hydrogen permeation measurements of 1.5-10 μm thick Pd/Ag23 wt% membranes before and after thermal treatments at 300 °C in air (both sides) or in the temperature range 300-450 °C in N₂ (feed side) and Ar (permeate side) were performed. Accompanying changes in surface topography and chemical composition were subsequently investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) depth profiling. For a 2 μm thick membrane, the surface roughness increased for all annealing temperatures applied, while a temperature of 450 °C was required for an increase in roughness of both membrane surfaces to occur for the 5 μm membrane. The thickest membrane, of 10 μm, showed changed surface roughness on one side of the membrane only and a slight decrease in hydrogen permeance after all heat treatments in N₂/Ar. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigations performed after treatment and subsequent permeation measurements revealed segregation of silver to the membrane surfaces for all annealing temperatures applied. In comparison, heat treatment at 300 °C in air resulted in significantly increased hydrogen permeance accompanied by increasing surface roughness. Upon exposure to oxygen, Pd segregates to the surface to form a 2-3 nm thick oxide layer (PdO), with more complex segregation behavior after subsequent reduction and permeance measurements in pure hydrogen. The available permeance data for the Pd/Ag23 wt% membranes after heat treatment in air at 300 °C is found to depend linearly on the inverse membrane thickness, implying bulk limited hydrogen permeation for thicknesses down to 1.5-2.0 μm.     

Fabrication of Si-based waveguide splitters using photosensitive sol-gel method

In this paper, a photosensitive sol-gel method for 1 × 8 Y-branch optical splitter is reported. The poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) cladding films with different thicknesses (above 10 μm) on Si substrates are prepared on Si substrates by dip-coating, the root-mean-square roughness (Rrms) of which is less than 0.7 nm. The UV photosensitive organic-inorganic composite SiO₂/ZrO₂/H core films are then coated on these PMMA cladding films using photosensitive sol-gel method. The refractive indexes of PMMA cladding films examined by spectroscopic ellipsometer are 1.4854, 1.4815 and 1.4806 at 0.85, 1.31 and 1.55 μm, while that of the SiO₂/ZrO₂/H gel films are 1.5569, 1.5489 and 1.5472 μm, respectively, which is larger than that of PMMA cladding films. Therefore, the composite structure of SiO₂/ZrO₂/H gel films on PMMA-on-Si substrates could be used to fabricate waveguide splitter. Based on the inherent photosensitivity of the SiO₂/ZrO₂/H gel film, 1 × 8 Y-branch optical power splitters with a thickness of 5 μm are fabricated by irradiating the gel film with UV light through a mask followed by dissolving the non-irradiated area in a suitable solvent. The line-width and output spacing of this splitter are 25 and 110 μm, respectively. The observed near-field pattern indicates that the light with a wavelength of 1.53-1.56 μm can be transmitted and split into eight branches in the optical splitter, which is fabricated by using the above technique.     

Study of effective optical thickness in photopolymer for application

The impact of the effective optical thickness of a photopolymer on its holographic performance was studied. To overcome the attenuation of gratings for a better uniformity, a multilayer approach was introduced, by adjusting concentrations of dye along the depth of photopolymer to compensate the attenuation of recording light due to absorption. Multilayer photopolymers with thicknesses over 500 μm were designed, fabricated, and characterized experimentally, exhibiting better Bragg selectivity. More holograms were stored in multilayer material by angular multiplexing, and the cumulative grating strength was enhanced, leading towards larger holographic storage capacity.     

Photoinduced effects in ZnO films deposited on MgO substrates

A large effective second-order optical susceptibility equal to about 52 pm/V for ZnO films with thickness about several μm deposited on MgO substrate by molecular epitaxial method was achieved using a bicolour coherent treatment by a pulsed 1.32 μm Nd-YAG laser and its second harmonic at λ = 0.66 μm. The written grating was stable during 24 days and its optical susceptibility decreased not more than 26% with respect to the initially written one after interruption of optical treatment. The same measurements performed for the ZnO films deposited by metaloorganic chemical vapor deposition, pulsed laser ablation and spray pyrolysis have shown that the output optical susceptibility is at least half order less. The temperature dependences of the second order susceptibilities have shown that it achieves a maximum near a temperature of 261 K. Other methods do not show substantial temperature dependences. We have found that maximal second harmonic generation signal was achieved for the films with thickness of about 2.75 μm.     

Design of fiber Bragg grating-based Fabry–Perot sensor for simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature

A new sensor for simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature is proposed. The sensor consists of Fabry–Perot cavity formed by two identical uniform fiber Bragg gratings. To make the cavity serves as humidity sensor, moisture sensitive polymer, which is polyimide, is coated on the FBG and on the cavity with different thickness. When the sensor is exposed to the relative humidity change, the polyimide will expand and stretch the fiber and induces strain on the FBG and on the cavity. The induced strain alters the grating period, cavity length and effective refractive index of fiber. The simulation results show that the humidity sensitivity and thermal sensitivity are 1.92 pm/%RH and 8.87 pm/°C, respectively, for polyimide coating thickness of 10 μm on the FBG and 15 μm on the cavity.     

Ion beam etching of high resolution structures in Ta2O5 for grating-assisted directional coupler applications

An investigation on thin Ta₂O₅ films patterning using argon ion beam etching (IBE) is presented. The etch rates are characterised by varying the angle of incidence of the beam onto the substrate. Ta₂O₅ gratings with a period of 2.2 μm (1.1 μm linewidth) and 0.25 μm thickness are fabricated using an angle of incidence of 0°. The resulting Ta₂O₅ grating cross sectional profiles are analysed using AFM and SEM imaging. A fabrication method is thus demonstrated which could be used to implement wavelength selective gratings in applications such as grating-assisted directional couplers (GADCs).     

Application of interference microscopy to the study of hologram build-up in LiNbO3 crystals

Interference microscopy was applied to direct microscopic observation of temporal evolution of phase holograms in LiNbO₃:Fe photorefractive crystals. First a hologram was recorded in the sample, and diffraction efficiency was monitored during hologram build-up using inactinic laser light. Thus kinetics of hologram build-up could be determined. The initial hologram was erased using white light. Then a series of write-erase cycles were performed with increasing exposure times. Holograms were observed by interference microscope after each exposure. The time elapsed between the exposure and the microscopic observation was negligible compared to the relaxation time of the hologram. The obtained temporal evolution of the grating profile gives a deeper insight into the physical mechanism of hologram formation in photorefractive materials than simple diffraction efficiency measurements. A congruently grown sample of LiNbO₃ doped with 10⁻³ mol/mol Fe in melting was studied by this method. Sample thickness was set to 300 μm to allow correct microscopic observation. Plane-wave holograms were recorded in the samples using an Ar-ion laser at λ = 488.0 nm of grating constants of 3, 6.5 and 8.8 μm.     

A study on the biological detection chip through the use of PDMS lens for the reinforcement of fluorescence receiving signal

In this study, MEMS process technology is adopted to produce microfluidic chip and PDMS lens. SU-8 thick film photo resist is coated onto silicon wafer surface in two times of spin coating, then through lithography and mold transfer technology, PDMS chip of minimal line width 100 μm and thickness 200 μm is printed. In fluorescence detection aspect, we use objective lens to couple laser optical source to optical fiber, and then have it incident to excite fluorescence sample, the excited fluorescence then passes through filter and detected by optical detector of experiment group and spectrophotometer of reference group. From the experiment result, the Hex fluorescence detection limit of the system is verified to be 1 pmol/5 μl. In addition, we have integrated PDMS lens into microfluidic chip to make generalized detection experiment, it was found that the signal measured by optical embedded type is higher than that of non-embedded type. Meanwhile, the microfluidic chip with double concave lens (135°) and10 mm PDMS focusing lens can be utilized to obtain optimal fluorescence receiving effect. The fluorescence intensity is raised by 2–3 times, and the measurement limit is lowered to 100 fmol/5 μl.     

The effects of hydroxyapatite coatings on stress distribution near the dental implant-bone interface

The effects of different thickness of hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings on bone stress distribution near the dental implant-bone interface are very important factors for the HA-coated dental implant design and clinical application. By means of finite element analysis (FEA), the bone stress distributions near the dental implant coated with different thicknesses from 0 to 200 μm were calculated and analyzed under the 200 N chewing load. In all cases, the maximal von Mises stresses in the bone are at the positions near the neck of dental implant on the lingual side, and decrease with the increase of the HA coatings thickness. The HA coatings weaken the stress concentration and improve the biomechanical property in the bone, however, in HA coatings thickness range of 60-120 μm, the distinctions of that benefit are not obvious. In addition, considering the technical reason of HA coatings, we conclude that thickness of HA coatings range from 60 to 120 μm would be the better choice for clinical application.     

Long range surface plasmon polariton waveguides at 1.31 and 1.55 μm wavelengths

We investigate characteristics of gold metal strip waveguides based on long range surface plasmon polaritons (LRSPPs) along thin metal strips embedded in a polymer for practical applications at the telecommunication wavelengths of 1.31 and 1.55 μm. Guiding properties of the gold strip waveguides are theoretically and experimentally evaluated with the limited thickness and width up to ∼20 nm and ∼10 μm, respectively. The lowest propagation loss of ∼1.4 dB/cm is obtained with a 14.5-nm-thick and 2-μm-wide gold strip at 1.55 μm. With a single-mode fiber, the lowest coupling loss of ∼0.4 dB/facet is achieved with a 14.5-nm-thick and 5-μm-wide gold strip at 1.55 μm. The lowest insertion losses are obtained 8-9 dB with 1.5 cm-long gold strips of a limited thickness and width at both the wavelengths. We demonstrate a 10 Gbps optical signal transmission via the LRSPP waveguide with a 14 nm-thick, 2.5 μm-wide, and 4 cm-long gold strip. These LRSPP waveguides have potential applications for optical interconnects and communications.     

Monitoring micro-mechanical changes in electronic circuit boards with digital holographic interferometry

The micrometric changes over the size of the objects produced by the temperature variations can create deleterious effects; the decoupling of soldering points in electronic circuits is one of them. In this work, we present a system based on digital holographic interferometry to quantify the magnitude of the changes produced on an electronic circuit board as it operates at very low electric currents. For the system to work, two digital holograms of the object are registered for different temperatures. These holograms are reconstructed numerically in a computer by using Fresnel's approximation to make a phase difference map. This map is converted into micrometer size variations by means of a lookup table. The implemented system allows for determining mechanical deformations in the range of 0.5–4 μm for a regular electronic circuit board drawing an electric current from 10 μA to 50 μA.     

The structure and optical properties of evaporated Samarium fluoride films

Samarium fluoride (SmF₃) films have been deposited on quartz, silicon and germanium substrates by vacuum evaporation method. The crystal structure of the films deposited on silicon substrate is examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The films deposited at 100 °C, 150 °C and 250 °C have the (1 1 1) preferred growth orientation, but the film deposited at 200 °C has (3 6 0) growth orientation. The surface morphology evolution of the films with different thickness is investigated with optical microscopy. It is shown that the microcrack density and orientation of thin film is different from that of thick film. The transmission spectrum of SmF₃ films is measured from 200 nm to 20 μm. It is found that this material has good transparency from deep violet to far infrared. The optical constants of SmF₃ films from 200 nm to 12 μm are calculated by fitting the transmission spectrum of the films using Lorentz oscillator model.     

Thickness dependence of structural, electrical and optical behaviour of undoped ZnO thin films

Undoped ZnO thin films of different thicknesses were prepared by r.f. sputtering in order to study the thickness effect upon their structural, morphological, electrical and optical properties. The results suggest that the film thickness seems to have no clear effect upon the orientation of the grains growth. Indeed, the analysis with X-ray diffraction show that the grains were always oriented according to the c(0 0 2)-axis perpendicular to substrate surface whatever the thickness is. However, the grain size was influenced enough by this parameter. An increase in the grain size versus the thickness was noted. For the electrical properties, measurements revealed behaviour very dependent upon thickness. The resistivity decreased from 25 to 1.5×10⁻³ Ω cm and the mobility increased from 2 to 37 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ when the thickness increased from 70 to 1800 nm while the carrier concentration seems to be less affected by the film thickness and varied slightly remaining around 10²⁰ cm⁻³. Nevertheless, a tendency to a decrease was noticed. This behaviour in electrical properties was explained by the crystallinity and the grain size evolution. The optical measurements showed that all the samples have a strong transmission higher than 80% in the visible range. A slight shift of the absorption edge towards the large wavelengths was observed as the thickness increased. This result shows that the band gap is slightly decreases from 3.37 to 3.32 eV with the film thickness vary from 0.32 to 0.88 μm.     

Refractive index measurement with long-period gratings arc-induced in pure-silica-core fibres

We have investigated the sensitivity of arc-induced long-period gratings to changes of ambient refractive index. Two pure-silica-core fibres with different cladding diameters and a standard fibre were used in this study. For a 6 × 10⁻³ change of the refractive index, a 240 pm shift of the resonant wavelength was achieved with long-period gratings written in the 125 μm cladding diameter pure-silica-core fibre.     

Preparation of dielectric mirrors from high-refractive index contrast amorphous chalcogenide films

We report the preparation of planar 15-layer dielectric mirrors by a thermal evaporation of alternating high refractive index contrast amorphous chalcogenide Sb-Se and Ge-S layers, exhibiting a high-reflection band around 1.55 μm. The layer deposition quality and the thickness accuracy of such prepared chalcogenide multilayers were then checked using transmission electron microscopy. The layer thickness deviation of chalcogenide layers did not exceed ∼7 nm in comparison with the desired thicknesses. The width of Sb-Se/Ge-S layer boundary was approximately ∼3 nm, which is in good agreement with the surface roughness values of thermally evaporated Sb-Se and Ge-S single layers. The optical properties of the prepared 15-layer dielectric mirrors were consistent in temperature range of 20-120 °C; however, at higher temperatures there started apparent structural changes of Sb-Se films, which were followed by their crystallization. Excellent optical properties of chalcogenide materials in the infrared range make them interesting for applications, e.g., in optics and photonics.