Multicolor coherence-induced negative refraction in three-level atomic system

Multicolor manipulation of negative refraction in a three-level Λ atomic system is theoretically investigated. Based on multicolor coherence, the negative refractive index can be obtained with reduced absorption. The refractive index can also be controlled by changing the sum of the phases of the sidebands in the trichromatic driving fields. By adjusting the sum phase, the refractive index can be varied between negative and positive in two different frequency bands. Furthermore, the frequency band corresponding to the negative refractive index is widened by increasing the intensity and the frequency difference of the trichromatic field.     

A Polydisperse Sphere Model Describing the Propagation of Light in Biological Tissue

A polydisperse sphere model with the complex refractive index is employed to describe the propagation of light in biological tissue. The scattering coefficient, absorption coefficient and scattering phase function are calculated. At the same time, the inverse problem on retrieving the particles size distribution, imaginary part of the refractive index and number density of scatterers is investigated. The result shows that the retrieval scheme together with the Chahine algorithm is effective in dealing with such an inverse problem. It is also clarified that a group of parameters including the scattering coefficient, absorption coefficient and phase function are associated with another group including the refractive index, particle size distribution and number density of scatterers, which is a problem described in two different ways and the anisotropy factor is not an independent variable, but is determined by the phase function.     

Highly sensitive and wide-dynamic-range liquid-prism surface plasmon resonance refractive index sensor based on the phase and angular interrogations

In this study,a new method utilizing surface plasmon resonance(SPR) sensing technology based on the phase and angular interrogations for measuring the refractive index of a liquid prism is presented.An orthogonal sample box that combined the functions of a prism,cell box,and mirror is adopted to simplify the system and provide the convenience to implement the phase and angular interrogations.The angular interrogation is achieved by the motorized rotation stage with the new sample box,and the phase interrogation is achieved by the linear polarization interferometry between the s-and p-polarization components.The amplitude reflectivity and the phase angle,which are the functions of the incident angle,are obtained by the reflection intensity and the interference intensity of the lights directly.A sensitivity of 7.5 × 10.7 refractive index unit(RIU)/0.1° and a dynamic range of 0.5 RIU are obtained experimentally and theoretically.     

Dispersion measurements of water with spectral interferometry

The spectral relative phase is directly derived from the spectrally resolved interferogram by the Fourier transform method. Furthermore, the spectral absolute phase can also be found. The spectral absolute phase is used to measure the refractive index. In addition, the group index and the derivatives of the refractive index with respect to the wavelength are given through the polynomial fitting process. The measured results are compared with the published data and the new measurement results of the water are given for the wavelength larger than 1.3 μm.     

Cs^＋-K^＋ Exchange in Z-Cut KTiOPO4 Crystal Covered with Chromium Masking Layer

Cs^＋-K^＋ ion exchanges are performed on z-cut KTiOPO4 crystals with chromium coating covered. The temperature of ion exchange is 430℃, and the time range from 15min to 30min. The dark mode spectra of the samples are measured by the prism coupling method. The channel structures on the samples are observed by a microscope and the near field pattern of the channel waveguides are measured by the end-fire coupling method. The refractive index of the samples increases and the increments at surface are modulated due to the existence of Cr film. In the region covered by Cr film, the refractive index of the samples at the surface increases dramatically in a shallow layer. The results of energy dispersive x-ray spectra indicate that in the region covered with Cr film, Cr ions participate in the ion exchange process, and enhance the refractive index. The results may provide a possibility that achieves index enhancement and Cr doping synchronically.     

Measurement of Refractive Index for High Reflectance Materials with Terahertz Time Domain Reflection Spectroscopy

A method to measure the refractive index for high reflectance materials in the terahertz range with terahertz time domain reflection spectroscopy is proposed. In this method, the THz waveforms reflected by a silicon wafer and high reflectance sample are measured respectively. The refractive index of the silicon wafer, measured with the THz time domain transmission spectroscopy, is used as a reference in the THz time domain reflective spectroscopy. Therefore, the complex refractive index of the sample can be obtained by resorting to the known reflective index of the silicon and the Fresnel law. To improve the accuracy of the phase shift, the Kramers-Kronig transform is adopted. This method is also verified by the index of the silicon in THz reflection spectroscopy. The bulk metal plates have been taken as the sample, and the experimentally obtained metallic refractive indexes are compared with the simple Drude model.     

External-cavity birefringence feedback effects of microchip Nd:YAG laser and its application in angle measurement

External-cavity birefringence feedback effects of the microchip Nd:YAG laser are presented.When a birefringence element is placed in the external feedback cavity of the laser,two orthogonally polarized laser beams with a phase difference are output.The phase difference is twice as large as the phase retardation in the external cavity along the two orthogonal directions.The variable extra-cavity birefringence,caused by rotation of the external-cavity birefringence element,results in tunable phase difference between the two orthogonally polarized beams.This means that the roll angle information has been translated to phase difference of two output laser beams.A theoretical analysis based on the Fabry-Perot cavity equivalent model and refractive index ellipsoid is presented,which is in good agreement with the experimental results.This phenomenon has potential applications for roll angle measurement.     

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.     

Evaluation of Influence of Multiple Scattering Effect in Light-Scattering-Based Applications

The extinction cross sections of a system containing two particles are calculated by the T-matrix method, and the results are compared with those of two single particles with single-scattering approximation. The necessity of the correction of the refractive indices of water and polystyrene for different incident wavelengths is particularly addressed in the calculation. By this means, the volume fractions allowed for certain accuracy requirements of single-scattering approximation in the light scattering experiment can be evaluated. The volume fractions calculated with corrected refractive indices are compared with those obtained with fixed refractive indices which have been rather commonly used, showing that fixed refractive indices may cause significant error in evaluating multiple scattering effect. The results also give a simple criterion for selecting the incident wavelength and particle size to avoid the ＇blind zone＇ in the turbidity measurement, where the turbidity change is insensitive to aggregation of two particles.     

Simultaneous temperature and refractive index measurement of liquid using a local micro-structured fiber Bragg grating

An alternative solution for the simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index is presented. A local micro-structured fiber Bragg grating（LMSFBG）is formed as the sensing head,in which a standard grating is etched by HF.According to the phase shift theory,the main spectral change of the LMSFBG is the formation of a narrow allowed band,which is strongly dependent on the etching features and the surrounding refractive index.As such,the temperature and refractive index measurements can be achieved by the shifts of the double peaks and narrow allowed band,and their fitting linearity coefficients are 0.996 and 0.994,respectively.Thus,the reflection and transmission peaks of the LMSFBG have a good linear relationship with temperature and refractive index.