Three-dimensional vector radiative transfer in a semi-infinite, Rayleigh scattering medium exposed to spatially varying polarized radiation: generalized reflection matrix

Three-dimensional vector radiative transfer in a semi-infinite medium exposed to spatially varying, polarized radiation is studied. The problem is to determine the generalized reflection matrix for a multiple scattering medium characterized by a 4×4 scattering matrix. A double integral transform is used to convert the three-dimensional vector radiative transfer equation to a one-dimensional form, and a modified Ambarzumian's method is then applied to derive a nonlinear integral equation for the generalized reflection matrix. The spatially varying backscattered radiation for an arbitrarily polarized incident beam can be found from the generalized reflection matrix. For Rayleigh scattering and normal incidence and emergence, the generalized reflection matrix is shown to have five non-zero elements. Benchmark results for these five elements are presented and compared to asymptotic results. When the incident radiation is polarized, the vector approach used in this study correctly predicts three-dimensional behavior, while the scalar approach does not. When the incident radiation is unpolarized, both the vector and scalar approaches predict a two-dimensional distribution of the intensity, but the error in the scalar prediction can be as high as 20%.     

Transformation of electromagnetic radiation by rapidly moving inhomogeneities of a transparent medium

A theory of reflection and transmission of electromagnetic radiation by inhomogeneities of the parameters of a static transparent medium moving at the velocity of light is developed. Expressions are obtained for the Doppler frequency shift of radiation; it turns out that, under the condition of pronounced frequency dispersion, the frequency of incident radiation corresponds to two frequencies of reflected radiation (complementary waves). It is found that, as the velocity of an inhomogeneity tends to the phase velocity of radiation in the medium, the reflection and transmission coefficients of radiation by the inhomogeneity indefinitely increase. It is shown that the electromagnetic radiation frequency may increase severalfold, with a transformation coefficient of about unity, due to the Doppler shift by the inhomogeneities of a nonlinear medium that are induced by pulses (solitons) of intense counterpropagating radiation.     

Complex resonance in Fresnel reflection of radiation pulses

The Fresnel reflection of radiation pulses with an exponential temporal amplitude profile is analyzed. The conditions for the relevance of the concept of reflectance at a complex frequency, the imaginary part of which determined the rate of time variation of the amplitude, are specified. For the radiation pulses under study, we demonstrate a complex resonance, i.e., an increase in the magnitude of reflectance for the complex frequency of incident radiation (trailing edge of a pulse) that approaches the complex frequency of natural oscillations of oscillators in the medium.     

Systematic study of highly efficient white light generation in transparent materials using intense femtosecond laser pulses

We report the results of a systematic study of white light generation in different high band-gap optical media (BaF₂, acrylic, water and BK-7 glass) using ultrashort (45 fs) laser pulses. We have investigated the influence of different parameters, such as focal position of the incident laser light within the medium, the polarization state of the incident laser radiation and the pulse duration of the incident laser beam on the white light generation. Our results indicate that for intense, ultrashort pulses, the position of physical focus inside the media is crucial in the generation, with high efficiency, of white light spectra over the wavelength range 400–1100 nm. Linearly polarized incident laser light generates white light with higher intensity in the blue region than circularly polarized light. Ultrashort (45 fs) pulses generate a flatter spectrum with higher white light conversion efficiency than longer (300 fs) pulses of the same laser power. We believe that a flat response over a wide range of wavelengths in the continuum may be efficiently compressed for generation of sub-10 fs pulses. PACS 52.38.Hb; 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Tg; 33.80.Wz; 52.35.Mw     

Three-dimensional vector radiative transfer in a semi-infinite, Rayleigh scattering medium exposed to a polarized laser beam: spatially varying reflection matrix

Three-dimensional vector radiative transfer in a semi-infinite, Rayleigh scattering medium exposed to a polarized, Gaussian laser beam directed perpendicular to the surface is studied. The focus of this investigation is the 4×4, spatially varying reflection matrix that can be used to determine the normally backscattered radiation when the polarization of the incident radiation is specified. An inverse integral transform is used to construct the spatially varying reflection matrix from the generalized reflection matrix found in a previous study. The elements of this matrix depend on location specified by optical radius and azimuthal angle. The azimuthal variation is found by performing part of the inverse transform analytically, while the radial variation is described by five functions that are calculated numerically via an inverse Hankel transform. Benchmark numerical results for these five functions are presented, and the effects of beam radius and particle concentration are discussed. Expressions that describe the behavior of the reflection functions at small and large optical radii are developed, and comparisons are made to the one-dimensional and scalar situations. The scalar approximation fails to predict the three-dimensional effects produced by the polarized beam, and even when the incident radiation is unpolarized, the error in the scalar reflection function can be as high as 20%.     

Extremely short pulses via resonantly induced transparency

We study a novel method to produce extremely short pulses of radiation in a resonant medium via induced transparency by means of adiabatic periodic modulation of atomic transition frequencies by far-off-resonant laser field, which causes linear Stark splitting of atomic energy levels resulting in partial transparency of an optically deep medium and drastic spectral modification of an incident resonant radiation. We find the regimes where the output spectrum corresponds to extremely short pulses and discuss several possible experimental realizations of generation of attosecond pulses in Li²⁺ ions and femtosecond pulses in atomic hydrogen with commercially available facilities.     

On the passage of an extremely short electromagnetic pulse through a ferroelectric layer embedded in a paraelectric

The refraction and reflection of an extremely short pulse of electromagnetic radiation on a layer of a ferroelectric are considered. For an incident pulse, a stationary pulse propagating without distortions in a paraelectric was used. It is shown that low-amplitude pulses undergo a strong reflection at the entrance to a ferroelectric medium and are not recovered after passage through the layer. High-amplitude pulses are reflected to a considerably lesser extent and can turn into a new stationary pulse after passage through the layer of a ferroelectric. The refraction is accompanied by excitation of polarization oscillations localized at the boundaries of the layer. The intensity of these oscillations and the fraction of the reflected wave are significantly different in cases of similar or opposite polarities of the ferroelectric and incident pulse.     

Reflection and transmission of strongly focused vector beams at a dielectric interface

The reflection and transmission of tightly focused azimuthally and linearly polarized electromagnetic wave beams with subwavelength spot size at a dielectric interface are investigated. A substantial increase of the reflectance of a light beam that is normally incident from a higher-index medium to a lower-index medium and a decrease of the reflectance of a beam that is incident from a lower-index medium to a higher-index dielectric medium in comparison with the Fresnel reflectance are predicted.     

Reflection of ultrashort pulses from the boundary of a Drude-Lorentz medium

Reflection of ultrashort pulses of electromagnetic radiation from the boundary between a vacuum and a Drude-Lorentz medium (a set of classical linear oscillators with a low concentration) is considered. For the case of two incident pulses, the possibility of interference quenching of reflected radiation is revealed. The quenching occurs when the pulse amplitudes satisfy a certain relation and the pulses follow with an appropriate time delay.     

Measurement of reflection spectra of flat surfaces with an IKS-14A spectrophotometer

A simple and reasonably accurate method is presented for determining spectral reflectivity with an IKS-14A spectrophotometer, the specimen replacing one of the plane mirrors in the first beam of the photometer section. The reflection spectrum may be recorded with the radiation flux incident at 45 or 135°. The spectrograms need no additional processing. The error is determined mainly by those in setting the specimen and in the zero line.     

Reflected image of a strongly focused spot

We describe the reflection of a strongly focused beam from an interface between two dielectric media. If the beam is incident from the optically denser medium, the image generated by the reflected light is strongly aberrated. This situation is encountered in high-resolution confocal microscopy and data sampling based on solid immersion lenses and oil immersion objectives. The origin of the observed aberrations lies in the nature of total internal reflection, for which there is a phase shift between incident and reflected waves. This phase shift displaces the apparent reflection point beyond the interface, similarly to the Goos-H?nchen shift.     

双峰值面全息反射元件的角敏特性

从实验上研究了DCG全息元件透射光谱的暗带谷值波长随入射角变化的特性,提出用双峰值强度面反射元件作全息角敏元件(HASE),该HASE对入射光有较高的角度灵敏度和广角敏感性,分析了实验参数对暗带谷值和带宽的影响.     

反射干涉光谱法测量固体薄膜的光学常数和厚度

本文报道一种简单的方法,从平原介质薄膜的反射干涉光谱来计算薄膜的光学常数和厚度。当一束光照射在基板上的介质膜上时,由于膜上下界面反射光的相干,会使反射光谱的曲线有一定的波动。我们对反射相干光谱进行理论分析,给出计算公式,从测量曲线中的实验值得出薄膜的光学常数ｎ、ｋ以及厚度等参数。此种方法简单可行,而且易于编程处理。     

Transformation of a Gaussian light beam reflected in the vicinity of the Brewster angle

Variations in the profile and shift of a Gaussian light beam upon reflection from a plane interface between a transparent dielectric and a medium with a complex refractive index are studied. The beam is assumed to be incident at angles close to the Brewster’s angle, where the effects of transformation of the beam profile are most substantial. Based on numerical analysis, the reflected beam profiles are obtained for different properties of the media, parameters of the incident beam, and positions of the plane of observation.     

Interaction of ultrashort elliptically polarized laser pulses with nonlinear helical photonic metamaterial

The effect of nonlinear properties of a material with a periodic structural cell (three-dimensional spiral) on the specificity of transmission and reflection of elliptically polarized laser pulses normally incident on the metamaterial is studied using the finite-difference time-domain method. An analysis of the hodograph of electric-field strength vector showed that an increase in the peak intensity of a linearly polarized laser pulse incident on a sample leads to an increase in the orthogonal component of the electric-field strength vector in the pulse transmitted through the medium. When pulses containing few electric-field periods are incident on a metamaterial, the latter demonstrates radically different optical properties for right- and left-handed circularly polarized light passing through the medium. It was shown that an increase in the intensity of a right-handed (left-handed) circularly polarized ultrashort pulse, incident on a sample composed of a rather large number of right-handed (left-handed) spirals made of nonlinearmaterial, widens the frequency range within which the incident light is almost entirely reflected from the medium.     

High-efficiency frequency-modulation non-redundant scanning of a light beam in a half space

It is shown that a large fraction of the energy of the impinging light beam on a parallel plate grating can be injected into only one transmitted order, which is not the zeroth transmitted order, when the incident angle of the beam and the refractive indices of the lossless dielectric bounding media satisfy the condition of total reflection. This signififies that non-redundant scanning of the radiation transmitted through the grafting can be obtained by varying the frequency of the incident radiation with little of the incident energy being scattered into the reflected orders.     

涡旋光束在反射中的正交偏振特性研究

本文从角谱理论出发建立了涡旋光束在空气-玻璃界面反射时的傍轴传输模型, 并研究了反射过程中诱导产生的正交偏振效应. 当一水平偏振涡旋光束以不同角度入射时, 反射光束的正交偏振分量呈现出类似于一阶厄米-高斯模式的双峰强度分布, 而水平偏振分量强度分布呈现与入射光束相似的分布, 且只在布儒斯特角附近入射时才现出与正交偏振分量垂直的双峰分布. 对于任意线偏振入射光, 其正交偏振分量的偏振方向不再垂直于入射时的偏振方向, 而是与反射光束的中心波矢垂直, 此时正交偏振分量出现有趣的旋转特性, 其物理原因归结于任意线偏振光入射时所对应的水平与垂直偏振分量的反射系数不同. 最后进行了相关实验验证, 发现实验结果与理论分析符合得较好. 关键词： 正交偏振 涡旋光束 任意线偏振     

非常偏振光在单轴晶体表面的反射-透射研究

为分析非常偏振光在晶体表面的能量损耗,给出一种求解反射率和透射率的方法,即根据电磁场的边值关系以及晶体的双折射和双反射现象,求解晶体光轴在入射面内时,非常偏振光从各向同性介质入射到晶体和从晶体出射到各向同性介质两种情况的反射率和透射率的方法,并给出反射率和透射率的解析解,同时得到对于晶体光轴在入射面内的情况,光轴的取向对非常偏振光反射率的大小几乎没有影响,但对产生全反射的临界角θc影响较大的结论。实验上用LiNbO3晶体验证了非常偏振光从各向同性介质入射到晶体时的反射率公式。求解方法简单实用,所给的表达式具有一般性,可以直接使用。     

Implications of spectral hole burning on the manipulation of spatial Goos–Hänchen shift in an atomic cell

We present a new scheme to report on Goos–Hänchen (GH) shift experienced by the Gaussian light beam interacting with an optical cavity filled with four-level sodium atomic medium in the spectral hole burning region with and without Doppler broadening effect. Theoretical atomic density-matrix formalism is employed to obtain the susceptibility of atomic medium while the stationary-phase-theory is used to compute the GH shift in the reflected and transmitted probe beams subjected to control fields. A steep normal slope of dispersion is observed with a maximum and zero probability of transmission and reflection coefficients, respectively, at the regions of the spectral holes burning. In the normal dispersion spectrum at the region of spectral hole burning, positive and negative GH shift is observed, respectively, in the transmitted and reflected light beams. However, at anomalous dispersive regions negative GH shift in the transmission beam and positive GH shift in the reflection beam is observed. The reflection and transmission coefficients as well as the spatial GH shift are the functions of probe detuning, collective phase of control fields, beam incident angle and inverse Doppler broadening effect in the spectral hole burning region. The position and number of spectral holes also depend on the same spectral parametrs as stated above. The study is expected to be useful for optoelectronic devices and optical-clocking applications.