All-optical probing of the nonlinear acoustics of a crack

Experiments with an all-optical method for the study of the nonlinear acoustics of cracks in solids are reported. Nonlinear acoustic waves are initiated by the absorption of radiation from a pair of laser beams intensity modulated at two different frequencies. The detection of acoustic waves at mixed frequencies, absent in the frequency spectrum of the heating lasers, by optical interferometry or deflectometry provides unambiguous evidence of the elastic nonlinearity of the crack. The high contrast in crack imaging achieved by remote optical monitoring of the nonlinear acoustic processes is due to the strong dependence of the efficiency of optoacoustic conversion on the state of the crack. The highest acoustic nonlinearity is observed in the transitional state of the crack, which is intermediate between the open and the closed ones.     

Nonlinear elastodynamics in micro-inhomogeneous solids observed by head-wave based dynamic acoustoelastic testing

Dynamic acoustoelastic testing provides a more complete insight into the acoustic nonlinearity exhibited by micro-inhomogeneous media like granular and cracked materials. This method consists of measuring time of flight and energy modulations of pulsed ultrasonic waves induced by a low-frequency standing wave. Here pulsed ultrasonic head waves were employed to assess elastic and dissipative nonlinearities in a region near the surface of a solid. Synchronization of the ultrasound pulse sequence with the low-frequency excitation provided instantaneous variations in the elastic modulus and the attenuation as functions of the instantaneous low-frequency strain. Weak quadratic elastic nonlinearity and no dissipative nonlinearity were detected in duralumin. In limestone, distinction between tensile and compressive behaviors revealed an asymmetry in the acoustic nonlinearity and hysteresis in both the elastic modulus and the attenuation variations. Measured nonlinear acoustical parameters are in good agreement with values obtained by different techniques. Reversible acoustically induced conditioning modified the acoustic nonlinearity both quantitatively and qualitatively. It reduced tension-compression asymmetry, suggesting a nonequilibrium modification of the sources of acoustic nonlinearity. Additionally to the metrology of the acoustic nonlinearity, head wave based dynamic acoustoelastic testing may be a useful tool to monitor changes in the microstructure or the accumulation of damage in solids.     

Increase in the efficiency of the shear wave generation in gelatin due to the nonlinear absorption of a focused ultrasonic beam

Experimental results and theoretical estimates are presented to demonstrate the prospects of using the acoustic nonlinearity of a gel-like medium for increasing the efficiency of the shear wave generation in it by a pulsed ultrasonic beam. The experiment is based on the propagation of a focused beam of longitudinal acoustic waves at a frequency of 1.1 MHz in a gelatin sample and on the detection of shear waves by the optical method [1]. It is demonstrated that the amplitude of the shear wave excited by a nonlinear acoustic pulse can be increased by an order of magnitude owing to the formation of shock fronts in the profile of this pulse.     

The influence of boundary layer on sound propagation in optical fibers

Physical models of two-layered and three-layered fiber were built. These models were used to calculate acoustic properties of optical fibers. Acoustic properties of fibers with boundary layer and without boundary layer calculated from these model were compared. The propagation of acoustic cylindrical symmetric waves in optical fibers was considered. This problem was treated analytically and numerically in continual approximation. The possibility of simultaneous propagation of two cylindrical symmetric waves in optical fibers with a boundary layer was shown (in a three-layered model). The physical phenomenon of the presence of two waves in the fiber with boundary layer is proposed for study of the boundary layer. Formulas for the calculation of the properties of the boundary layer from the acoustic experiment, verified by numerical calculations, are represented.     

Propagation characteristics of nonlinear optical fibers with complex refractive index. A transmission line model approach

The transmission line model has been modified in order to evaluate nonlinear waves guided by optical fibers with complex refractive index. It is proven that the proposed model is able to tackle fibers with losses or gain, under the presence of arbitrary nonlinearity. The method is applied for the calculation of weakly guided lossy nonlinear optical fibers considering various configurations and Kerr nonlinearity. Power depended propagation characteristics have been calculated and plotted for the fundamental mode and the potential use of the method in optical fiber amplifiers with index nonlinearity is also discussed.     

负五阶非线性下预啁啾高斯光脉冲的啁啾和频谱

为探究光纤负五阶非线性和光脉冲预啁啾对高斯光脉冲频率啁啾和频谱的综合影响,在忽略光纤色散的情况下,利用包含三五阶非线性的扩展非线性薛定谔方程,计算和分析了啁啾高斯脉冲的频谱和总啁啾。结果表明,脉冲无预啁啾时,负五阶非线性的存在可使脉冲频率啁啾的形状由单“S”形变为双“S”形,并使脉冲的中心附近由正啁啾变为负啁啾。此外,负五阶非线性的存在使预啁啾对脉冲频谱的影响发生了较大的变化。预啁啾与非线性所致啁啾叠加后对脉冲频谱的谱峰数目影响较小,而对能量在各个谱峰上的分布影响较大,在某些最大非线性相移下,甚至会出现总啁啾减小使谱峰值数目增加的情况。该研究对光开关、光脉冲压缩以及光纤通信系统等领域的深入发展具有一定的指导意义。     

Frequency-stable operation of a diode-pumped continuous-wave RbTiOAsO(4) optical parametric oscillator

Frequency-stable operation of a diode-pumped continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator (OPO) of RbTiOAsO(4) is demonstrated. Piezoelectric and fast electro-optic control of the optical length of the two-mirror OPO cavity (resonant for the pump and the idler waves) compensates for thermal changes in the refractive index of the OPO crystal (induced by absorption of pump light) and acoustic perturbations of the cavity length. Pumped by 405mW of the 810-nm output of a GaAlAs masterf-oscillator-tapered-amplifier diode laser system, the OPO generates a power-stable single-frequency signal wave at 1.24microm with an output of 84mW and a spectral bandwidth of less than 10MHz.     

Surface acoustic waves in the GHz range generated by periodically patterned metallic stripes illuminated by an ultrashort laser pulse.

The photoelastic response of periodic arrays of stripes attached to the surface of a substrate and illuminated by an ultrashort laser pulse were investigated. The samples were gold arrays on silicon and aluminum arrays either on crystalline quartz or on silicon. The metallic stripes had submicrometer lateral dimensions and the spatial periods ranged from about 1 microm up to 5 microm. The substrate being transparent (quartz) or slightly absorbing (silicon) at the laser wavelength (lambda = 750 nm), a laterally modulated thermal stress is generated near the surface of the substrate when a light pulse illuminates the structure. The studies of vibrations involved by the subsequent relaxation processes show that surface acoustic waves at frequency as high as about 5 GHz are excited with the samples consisting of aluminum stripes. In the case of the aluminum samples with the largest lateral spatial periods (aluminum on quartz), the surface acoustic wave propagates outside the illuminated area. In the case of the gold samples, a normal mode of individual bars is observed instead. Experimental evidence shows that these behaviors are mainly governed both by the lateral spatial period of the structure and by the density of the metal.     

Nonautonomous spatiotemporal localized structures in the inhomogeneous optical fibers: Interaction and control

We develop a systematic way to find the similarity transformation and investigate nonautonomous optical similariton dynamics for (n + 1)-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the inhomogeneous optical fibers. A condition between the parameters of the mediums, which hints a exact balance between the dispersion/diffraction, nonlinearity and the gain/loss, has been obtained. Under this condition the optical similariton transmission in the dispersion-decreasing fibers (DDF) can be exactly controlled by proper dispersion management. Moreover, novel propagation dynamics of bright and dark similaritons on the background waves and optical rogue waves (rogons) in DDF are investigated too.     

Long-range interaction of picosecond solitons through excitation of acoustic waves in optical fibers

We present the theory of electrostrictional interaction of soliton pulses in optical fibers. Solitons excite acoustic waves propagating in the direction transverse to the fiber axis. Scattering of optical radiation on these waves leads to a timing jitter of the optical pulses arrival time. We consider this effect as nonlinear self-scattering of light on acoustic waves. Because of the fact that a value of acoustic lifetime can reach a value of about 100 ns self-scattering on acoustic waves can be observed for a single optical pulse as well as for an optical pulse sequence as a whole. The value of single soliton self-frequency shift due to excitation of acoustic waves as a function of soliton duration have been obtained. For soliton duration _sol > 14 ps an acoustic wave soliton self-frequency shift is larger than the Raman soliton self-frequency shift.The obtained theoretical results describe well the long-range interaction of soliton pulse trains in an optical fiber. The value of bit error rate due to electrostrictional interaction of optical pulses in high bit rate, ultra long soliton communication systems have been obtained.     

Microcrack localization using a collinear Lamb wave frequency-mixing technique in a thin plate

A novel Lamb wave frequency-mixing technique is proposed for locating microcracks in a thin plate,which does not require the resonance condition of Lamb wave mixing and can accurately locate the microcracks through only one-time sensing.Based on the bilinear stress-strain constitutive model,a two-dimensional finite element(FE)model is built to investigate the frequency-mixing response induced by the interaction between two primary Lamb waves and a microcrack.When two primary Lamb waves of A0 and S0 modes with different frequencies excited on the same side of the plate simultaneously impinge on the examined microcrack,under the modulation of the contact acoustic nonlinearity,the microcrack itself can be deemed as the secondary sound source and it will radiate the Lamb waves of new combined frequencies.Based on the time of flight of the generated A0 mode at difference frequency,an indicator named normalized amplitude index(NAI)is defined to directly locate the multi-microcracks in the given plate.It is found that the number and location of the microcracks can be intuitively visualized by using the NAI based frequency-mixing technique.It is also demonstrated that the proposed frequency mixing technique is a promising approach for the microcrack localization.     

Nonlinear parameter estimation in water-saturated sandy sediment with difference frequency acoustic wave

Difference frequency acoustic wave from nonlinear interaction of two primary acoustic waves at frequencies of 76 and 114 kHz was utilized with a parametric acoustic array theory to estimate the nonlinearity parameter of water-saturated sandy sediment. Such nonlinearity parameter can be used as background information for the nonlinear acoustic investigation of bottom or sub-bottom profiling in the ocean sandy sediments. Because of its lower attenuation the difference frequency acoustic wave method can be usefully applied to estimate the nonlinearity parameter of ocean sediment in the ocean as well as under laboratory conditions. The nonlinearity parameter β for the water-saturated sandy sediment used as a reference in this study was estimated as β = 80.5 ± 5.1 at the difference frequency of 38 kHz. It was agreed very well with that estimated at the difference frequency of 67 kHz, when two primary frequencies were 137 and 204 kHz. The estimated nonlinearity parameter of water-saturated sandy sediment in this study was also compared and analyzed with those estimated in previously published literatures. It was suggested that the difference frequency wave method used to estimate the nonlinearity parameter of water-saturated sandy sediment can be employed as a good method to estimate the nonlinearity parameters of fluid-like granular media.     

饱和非线性下零色散附近的交叉相位调制非稳

从光纤中扩展的耦合非线性薛定谔方程组出发,在饱和非线性光纤零色散附近,研究了不同二、四阶色散参量下交叉相位调制不稳定性增益谱及其临界扰动频率、谱宽和谱峰随两光波入射功率的演化特点.研究表明,随色散参量不同,增益谱随两光波入射功率的增大可能出现三种演化形式：一是始终是两个分离的谱区;二是由开始时的两个合成一个,最后再分离成两个;三是始终是一个谱区.饱和非线性的存在则使每个谱区的谱宽、谱峰及远离零点的临界扰动频率,随两光波入射功率的增大可能呈现出先增大后减小的特点,使第二谱区靠近零点的临界扰动频率呈现先减小后增大的特点,从而可能出现两个不同的输入功率对应同一个增益峰值和谱宽的情形.色散参量对增益谱的谱峰影响小,对谱宽影响大.越靠近零色散区,每个谱区谱宽越大,越易连成一个谱区.     

Acoustically induced stark effect for excitons in intrinsic semiconductors

A Stark effect for excitons parametrically driven by coherent acoustic phonons is proposed. Our scheme refers to a low-temperature intrinsic semiconductor or semiconductor nanostructure pumped by an acoustic wave (frequency band nu(ac) approximately equal to 1-40 GHz and intensity range I(ac) approximately equal to 10(-2)-10(2) W/cm(2)) and probed by low-intensity light. Tunable optical band gaps, which strongly change the spectral shape of the exciton line, are induced in the polariton spectrum by acoustic pumping. We develop an exactly solvable model of the acoustic Stark effect and apply our results to GaAs driven by bulk or surface acoustic waves.     

Evolution of Hyperbolic-Secant Pulses Towards Cross-Phase Modulation Induced Optical Wave Breaking and Soliton or Soliton Trains Generation in Quintic Nonlinear Fibers

The approximate analytical frequency chirps and the critical distances for cross-phase modulation induced optical wave breaking (OWB) of the initial hyperbolic-secant optical pulses propagating in optical fibers with quintic nonlinearity (QN) are presented. The pulse evolutions in terms of the frequency chirps, shapes and spectra are numerically calculated in the normal dispersion regime. The results reveal that, depending on different QN parameters, the traditional OWB or soliton or soliton pulse trains may occur. The approximate analytical critical distances are found to be in good agreement with the numerical ones only for the traditional OWB whereas the approximate analytical frequency chirps accords well with the numerical ones at the initial evolution stages of the pulses.     

Evolution of Hyperbolic-Secant Pulses Towards Cross-Phase Modulation Induced Optical Wave Breaking and Soliton or Soliton Trains Generation in Quintic Nonlinear Fibers

The approximate analytical frequency chirps and the critical distances for cross-phase modulation induced optical wave breaking(OWB) of the initial hyperbolic-secant optical pulses propagating in optical fibers with quintic nonlinearity(QN) are presented. The pulse evolutions in terms of the frequency chirps, shapes and spectra are numerically calculated in the normal dispersion regime. The results reveal that, depending on different QN parameters, the traditional OWB or soliton or soliton pulse trains may occur. The approximate analytical critical distances are found to be in good agreement with the numerical ones only for the traditional OWB whereas the approximate analytical frequency chirps accords well with the numerical ones at the initial evolution stages of the pulses.     

Theoretical analysis of acoustic-optic frequency shifter by dual mode fiber

The frequency shifting between two modes in an optical fiber resulting from acoustic wave propagation has been studied theoretically. Our theoretical results confirm the earlier experimental work. The polarization effect introduced by acoustic waves has been examined as well. The analysis shows that the polarization characteristic and symmetry property of the modes are not preserved in the coupling process of acoustic-optic frequency shifting for arbitrary ratio of the fiber cladding radius to the acoustic wavelengthd/ _a, in contrast to stable mechanical microbending, and that for the givend/ _a = 0.397, the polarized light signal at frequency ₂, shifted from that at frequency ₁, is quasi-linearly polarized for any acoustic-optic interaction length. However, the polarization effect can be neglected when the fiber cladding radius is much smaller than the acoustic wavelength.     

Profiles of initially sinusoidal waves propagating in nonlinear microinhomogeneous materials

The asymptotic analytical theory predicting acoustic wave profiles in microinhomogeneous materials with hysteretic quadratic nonlinearity and attenuation proportional to an even power of frequency is developed. The theory predicts that the influence on the nonlinear wave of the Rayleigh scattering of acoustic waves, which is proportional to the forth power of frequency, results in the net diminishing of wave attenuation. This is due to the suppression (diminishing) by scattering of the nonlinear hysteretic losses which is more important than direct increase in linear losses added by scattering.     

Dispersion management with microstructured optical fibers: ultraflattened chromatic dispersion with low losses

We numerically demonstrate ultraflattened chromatic dispersion with low losses in microstructured optical fibers (MOFs). We propose using two different MOF structures to get this result. Both structures are based on a subset of a triangular array of cylindrical air holes; the cross sections of these inclusions are circular, and a missing hole in the fiber's middle forms the core. In this MOF structure the diameters of the inclusions increase with distance from the fiber axis until the diameters reach a maximum. With this new design and with three different hole diameters, it requires only seven rings to reach the 0.2-dB/km level at lambda = 1.55 microm with a variation amplitude of dispersion below 3.0 x 10(-2) ps nm(-1) km(-1) of lambda = 1.5-1.6 microm. With the usual MOF (made from holes of identical diameter), we show that at least 18 hole rings are required for losses to decrease to < 1 dB/km at lambda = 1.55 microm.     

Pressure Dependence of Acoustic Modes in AgGaSe 2

The pressure dependence of the transverse acoustic TA[0 0 1] and TA[1 0 0] phonons and the low-frequency optical v 3 phonons of AgGaSe 2 has been measured at pressures up to 4.3 GPa by inelastic neutron scattering. The strong frequency decreases in the whole Brillouin zone of the TA modes show generally a weak nonlinearity. Depending on the wavevector, the softening prior to the phase transition at 2.6 GPa also affects the optical mode to a less extent.