Size effects in the internal reflection in gold cluster films in polarization modulation experiments

The internal reflection in gold nanocluster films in the Kretschmann geometry is studied using polarization modulation of electromagnetic radiation. The reflection coefficients R _s and R _p for s- and p-polarized light, respectively, as well as their difference ΔR = R _s − R _p , are measured as functions of the angle of incidence of electromagnetic radiation at different wavelengths in the range of 0.6–1.6 μm. A topological size effect is found in the interaction of light with the cluster electronic system, which consists of the fact that the surface plasmon resonance in gold cluster films can be excited by both p- and s-polarized light. It is found that the magnitude and the sign of curvature of the angular dependence of ΔR are related to the degree of resonance with light of either only p-polarization or both polarizations simultaneously.     

Polarization dependence of intersubband absorption and photoconductivity in p-type SiGe quantum wells

We present a detailed study of the polarization dependence of subband absorption and photoconductivity in Si/SiGe quantum wells. For samples with a hole concentration ofp_s2.8×10¹² cm², bothp- ands-polarized absorptions have been observed and transitions to several excited states are clearly identified by comparison with self-consistent Luttinger-Kohn type calculations. The photoconductivity is surprisingly insensitive to the polarization, which indicates the importance of the subsequent transport process on the photocurrent responsitivity.     

The nature of the vectorial photoelectric effect in the threshold energy region

Summary An immediate correlation has been proved to exist between the vectorial photoelectric effect and electronic surface structure modified due to adsorption. Experimental studies were performed for Cs overlayers on W(110) and Si(111) faces using visible exciting photons with energies below those of both bulk and surface plasmons. Considerable (more than 20 fold) growth of the effect was observed forp-polarized light in the vicinity of threshold as the light frequency approached the position of the maximum of local density in the surface-state band. A special case of the vectorial photoelectric effect forp-polarized light has been found in the absence of bulk photoemission excited bys-polarized light. Our results prove that the anomalous vectorial photoelectric effect is caused by the normal electric vector component of thep-polarized light under appropriate conditions for the particular photoemission enhancement on the surface. The effect can be related to optical absorption by the surface-state band and to subsequent electron emission into the vacuum, the normal electric vector component of thep-polarized light being essential for both processes.     

Polarization interferometer as a proximity sensor

A simple interferometric phasemeter which can be used as a proximity sensor is described. It is based on the measurement of the phase shift between the p- and s- components of a field caused by the processes of attenuation in total internal reflection. The role of the interferometer is to restore the p- and the s- components from the resultant totally reflected field, with minimum amplitude and phase distortions and to let them interfere. The phase shift as a function of the attenuation of the total internal reflection can be determined from the interference signal. The interferometer is of a common path polarization shearing type, consisting of Rochon beamsplitter and a linear polarizer. An experiment for measuring the distance between glass plane surface and a plane attenuater made of Si mono-crystal is described. A good agreement between theory and experiment for separations less than 300 nm is observed. This device can be applied in research and metrology. After further modifications, the optical system could be used for proximity sensing, surface geometry control, variable optical retarders, contamination monitoring, etc.     

Microscopy of non-birefringent transmissive phase samples using Sagnac laser interferometer

A cyclic interferometer, appropriately combined with a long working distance microscope objective, is adapted for quantitative phase microscopy. In such an arrangement, the sample information, in terms of the diffracted orders emerging from the sample, is carried by both the counter propagating beams within the cyclic interferometer. However, positioning the sample close to the input/output cube beam splitter and use of a suitably converging laser beam of light as the input to the interferometer ensure that only one of the counter propagating beams carries the object information to the objective while the other beam, which serves as the reference, allows only the undiffracted component to contribute to the process of image formation. Use of suitable polarization optics renders the interferometer its polarization phase shifting property. Using the proposed arrangement, the experimental results showing the quantitative 3D phase rendering of polystyrene microspheres and micro-wells etched in glass are presented.     

Surface-plasmon-polariton waves guided by the uniformly moving planar interface of a metal film and dielectric slab

We explored the effects of relative motion on the excitation of surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves guided by the planar interface of a metal film and a dielectric slab, both materials being isotropic and homogeneous. Electromagnetic phasors in moving and non-moving reference frames were related directly using the corresponding Lorentz transformations. Our numerical studies revealed that, in the case of a uniformly moving dielectric slab, the angle of incidence for SPP-wave excitation is highly sensitive to (i) the ratio β of the speed of motion to speed of light in free space and (ii) the direction of motion. When the direction of motion is parallel to the plane of incidence, the SPP wave is excited by p-polarized (but not s-polarized) incident plane waves for low and moderate values of β, while at higher values of β the total reflection regime breaks down. When the direction of motion is perpendicular to the plane of incidence, the SPP wave is excited by p-polarized incident plane waves for low values of β, but s-polarized incident plane waves at moderate values of β, while at higher values of β the SPP wave is not excited. In the case of a uniformly moving metal film, the sensitivity to β and the direction of motion is less obvious.     

Measuring the optical parameters of thin films by p-polarized laser beams

The refractive index n_f, extinction coefficient k_f and thickness d_f of a dip coated film are measured by using p-polarized laser beams. A sample is oblique illuminated with a p-polarized laser beam, and then two reflected beams, from the front and back surfaces, are received with a detector. After measuring their intensity ratio versus the angle of incidence, it is convenient to obtain the parameters of the film by means of data fitting. The films of polymethyltriethoxy silane (PMTES), which were made on a BK-7 glass substrate by dip coating, were measured. The method is non-contact, non-destructive and has the advantages of simplicity of both equipment and understanding. It is also shown that the values measured by this method are coincident with those measured by ellipsometry.     

Parallel Plate Interferometer with a Reflecting Mirror for Measuring Angular Displacement

A parallel plate interferometer with a reflecting mirror for measuring angular displacement is proposed. A deflection angle of a beam caused by an angular displacement is amplified by use of a reflecting mirror to increase the optical path difference (OPD) in the plane-parallel plate, which provides high sensitivity of the phase measurement. Detection of light transmitted through the plane-parallel plate with a position sensitive detector (PSD) enables high accurate measurement of the initial angle of incidence to the plane-parallel plate with insensitivity to stray light. The improved parallel plate interferometer achieves a measurement repeatability of 10⁻⁸ rad.     

The effect of nonlinearity of the recording media response on the properties of thick phase holograms

The effect of nonlinearity of a photosensitive medium response on the diffraction properties of thick phase holograms is analyzed on the basis of coupled-wave equations. It is shown that, for a typical dependence of the refractive index on the exposure, the response nonlinearity lowers the diffraction efficiency of a hologram illuminated by an s-polarized light. For the p polarization of the reading beam, the response nonlinearity reduces the hologram efficiency when the angle between the beams diffracted into the zero and second orders (into the minus first and first orders) is smaller than 90°, increases the efficiency for angles larger than 90°, and hardly affects the diffraction efficiency when this angle is close to 90°. The results for p polarization are obtained, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time. The analysis of angular selectivity of the gratings has shown that the effect of nonlinearity becomes particularly important for light waves incident on the hologram at angles close to the Bragg one. It is also found that, for any thickness of the photosensitive medium, there exists an optimum value of the maximum change in the refractive index, for which the diffraction efficiency may be close to 100% in a wide range of exposures. In this case, the nonlinearity for s polarization stabilizes, to some extent, the dependence of the diffraction efficiency on the exposure.     

Reflection of the light beam carrying orbital angular momentum from a lossy medium

It is shown that after reflection from a lossy medium the s- or p-polarized paraxial light beam carrying the orbital angular momentum suffers the 2D shift of the beam's centre of gravity relative the geometric optic axis. The direction as well as the length of the 2D vector, which describes the shift, change smoothly with the change of the angle of incidence.     

Applying the phase difference property of polarization angle for measuring the concentration of solutions

This paper proposes a simple method for measuring the concentration of solutions based on the phase difference of internal reflection polarization angle and circularly polarized heterodyne interferometry. For a circularly polarized heterodyne light beam incident on the boundary surface between a hemispherical prism and a test solution, the reflected light passes through a properly oriented analyzer for interference. The phase difference between s- and p-polarized light is sensitive to the solution concentration when the incident angle equals the internal reflection polarization angle. Based on these effects, the resulting phase difference makes it possible to analyze the concentration of solution through heterodyne interferometry. The experiments in this study confirm the feasibility of this method, which provides the advantages of simple installation, ease of operation, and high accuracy.     

[Russian Text Ignored]

The stability of the electromagnetic plasma confinement by powerful external s-polarized pump waves is considered. The parametric excitation of standing electromagnetic waves along the plasma boundary with frequencies close to the frequency of the pump wave leads to a periodic density modulation of the plasma boundary. The density disturbances along the direction of the external wave field are connected to the excitation of transverse p-polarized surface waves while the modulation in the direction perpendicular to the pump field are created by the parametric interaction between the external wave and s-polarized trapped leaking oscillations. Only when the leaking waves are excited the scale length of the modulation is larger than half the free space wave length of the incident radiation.     

Interference simulation in a cold collisionless moving magnetized plasma slab and (free surface of plasma slab)

Abstract

The pattern of intensity due to the interference in a cold collisionless magnetized moving plasma slab is investigated. Theoretically, it is assumed the mentioned layer has been located as a thin layer in an etalon Fabry–Perot interferometer surrounded by vacuum. The direction of external magnetic field is normal to the plasma surface and the plasma slab moves parallel with external constant magnetic field. By taking into account the relativistic considerations, the functions of transmitted intensity are presented coincident with the Airy function form in laboratory and plasma slab frames, respectively. The effects of plasma frequency, cyclotron frequency, thickness of plasma slab, and velocity of the plasma slab on band width, finesse factor, and visibility are simulated. Finally with the assumption that there are two wavelengths near together in incident electromagnetic beam the power resolution for this configuration are analyzed. All studies mentioned above have been done for S-polarized and P-polarized electromagnetic beams separately.     

Effects of spatial dispersion at intraband transitions in multiple quantum well structures

Effects of spatial dispersion in reflection of light from multiple quantum well structures of different symmetry have been investigated. It has been shown that with inclined incidence of linearly polarized light on the system of symmetry C _∞v , the reflected wave starts to manifest the circular polarization. Upon the incidence of s(p)-polarized light on the structure of the D _2d symmetry, the reflected wave starts to manifest p(s) component, while in the case of the point symmetry C _2v , this phenomenon also occurs for the normal incidence. The magneto-spatial dispersion in the magnetic field lying in the structure plane leads to the same conversion of polarization. Dependences of the polarization-sensitive reflection coefficients on the incidence angle are calculated. The microscopically gyrotropic contributions to the dielectric permittivity of the multiple quantum well structures are calculated for the intraband frequency range. Evaluations show that the effects of spatial dispersion in such systems can be observed experimentally.     

Spontaneous coherence of atomic states within a metallic slit

Summary It was found that, when metastable hydrogen 2s_1/2-atoms pass through a two-electrode atomic interferometer, the yield of 2p-atoms essentially depends on the field direction. This large-scale effect can hardly be understood on the basis of quantum-mechanical concepts on the behaviour of an H-atom in electric field. In further experiments the said effect was shown to be a secondary one, namely, it arises due to transformation of the pure 2s _1/2-state into the (2s−2p)-superposition as H-atoms fly through the interferometer entrance slit. Let us take a big metallic screen and make in it a small metallic hole M. A. Leontovitch-Talk in a seminar The authors of this paper have agreed to not receive the proofs for correction.     

Surface plasmon polaritons of symmetric and asymmetric metamaterial slabs

The p and s-polarized surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of symmetric and asymmetric slabs formed arbitrarily by four types of conventional materials: dielectrics, negative dielectric permittivity materials, negative magnetic permeability materials, and left-handed materials are comprehensively analysed. The existence regions, dispersion relations, and excitation of SPPs in different frequency regions are investigated in detail. For symmetric slabs, the numbers and the frequency positions of surface polariton branches are quite different. At the same time, the pairs of the p or s-polarized SPP branches occur in the same frequency range. For asymmetric slabs, the SPP branches in mid- and high-frequency ranges are greatly different. In addition, the slab thickness has a great effect on SPPs of asymmetric and symmetric slabs. The attenuated total reflection spectra for the cases of p and s polarizations in these slabs are also calculated.     

Half-Integer Harmonics Generation in Laser-Produced Plasma

Half integer (3/2ω₀, 1/2ω₀) harmonics generation under oblique incidence of the pump-wave on the spatially inhomogeneous plasma is theoretically investigated. Harmonics generation is connected with the two-plasmon convective instability excitation near the quarter-critical density. Harmonics spectra and intensities depend essentially on the pump wave polarization. In particular, significant harmonics spectra broadening arises under the p-polarized pump wave.     

Optical microscopy of quasi-periodic structures induced upon excitation of waveguide TE and TM modes under irradiation of AgCl-Ag films by a laser beam

This paper reports on the results of analyzing the conditions under which quasi-periodic structures induced in AgCl-Ag photosensitive films by a linearly polarized Gaussian laser beam (λ=633 nm) can be clearly observed with the use of an optical microscope. It is shown that quasi-periodic structures with vectors K ∥ E (where E is the vector of polarization of the inducing beam) and periods d > λ are effectively formed upon excitation of waveguide TM₀ modes at a large angle of incidence (φ=70°) and the p polarization of the inducing beam. Exposure of the film on a 60° glass prism to a p-polarized beam incident on the sample at an angle φ=60° from the side of the glass leads to the effective formation of primary gratings with vectors K⊥E (due to the excitation of waveguide TM₀ modes) and secondary oblique gratings. The specific features of the quasi-periodic structures and the correlation between the primary and secondary gratings are revealed and analyzed.     

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.     

Effect of polarization on laser-induced surface-temperature rise

A model was developed to investigate the effect of polarization on laser-induced surface-temperature rise in absorbing materials. GaAs is taken as a substrate material in this study. The polarization was found to significantly affect the laser-induced temperature rise on the substrate surface. This is due to the different surface absorption for the beams with different polarization directions. The laser beam with p polarization can induce higher temperature rise than that with s polarization. If the substrate has a high imaginary value in the complex refractive index, the peak laser-induced surface temperature falls concurrently. A similar effect of polarization to the laser-induced surface temperature rise can be expected to all other absorbing materials.