Polarization-selective grating mirrors used in the generation of radial polarization

Two novel methods to control the polarization of laser radiation are presented. The discrimination between different polarization distributions isperformed with a corrugation grating in the top high-index layer of a multilayer mirror, which couples the undesired polarization into a lossy waveguidemode of the multilayer. The generation of radially polarized radiation in a laser resonator is presented as a practical verification of the principle.This revised version was published online in May 2005. The Article Category was removed.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

High resonant reflection of a confined free space beam by a high contrast segmented waveguide

High resonant reflection of a free space wave from a deeply corrugated slab waveguide is shown to take place in the case of a focused free space beam under normal incidence. It is described as a result of a strong intra-guide coupling coefficient allowing the coupled wave to be closely localized under the incident beam, therefore to interfere with it with high contrast effects. The coupled mode inspired analysis gives the possibility of optimizing the resonant structure; it is related and compared with the photonic crystal vision of the same functional structure to which it confers more intelligibility.     

A polarization-stabilized microchip laser using a resonant grating mirror

A resonant grating mirror was monolithically integrated to an ytterbium-doped ceramic Y₃Al₅O₁₂ microchip laser to produce a linearly polarized laser beam emitting at 1030 nm with a polarization contrast ratio up to 1000. The device was pumped with a fiber-coupled laser diode bar emitting 2-ms pulses at 50 Hz at 940 nm. Up to 13-W peak output power was obtained from 20-W absorbed pump power at room temperature. The obtained slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was about 80%. PACS 42.40.Lx; 42.55.-f; 42.60.Jf; 42.60.Lh; 42.55.Xi; 42.70.Hj     

Tunable grating-assisted surface plasmon resonance by use of nano-polymer dispersed liquid crystal electro-optical material

This paper reports on the experimental observation of the displacement of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) excited by a metallic diffraction grating. This effect is achieved by the use of an electro-optical material composed of nano-sized droplets of liquid crystals dispersed in a host polymer. The average refractive index of this material in the form of a thin film on the undulated metal surface can be modified with the application of an external electric field and to tune the wavelength at which the SPR excitation leads to a reflection minimum. The theoretical design and experimental demonstration of the principle of this component are described.     

Bypassing and cutting through 1D photonic crystals by ultra-shallow wet-etched resonant gratings

The electromagnetic field in subwavelength resonant diffractive optical elements is so concentrated that a very shallow surface corrugation obtained by wet chemical micro–nano-etching is sufficient to give rise to high contrast diffraction effects allowing a high wavelength-, polarization- or transverse-mode-selectivity which is not achievable by conventional diffractive elements. Two examples of polarizing laser mirrors at both extremes of the optical spectrum with wet-etched grating bypassing and cutting through the 1D photonic crystal are demonstrated.     

Optimization of a Waveguide Grating for Normal TM Mode Coupling

The conditions for maximum longitudinal electric field of a TM mode at the surface of a step index slab waveguide, and the value of this maximum are given in a normalized analytical form. They are applied to a grating coupling structure corresponding to a resonant laser mirror or to optical interconnects involving a normally incident free space wave and a singlemode slab waveguide.     

Multilayer resonances sharpened by grating waveguide resonance

A multilayer planar structure comprising a highly reflective multilayer dielectric mirror and a corrugated waveguide is proposed for use as a narrow passband optical filter. The proposed filter has a much narrower linewidth than a usual Fabry–Perot cavity with two multilayer dielectric mirrors. It is shown that the narrowing of the linewidth is due to the strong spectral dependence of the phase of the wave reflected from the waveguide grating mirror. The shape of the pass band can be made symmetrical by a proper choice of the grating groove profile.     

Two-dimensional coupled mode equation for grating waveguide excitation by a focused beam

The problem of grating coupling of a focused incident beam under non-normal incidence into a slab waveguide is given a complete three-dimensional (3D) solution. The diffracted field is expressed as the Fourier integral of a regular part and of a singular part resulting from the existence of the coupled guided mode. A suitable expression of the field in the neighborhood of the pole and a rigorous definition of the modal field lead to a generalized coupled mode equation relating the incident field and the two-dimensional (2D) modal field propagating in the plane of the slab waveguide. The phenomenological parameters involved in the coupled wave equation: the propagation constant, the radiation coefficient as well as the modal field shape are derived from the exact treatment of plane wave diffraction in the same structure. The solution of the complete coupling problem is given in the particular case of a Gaussian incident beam, and of a high index step-index waveguide.     

Generation of Granular Media

A discrete reduced distance method to generate 2-D and 3-D granular porous media is presented. The main property of the method is to produce heterogeneous and/or anisotropic packed beds of joined grains with arbitrary shapes and optimum fitting (i.e., minimum porosity). The iterative generation process starts with the coarsest grain and adjusts the size and location of the next ones depending on the updated available space. Hence, grain size distribution cannot be specified directly but is merely the consequence of user defined input parameters. The latter consists of a set of randomly distributed initial points, a few typical predefined grain shapes as well as the minimum and maximum grain diameters. The simulated granular media can readily be processed by an appropriate mesh generator to allow for subsequent numerical solutions of differential equations.