Spectral properties of entangled photon pairs generated via quasi-phased-matched spontaneous parametric down-conversion

The spectral properties of entangled photon pairs generated via quasi-phased matching in spontaneous parametric down-conversion are proposed and demonstrated experimentally. A general mathematical model for evaluating the spectral properties is developed to obtain the spectrum shape and range of down-converted photons. The model takes into account the effects of phase mismatching due to non-ideal pumping and the relationship between crystal periodic modulation function and the incidence angle of the pump beam. The spectrum curve shape is determined by the discrete Fourier transform of a Gaussian pump beam and the integration of parametric down-conversion generated by an individual plane wave. An experiment is carried out with a PPLN non-linear crystal and dispersing optics, which shows a good consistency in their spectral ranges and shapes with our model predictions within the spectrum of 600–633 nm. This therefore illustrates that both the simulation model and the experimental process are reasonable. This novel method has potential applications in high-accuracy calibration in the wide spectrum using correlated photons.     

Study of 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky diode using field guard ring termination

This paper reports that the 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode, PiN diode and junction barrier Schottky diode terminated by field guard rings are designed, fabricated and characterised. The measurements for forward and reverse characteristics have been done, and by comparison with each other, it shows that junction barrier Schottky diode has a lower reverse current density than that of the Schottky barrier diode and a higher forward drop than that of the PiN diode. High-temperature annealing is presented in this paper as well to figure out an optimised processing. The barrier height of 0.79 eV is formed with Ti in this work, the forward drop for the Schottky diode is 2.1 V, with an ideality factor of 3.2, and junction barrier Schottky diode with blocking voltage higher than 400 V was achieved by using field guard ring termination.     

A laser feedback interferometer with an oscillating feedback mirror

A method is proposed to solve the problem of direction discrimination for laser feedback interferometers.By vibrating the feedback mirror with a small-amplitude and high-frequency sine wave,laser intensity is modulated accordingly.The modulation amplitude can be extracted using a phase sensitive detector(PSD).When the feedback mirror moves,the PSD output shows a quasi-sine waveform similar to a laser intensity interference fringe but with a phase difference of approximately ±π/2.If the movement direction of the feedback mirror changes,the phase difference sign reverses.Therefore,the laser feedback interferometer offers a potential application in displacement measurement with a resolution of 1/8 wavelength and in-time direction discrimination.Without using optical components such as polarization beam splitters and wave plates,the interferometer is very simple,easy to align,and less costly.     

Influence of the abdominal wall on the nonlinear propagation of focused therapeutic ultrasound

This article theoretically studies the influence of inhomogeneous abdominal walls on focused therapeutic ultrasound based on the phase screen model. An inhomogeneous tissue is considered as a combination of a homogeneous medium and a phase aberration screen. Variations of acoustic parameters such as peak positive pressure, peak negative pressure, and acoustic intensity are discussed with respect to the phase screen statistics of human abdominal walls. Results indicate that the abdominal wall can result in energy loss of the sound in the focal plane. For a typical human abdominal wall with correlation length of 7.9~mm and variance of 0.36, the peak acoustic intensity radiated from a 1~MHz transmitter with a radius of 30~mm can be reduced by about 14% at the focal plane.     

Speckle intensity images of target based on Monte Carlo method

Speckle intensity in the detector plane is deduced in the free-space optical system and imaging system based on Van Cittert-Zemike theorem. The speckle intensity images of plane target and conical target are obtained by using the Monte Carlo method and measured experimentally. The results show that when the range extent of target is smaller, the speckle size along the same direction become longer, and the speckle size increase with increasing incident light wavelengths. The speckle size increases and the speckle intensity images of target is closer to the actual object when the aperture scale augments. These findings are useful to access the target information by speckle in laser radar systems.     

Nonparaxial propagation of Hermite-Laguerre-Gaussian beams in uniaxial crystal orthogonal to the optical axis

Analytical expressions for the three components of the nonparaxial propagation of a Hermite-Laguerre-Gaussian （HLG） beam in uniaxial crystal orthogonal to the optical axis are derived. The intensity distribution of an HLG beam and its three components propagating in a uniaxial crystal orthogonal to the optical axis are demonstrated by numerical examples. Although the y and z components of an HLG beam in the incident plane are both equal to zero, they emerge upon propagation inside the uniaxial crystal. Moreover, the beam profile of the x component is relatively stable and the beam profiles of the y and z components have the same evolution law. If the ratio of the extraordinary refractive index to the ordinary refractive index is larger than unity, the beam profile of the HLG beam is elongated in the x direction and generally rotates clockwise. Otherwise, the beam profile of the HLG beam is elongated in the y direction and generally rotates anticlockwise. This research is beneficial to the optical trapping and nonlinear optics involved in the rotation of a beam profile.     

A Novel Approach to Correct Diffraction Effect in Measurment of ultrasonic Velocity and Attenuation at High Frequencies

A novel method to correct diffraction effect in measurement of ultrasonic velocity and attenuation at high frequencies is developed by using the superposition technique of Gaussian beams.To examine the validity of this numerical approach,the amplitude loss and phase advance due to the diffraction effect for an SiO2 specimen are numerically calculated in 30-240MHz,and the results are in good agreement with those by the Papadakis method.     

Propagation of phase-locked truncated Gaussian beam array in turbulent atmosphere

Truncation manipulation is a simple but effective way to improve the intensity distribution properties of the phase-locked Gaussian beam array at the receiving plane. In this paper, the analytical expression for the propagation of the phase-locked truncated Gaussian beam array in a turbulent atmosphere is obtained based on the extended Huygens--Fresnel principle. Power in the diffraction-limited bucket is introduced as the beam quality factor to evaluate the influence of different truncation parameters. The dependence of optimal truncation ratio on the number of beamlets, the intensity of turbulence, propagation distance and laser wavelength is calculated and discussed. It is revealed that the optimal truncation ratio is larger for the laser array that contains more lasers, and the optimal truncation ratio will shift to a larger value with an increase in propagation distance and decrease in intensity of atmosphere turbulence. The optimal truncation ratio is independent of laser wavelength.     

Dynamic thermal modeling and parameter identification for a monolithic laser diode module

We improved the thermal equivalent-circuit model of the laser diode module(LDM) to evaluate its thermal dynamic properties and calculate the junction temperature of the laser diode with a high accuracy.The thermal parameters and the transient junction temperature of the LDM are modeled and obtained according to the temperature of the thermistor integrated in the module.Our improved thermal model is verified indirectly by monitoring the emission wavelength of the laser diode against gas absorption lines,and several thermal parameters are obtained with the temperature uncertainty of 0.01 K in the thermal dynamic process.     

Simulation of the magnetoresistance of Heisenberg spin lattices using the resistor network model

The magnetism and conductance of two-dimensional Heisenberg spin lattices are investigated by using Monte Carlo simulations to qualitatively understand a fascinating magnetoresistance effect observed in magnetic materials and their artificial multilayers.Various magnetic profiles,including a pure ferromagnetic,a pure antiferromagnetic,two phase competitive cases,and an artificial sandwich junction,are simulated,and their conductances are calculated based on an extended resistor–network model.Magnetoresistance is observed in some lattices,which is prominent when the system is near phase boundaries.Compared with real manganites,the absence of colossal magnetoresistance in our simulation implies the essential role of charge ordered phase which is not included in our pure spin model.However,our model provides an intuitive understanding of the spin-dependent conductance in large scale.     

Non-equiphase Hermite-Gaussian model of diode laser beams

A non-equiphase Hermite-Gaussian model is proposed to describe the field in the plane parallel to the junction of double-heterostructure (DH) diode laser beams. The analytical expression for the far field of DH diode laser beams is derived and used to compare the calculated intensity profiles with the measured and calculated values given by Nemoto and Zeng et al., showing a further improvement between the calculated and measured profiles by using the non-equiphase Hermite-Gaussian model.     

Far-field solution of the Helmholtz equation for double heterostructure diode lasers

On the basis of the Helmholtz equation the far-field distribution is derived for double heterostructure lasers. The results show that the far-field distribution in the direction normal to the junction plane approaches a Lorentzian function, but parallel to the junction it may be approximated by a Gaussian function. The far-field intensity patterns have analogous elliptic form. It is also shown, for the first time, that the separability condition is not strictly valid for the far-field of a laser diode. Only in the vicinity of the optical axis the field can be expressed as a product of two separate functions, each of which depends only on one of the two transverse coordinates parallel and perpendicular to the diode junction.     

Diode lasers coupled to external resonators

This tutorial revíew is concerned with the properties of injection lasers operated with passive optical feedback. Thep-n junction laser characteristics relevant for operation in external cavities are summarized. The properties of diode lasers coupled to different types of external resonators are reviewed as well as experiments that incorporate passive feedback in monolithic integrated optical structures.     

Intra-cavity spectroscopy with diode lasers

A multi-mode diode laser with an external cavity is studied experimentally and theoretically for its application to intra-cavity spectroscopy. One facet of a typical Ga_0.89Al_0.11As laser diode was antireflection-coated by deposition of HfO₂ such that 10^–3 residual reflectivity was left over. This diode was placed in an external optical cavity. The emission spectrum of this diode laser is highly sensitive to any frequency-dependent loss in the cavity, and the detectivity of such a loss grows with the pump rate. Even close to threshold, the absorption at 780 nm of Rb atoms with a density of 5×10¹⁰ cm^–3 has been detected. An adequate model for diode lasers based on rate equations and including frequency-dependent gain saturation is developed and applied to the calculations of output spectra. The sensitivity of these spectra to intra-cavity absorption is determined by the overall cavity loss — which is rather high — and the fraction of spontaneous emission in the total emission, in contrast with dye lasers where it is limited by nonlinear mode coupling. Various criteria for the sensitivity are suggested. The smallest detectable absorption with a perfectly antireflection-coated laser is 10^–6 cm^–1. Improvement of the characteristics of the laser diode would increase the sensitivity.     

离轴高斯涡旋光束的深聚焦特性

基于德拜矢量衍射积分理论,对离轴高斯涡旋光束经过大数值孔径透镜后聚焦场的特性进行了研究,获得了离轴高斯涡旋光束深聚焦后复振幅分布函数,在此基础上对离轴高斯涡旋光束深聚焦场的光强和相位分别进行了分析.数值模拟结果表明:离轴距离的改变对高斯涡旋光束在焦平面上的光强分布和相位分布会产生影响,离轴距离的增加会加剧聚焦场光强在y轴方向上分布的差异,而离轴距离的符号决定了光强集中区域的方向.另一方面,与一阶离轴涡旋光束不同,高阶离轴涡旋光束经过深聚焦后会发生暗核分裂现象,出现多个相位奇点,奇点个数等于原始光束对应的拓扑荷数,且分裂后的奇点具有明显的对称性.研究表明,这种暗核分裂现象由大数值孔径透镜深聚焦引起.     

Narrow bandwidth operation of high-power broad-area diode laser using cascaded phase-conjugate injection locking

A broad-area laser is injection-locked by another broad-area laser that is also injection-locked by a single-mode diode laser. Two double-phase conjugate mirrors of photorefractive BaTaO₃ are used to couple the master laser beams to the first slave laser, and the first slave laser output to the second slave laser. One of the double-phase conjugate mirrors is built up with the beams from two broad-area lasers. Two slave lasers are oscillating in single longitudinal mode at 808.5 nm and the spectral width is the same as that of the master laser. Final single-mode output power from the second slave broad-area laser is 840 mW, which is limited by the power of the injection beam. This work verifies the possibility of the multi-stage cascaded injection locking of high-power diode lasers with phase-conjugate injection. Received: 18 November 1998 / Revised version: 29 January 1999 / Published online: 7 April 1999     

Analytical and experimental studies on the diode-pumped,simultaneously Q-switched and mode-locked c-cut Nd:GdVO<Subscript> 4</Subscript>/KTP green laser with LT-GaAs absorber

A diode-pumped passively Q-switched mode-locked (QML) intracavity frequency doubled c-cut Nd:GdVO₄/KTP green laser with a LT-GaAs saturable absorber is presented. More than 90% modulation depth for the mode-locked green pulses has been achieved. Using the hyperbolic secant function methods, a developed rate equation model for Q-switched and mode-locked lasers considering the Gaussian spatial distribution of the intracavity photon intensity, the influences of continuous pump rate, the upper state lifetime of the active medium, and the excited-state lifetime of the saturable absorber, was proposed. With this developed model, the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental results and the width of the mode-locked green pulse was estimated to be about 380 ps.     

High-resolution diode-laser spectroscopy of calcium

Saturated-absorption signals on the calcium 657 nm transition are observed by direct absorption using diode lasers and a high flux atomic-beam cell. Line-widths as narrow as 65 kHz are observed with a high signal-to-noise ratio. Prospects for using this system as a compact wavelength/frequency reference are considered.     

Diode laser atomic fluorescence temperature measurements in low-pressure flames

Temperature measurements have been performed in a low-pressure flame by the technique of diode laser induced atomic fluorescence. The experiments were done in a near-stoichiometric flat-flame of premixed methane, oxygen and nitrogen, at a pressure of 5.3 kPa. Indium atoms were seeded to the flame and probed using blue diode lasers; the lineshapes of the resulting fluorescence spectra were used to determine the flame temperature at a range of heights above the burner plate. The particular issues associated with the implementation of this measurement approach at low pressure are discussed, and it is shown to work especially well under these conditions. The atomic fluorescence lineshape thermometry technique is quicker to perform and requires less elaborate equipment than other methods that have previously been implemented in low-pressure flames, including OH-LIF and NO-LIF. There was sufficient indium present to perform measurements at all locations in the flame, including in the pre-heat zone close to the burner plate. Two sets of temperature measurements have been independently performed by using two different diode lasers to probe two separate transitions in atomic indium. The good agreement between the two sets of data provides a validation of the technique. By comparing thermocouple profiles recorded with and without seeding of the flame, we demonstrate that any influence of seeding on the flame temperature is negligible. The overall uncertainty of the measurements reported here is estimated to be ±2.5% in the burnt gas region.     

Generation of phase-coherent laser beams for Raman spectroscopy and cooling by direct current modulation of a diode laser

A setup for generation of GHz side-bands by direct current modulation of a diode laser is described. The first order side-bands are used to inject two slave power diode lasers, in order to produce phase coherent, controllable frequency shifted, light beams, the mutual phase coherence of which has been verified (beat-note FWHM of 1 Hz, instrumentally limited). Some possible applications in the context of laser Raman cooling of cesium atoms are briefly discussed. Received 9 November 1998 and Received in final form 16 February 1999