Scattering from a Multi-Layered Sphere Located in a High-Order Hermite-Gaussian Beam

Scattering of a high-order Hermite-Gaussian beam by a multi-layered sphere is analyzed. The incident high- order Hermite-Gaussian beam field is expressed by the complex-source-point method and expanded in terms of spherical vector wave functions. The beam shape coefficients of the Hermite-Gaussian beam are obtained. Under electromagnetic field boundary conditions, coefficients in the expressions of scattering fields are derived. Results of the numerical calculation of scattering intensity are presented. The effects of the particle parameters and beam parameters on scattering intensity are discussed in detail.     

Debye Series of Scattering by a Multi-Layered Cylinder in an Off-Axis 2D Gaussian Beam

The Debye series of light scattering by an infinite multi-layered cylinder in an off-axis 21） Gaussian beam is studied. A simplified but rigorous iterative formula for scattering coefficients is presented. The numerical calculations of scattering intensity by a cylinder in on-axis and off-axis beams are developed. It is indicated that the results of Debye series reach an agreement with those of generalized Lorenz-Mie theory and the off-axis distances vary the results to a great extent. The Debye series components of a two-layered cylinder are further discussed. The relations between them with rainbow phenomena are analysed.     

FDTD Investigation on Electromagnetic Scattering from Two-Layered Rough Surfaces under UPML Absorbing Condition

Electromagnetic scattering from one-dimensional two-layered rough surfaces is investigated by using finite-difference time-domain algorithm （FDTD）. The uniaxial perfectly matched layer （UPML） medium is adopted for truncation of FDTD lattices, in which the finite-difference equations can be used for the total computation domain by properly choosing the uniaxial parameters. The rough surfaces are characterized with Gaussian statistics for the height and the autocorrelation function. The angular distribution of bistatic scattering coefficient from single-layered perfect electric conducting and dielectric rough surface is calculated and it is in good agreement with the numerical result with the conventional method of moments. The influence of the relative permittivity, the incident angle, and the correlative length of two-layered rough surfaces on the bistatic scattering coefficient with different polarizations are presented and discussed in detail.     

Local fields close to the surface of nanoparticles and aggregates of nanoparticles

A refined discussion of the near-field scattering of spherical nanoparticles and the electromagnetic fields close to the particle surface is given. New results for the dependence on the distance from the surface and the angular distribution of the scattered light in the near-field are given. It will be shown that the radial component of the electric field leads to striking differences in the phase functions in the near-field and the far-field. Exemplary computations are presented for Ag and Au particles with different size. In a second part the discussion is extended to assemblies of spherical Ag and Au nanoparticles. It will be shown that large near-fields at wavelengths commonly used in SERS experiments are obtained for aggregates. In the near-field scattering intensity “hot spots” mark regions between particles in the aggregate where the near-field is particularly high. Received: 4 May 2001 / Revised version: 20 July 2001 / Published online: 19 September 2001     

Influence of the cladding layer field of fiber on beam parameters

Beam parameters, including mode-field radius, divergence half-angle and beam propagation factor are studied and relations among them are derived under the condition of paraxial approximation. Several formulas of the beam parameters for end diffraction-limited from the fundamental mode of fiber are given based on the normalized standing wave parameter, normalized evanescent wave parameter and radii of core layer and circular aperture. Moreover, influence of change of the near-field on beam parameters is researched and the results show that the cladding layer field has determinant effect and cannot be neglect. These conclusions may provide theoretical foundation for further researching the beam parameters.     

Spectral anomalies in supercontinuum focused waves

The diffraction-induced spectral anomalies in the focal plane of an apertured spherical wave with supercontinuum flat-top power spectrum are investigated. Coherent broadband radiation (also incoherent white light) demonstrates a strong blue shift in the vicinity of the optical axis, and discrete spectral gaps with overall red shift arise out of this central region. Unlike narrow-band light, the spectral switch effect fades away with ultra-broad spectra.     

Propagation of elegant Hermite cosine Gaussian laser beams

In this paper, a more generalized beam containing an elegant Hermite Gaussian beam and a cosine Gaussian beam, which is called elegant Hermite cosine Gaussian (EHcoG) beam, is introduced and studied. The propagation properties of the EHcoG laser beams through a first-order paraxial optical system are demonstrated analytically and numerically. The recurrence propagation equations of the EHcoG beams through a first-order paraxial optical system with and without aperture are derived, from which the analytical propagation expression for EHcoG beams of any order can be obtained by means of the recursive procedures. The validity of the analytical results is confirmed by the numerical results.     

Applications of the expanded basis method to study the behavior of light in polaritonic photonic crystal slab with losses

We apply the expanded basis method (EBM) to investigate the behavior of light in polaritonic photonic crystal (PC) slabs with losses. The influence of losses on transmissivity is studied. It is found that the transmissivity is significantly lowered with the increase of losses, in particular, it is abruptly decreased in the vicinity of transverse-optical-phonon frequency. The electromagnetic (EM) dissipation is mainly dominated by the imaginary part of dielectric constant of PC. The larger the imaginary part of the dielectric constant, the more the EM energy depletion is. The variation of EM dissipation with the number of period layers in the PC slab is approximately linear or oscillatory increase with the number of period layers.     

Beam moments and angular momentum in non-uniformly polarized beams

The angular momentum of non-uniformly totally polarized beams is investigated using methods from the beam characterization approach. The relationship between the elements of the beam matrix for the two components of the field and the angular momentum is given. The unconventional distribution of the polarization across the beam profile could result in contributions to both the spin and orbital terms of the angular momentum. To illustrate this, a particular example with a vortex beam is considered.     

Changes in generalized Stokes parameters of stochastic electromagnetic beams on propagation through ABCD optical systems and in the turbulent atmosphere

Using the derived formulas for the transformation of 2 × 2 cross-spectral density matrix of the stochastic electromagnetic beams propagating through ABCD optical systems and in the turbulent atmosphere, the changes in the generalized Stokes parameters of the beams propagating under these conditions can be investigated directly. Some typical numerical calculations are illustrated relating to the electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beams passing through free space, focal system, dual-focus system, and the turbulent atmosphere with different structure parameters. Further extensions are also pointed out.     

Propagation of a hollow Gaussian beam through a paraxial misaligned optical system

Based on the generalized diffraction integral formula for treating the propagation of a laser beam through a paraxial misaligned optical system in the cylindrical coordinate system, we obtain an analytical formula for a hollow Gaussian beam passing through a paraxial misaligned optical system. Furthermore, we also obtain the approximate analytical formula for a hollow Gaussian beam passing through a paraxial circularly apertured misaligned optical system by expanding the hard aperture function into a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions. As a numerical example, the propagation properties a hollow Gaussian beam through a misaligned thin lens are studied numerically.     

Giant positive and negative lateral shifts from the Kretschmann-Raether configuration with a weakly absorbing left-handed slab

The lateral shift of a TE-polarized beam reflected from the Kretschmann-Raether structure with a weakly absorbing left-handed slab is studied theoretically. It is shown that the lateral shift can be very large negative as well as positive near the resonant condition. These large negative and positive shifts can be one order of magnitude much larger than the shift from the corresponding nonabsorbing slab. As the absorption factor increases, the incident angle of producing largest lateral shift increases when the thickness is kept unchanged but the thickness of the slab of producing largest lateral shift decreases when the incident angle is kept unchanged.     

Propagation of random electromagnetic beams through axially nonsymmetrical optical systems

When random electromagnetic beams passing through axially nonsymmetrical ABCD optical systems, the analytical formula for the transformation of the elements of 2 × 2 cross-spectral density matrix is obtained with the help of vector integration. We derive analytical expressions of the spectral degree of polarization, the spectral degree of coherence, and the spectral density in any output plane z > 0. Some numerical calculations are illustrated relating to the electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beams propagating through such optical systems.     

Influence of Deviation on Optical Transmission through Aperiodic Superlattices

We propose a deviation model and study the influences of the relative error and sensitivity of a machine on the transmission coefficients （TCs） of Fibonacci superlattices. It is found that for a system with fewer layers, the influence of deviation can be ignored. When superlattices become more complicated, they may be fabricated by a machine with suitable relative error and possess the designed value of TO. However, when the number of system layers exceeds some critical value, superlattices should be manufactured only by precise machines. The influence of the sensitivity is also discussed.     

Microwave Experimental Observation of Transmitted Enhanced Goos--Hänchen Displacement in Symmetry-Double-Prism Configuration

It is theoretically proven that the transmitted Goos-Hiinchen （GH） displacement in the symmetry-double prism could be resonantly enhanced when the incident angle is less than but near the critical angle, and is modulated by the slab thickness between two prisms and the incident angle. This enhancement effect is directly observed in microwave experiments in which the incident angle is properly chosen. The measured data are in good agreement with the result of the numerical simulation.     

Generation and interference collapse of distortion-less fs pulses in free space by Fresnel sources

A method of formation of the tightly confined, distortion-free, femtosecond pulses in two dimensions (2D) with the step-like decreasing of intensity after a finite length of propagation in free space is described. The pulses are formed by the Fresnel source of modes corresponding to a 2D hollow waveguide with perfectly reflecting walls (material waveguide). The source reproduces in free space a propagation-invariant pulse confined by the waveguide. Unlike the case of material waveguides, when the pulse goes out from the virtual waveguide formed by the Fresnel source its shape does not change, but the intensity immediately drops down to the near-zero level. It is also shown that there is a limit of the duration of pulse beyond which the step-like decay is not observed.     

Effect of cross-polarization of electromagnetic source on the degree of polarization of generated beam

In this paper we study the degree of cross-polarization of a beam-like field whose cross-spectral density matrix is symmetric with respect to the permutation of its spatial arguments. Formulas were derived expressing the degree of cross-polarization in terms of the generalized Stokes parameters. With the help of an uniformly polarized quasi-homogeneous model source, the effect of degree of cross-polarization of a source on the degree of polarization of the radiated beam was demonstrated, that, two sources with same spectral degrees of coherence and polarization but with different degrees of cross-polarization can generate beams that have different spectral degrees of polarization in the far field.     

Independent Modulation of Omnidirectional Defect Modes in Single-Negative Materials Photonic Crystal with Multiple Defects

Single-negative materials based on photonic crystal with multiple defect layers are designed and the free modulation of defect modes is studied. The results show that the multi-defect structure can avoid the interference between the defect states. Therefore, the designed double defect modes in the zero effective-phase gap can be adjusted independently by changing the thickness of different defect layers. In addition, the two tunable defect modes have the omnidirectional characteristics. This multi-defect structure with above-mentioned two advantages has potential applications in modern optical devices such as tunable omnidirectional filters.     

Velocity of pulse propagation in media with amplitude nonlinearity

The propagation velocity of optical wave fronts can be accelerated by the influence of gain saturation. We report systematic measurements for the specific case of Brillouin gain in optical fibers. A simplified analytic rate equation approach permits a qualitative understanding of the observations in terms of a pure amplitude nonlinearity. We point out that there is a close analogy to a mode-locked laser with gain saturation. Pursuing this analogy, we can explain why the changes in propagation velocity are hardly measurable for synchronously pumped lasers, but easily amount to several percent for amplifiers or lasers based on stimulated Brillouin scattering.     

Analytical structure of an apertured vector Gaussian beam in the far field

Based on the angular spectrum representation of the Maxwell’s equations and the complex Gaussian expansion of the aperture function, the structure of an apertured vector Gaussian beam in the far field is presented in the integral form. By means of the method of stationary phase, the analytical vectorial structures are obtained. According to the analytical expressions, the characteristics of vectorial structure of an apertured Gaussian beam are investigated in the far field. The influence of a linearly polarized angle on the vectorial structure is also studied in the far field. This research provides a novel approach to further comprehend the vectorial property of an apertured Gaussian beam.