Propagation of femtosecond surface plasmon polariton pulses on the surface of a nanostructured metallic film: space-time complex amplitude characterization

Ultrashort surface plasmon polariton (SPP) pulses, propagating on the surface of a nanostructured metallic film, are characterized in space and time using time-resolved spatial-heterodyne imaging. Optical pulses are coupled from free space into various surface modes using a 2D array of circular nanoholes, and spatial amplitude and phase characteristics of the scattered surface field are measured with femtosecond-scale time resolution. Demonstrated in-plane focusing of SPP pulse provides additional electromagnetic field localization with possible applications in SPP nanophotonics, nonlinear surface dynamics, biochemical sensing, and ultrafast surface studies.     

Dual mode near-field scanning optical microscopy for near-field imaging of surface plasmon polariton

In this paper, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that metal coated apertured probes are efficient near-field probes on surfaces with high reflectivity for the scattering as well as for the collection mode near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). We show that a blunt apertured metal coated tip is very effective in suppressing image dipoles which affect strongly the signals scattered from frequently used sharp metal tips or gold nanoparticle attached probes. By using a simultaneous collection and scattering mode (dual mode) NSOM we measure the near-field images of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) launched from a slit. The collection mode measures propagating SPP along lateral distance in a long scan range with high signal-to-noise ratio, and the scattering mode measures the polarization resolved near-field of SPP. Comparisons of the measured data obtained in the dual mode enable to easily characterize SPP and to separate the measured near-field into the propagating SPP and the directly transmitted light.     

Ultrafast dynamics of surface plasmon polaritons in plasmonic metamaterials

Using near-field scanning optical microscopy and ultrafast laser spectroscopy, we study the linear optical properties of subwavelength nanoslit and nanohole arrays in metal films, which are prototype structures for novel plasmonic metamaterials. Near-field microscopy provides direct evidence for surface plasmon polariton (SPP) excitation and allows for spatial imaging of the corresponding SPP modes. By employing spectral interferometry with ultrashort 11-fs light pulses, we directly reconstruct the temporal structure of the electric field of these pulses as they are transmitted through the metallic nanostructures. The analysis of these data allows for a quantitative extraction of the plasmonic band structure and the radiative damping of the corresponding SPP modes. Clear evidence for plasmonic band gap formation is given. Our results reveal that the coherent coupling between different SPP modes can result in a pronounced suppression of radiative SPP damping, increasing the SPP lifetime from 30 fs to more than 200 fs. These findings are relevant for optimizing and manipulating the optical properties of novel nano-plasmonic devices. PACS 42.70.Qs; 07.79.Fc; 42.25.-p     

Modeling of a surface plasmon polariton interferometer

We model the operation of a micro-optical interferometer for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) that comprises an SPP beam-splitter formed by equivalent scatterers lined up and equally spaced. The numerical calculations are carried out by using a relatively simple vectorial dipolar model for multiple SPP scattering [Phys. Rev. B 67 (2003) 165405]. The SPP beam-splitter is simulated elucidating the influence of system parameters, such as the angle of SPP beam incidence, scattering particle size, and inter-particle distance, on the splitting efficiency and phase difference between the transmitted and reflected beams. It is found that the splitting efficiency is very sensitive to the size of scatterers and angle of incidence. Comparing our simulations with experimental data available in the literature, we conclude that this approach can be used, with certain limitations, for modelling of SPP components assembled of individual scatterers, e.g., beam-splitters and interferometers, and suggest further improvements of the model used.     

水中密排圆柱体群的超声多重散射参数

以水中紧密排列的平行圆柱体群为对象,研究平面超声脉冲经多重散射后的透射波性质,通过分析其中头波和散射波的特征获得对应的多重散射参数.对直径随机分布、位置无序排列、数量密度约100个/cm2、面积占空比约0.53的非接触圆柱体群,采用中心频率2.5 MHz的宽带脉冲波入射。为解决透射信号在时域表现出随机性的问题,将散射体尺寸、分布都相同但位置分布不同的多个模型仿真的透射波叠加平均后用于分析.在频域对头波的宽带衰减系数进行分析,并在时域研究散射波声强的时间演化曲线,获得了系统的弹性平均自由程、传输平均自由程等多重散射参数。经多重散射后,透射波中的头波表现出相干性,由不相干近似理论可对其对应的散射参数进行定性描述;散射波是不相干的,其对应的多重散射参数可近似利用扩散近似理论获得。      

Double-scattering calculations and laboratory dye-laser multiple scattering measurements

The multiple-scattering effects on laser pulses transmitted through and scattered by clouds and aerosol layers were calculated and discussed by several authors. Special attention has been given to the case of double-scattering and its effect on lidar returns. Contrary to the body of literature on the theory of multiple scattering, very few experimental works were conducted under controlled and well-defined conditions. This is especially true for the scattering properties at a given scattering angle as a function of the wavelength. In this work, scattering calculations developed by the group and theoretical laboratory measurements of the multiple scattering as a function of wavelength for two values of optical depth are presented.     

Measuring temporal fluctuation on femtosecond scale in a random medium

We report an observation of femtosecond optical fluctuations of transmitted light when a coherent femtosecond pulse propagates through a random medium. They are a result of random interference among scattered waves coming from different trajectories in the time domain. Temporal fluctuations are measured by using cross-correlated frequency optical gating. It is shown that a femtosecond pulse will be broadened and distorted in pulse shape while it is propagating in random medium. The real and imaginary components of transmitted electric field are also distorted severely. The average of the fluctuated transmission pulses yields a smooth profile, probability functions show good agreement with Gaussian distribution.     

Theoretical and experimental study of blurring of a femtosecond laser pulse in a turbid medium

We propose an analytical model of the spatio-temporal structure of a short laser pulse transmitted through a layer of an optically inhomogeneous medium with high anisotropy of scattering. The light-field brightness in the medium is represented as a finite series in terms of multiplicities of the small-angle scattering, while the contribution from the higher-order scattering is allowed for as a quasi-diffuse component. The scattered-pulse structure is calculated on the basis of solving the radiative-transfer equation in the small-angle approximation with allowance for the effect of multipath light propagation. Compared with the first approximation of the multiple-scattering theory (attenuated nonscattered light plus the diffuse component), this approach makes it possible to describe more correctly the transformation of the spatio-angular distribution of light in the medium when passing from the single-scattering to multiple-scattering regime, as well as specify the temporal profile of the scattered pulse. The temporal profile of the femtosecond pulse transmitted through a layer of model scattering medium with various concentrations of scatterers is studied experimentally. The blurred-pulse structure is studied with the help of nonlinear optical gating in the case of noncollinear generation of the second harmonic. Good agreement between the theoretical and experimental time profiles of the scattered pulse is shown for the optical-thickness intervals corresponding to both the predominantly low multiplicity scattering and multiple small-angle scattering, which allows us to use the proposed analytical model for solving the inverse problem of the pulse sounding of a homogeneous turbid medium. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 333–348, April 2008.     

Annular structures in photorefractive light scattering in a LiNbO3:Fe crystal

Ring-shaped photoinduced light scattering in pure and iron-doped lithium niobate crystals is found and studied under irradiation by a laser beam directed perpendicularly to the optic axis of the crystal. The scattering is observed in the directions of both reflected and transmitted pump beams. The structure and kinetics of the reported photorefractive scattering suggest that the phase-matching condition should be fulfilled in the vector interaction of the pump and scattered beams.     

散射介质中多重散射太赫兹脉冲的时域统计特性

对散射介质中多重散射太赫兹脉冲的时域统计特性进行了分析.给出了时间延迟量取不同值时电场的概率分布、散射场强度及其概率分布、散射场实部和虚部的概率分布.由于脉冲的宽带特性及瞬间特性,多重散射场概率统计分布与不同时间延迟量有关,太赫兹脉冲多重散射场的统计特性分布是非平稳过程.     

Generation of frequency shifted picosecond pulses with low temporal jitter

Transient stimulated Raman scattering is used for the generation of a frequency shifted picosecond light pulse; part of this Raman shifted pulse is subsequently coherently scattered at a material excitation of a second Raman cell. Starting with the second harmonic pulse (t_p = 4 ps) of a mode-locked Nd : glass laser system, both the stimulated and the coherently produced pulses have durations of 2.3 ps at different wavelengths. By the appropriate choice of the Raman medium pulses between 13 000 and 21 000 cm^-1 can be generated. The coherent generation process minimizes the temporal jitter between the two pulses and allows to obtain a high time resolution of better than 0.3 ps in excite and probe experiments.     

Pulse-shape distortion in transmission experiments with incoherent phonons in isotropic solids due to elastic scattering

Assuming homogeneously distributed elastic scattering centers in an isotropic dielectric plate, the transmission and distortion of phonon pulses, that are transmitted from a radiator element to a centered detector element at the opposite face, are investigated theoretically. Analytic expressions are derived for the singlescattered phonon signal due to three different phenomenological scattering characteristics: isotropic scattering, preferential forward scattering, and preferential forward/backward scattering. In particular, we find that the asymptotic decay of the scattered phonon signal depends on the associated scattering characteristic. Numerical results are given for the excitation by a delta pulse using all three scattering characteristics. As a special case, the pulse-shape distortion of a rectangular pulse of 100 ns duration is treated in more detail. Parameter is the ratio of phonon mean free path to plate thickness.     

Interaction between ultra short pulses and a dense scattering medium by Monte Carlo simulation: consideration of particle size effect

With an enough short-pulse incident to an individual particle, elementary scattering modes can be observed: internal or external reflection, refraction and diffraction. Simulation of pulse propagation in dense scattering medium is usually computed for large observation time, so that time delays of pulse interaction with the particles are negligible compared to propagation times between particle. A Monte Carlo method is proposed to compute the propagation of an incident 100 fs laser pulse in dense medium taking into account time-dependent scattering characteristics of particle: observation time of scattered light is less than 5000 fs. Two extreme cases are exemplified: predominance of direct and single-scattered photons appears in a thin time window for small particles (1 μm). On the contrary multiple scattering is always predominant and scrambles the transmitted signal for large particles (100 μm).     

Surface plasmon polariton scattering by small ellipsoid particles

Scattering of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP’s) by small ellipsoid particles placed near a dielectric–metal interface is theoretically considered. Using the Green’s function formalism and the dipole approximation, we consider the differential and total scattering cross-sections associated with the SPP-to-SPP scattering as well as with the SPP scattering into waves propagating away from the interface, analyzing the influence of system parameters. As an example, scattering cross-sections of differently shaped gold spheroid particles placed near an air–gold interface are evaluated at the light wavelength of 800 nm. It is shown that the differential and total cross-sections depend strongly upon the particle-to-surface distance, the ratio between the major and minor axes and their orientation with respect to both the interface and the direction of SPP incidence. Implications of the obtained results to the design of SPP micro-optical components are also discussed.     

Synchronization of optical polarization conversion and scattering in chiral fibers

We demonstrate that polarization transformation and scattering in adiabatically twisted single-mode birefringent optical fibers is synchronized so that light in one evolving elliptically polarized mode is freely transmitted while orthogonally polarized light is scattered out of the fiber. Thus, linearly polarized radiation initially oriented along the fast axis of the untwisted fiber is transformed to circularly polarized light with the same sense of rotation as the twisted fiber and is scattered out of the fiber. When the fiber twist is first accelerated and then decelerated, the fiber becomes a broadband, low-insertion-loss, linear polarizer.     

The interplay of thermal and pump fluctuations in stimulated Brillouin scattering

We present a experimental and theoretical investigation of spontaneously initiated stimulated Brillouin scattering in which the interplay of two independent noise sources (thermal and pump) can be studied by controlling the relative importance of each source. We vary the pump noise by adding a controlled amount of Gaussian noise to the input pulses, and we control the contribution of the thermal noise by examining the energy statistics of both entire scattered pulses and of temporal slices of the scattered pulses. We show that the energy of the whole Stokes pulses follow a Gaussian distribution but that the energy of the Stokes pulse slices do not.     

Reconstruction of parasitic holograms to characterize photorefractive materials

Photoinduced light scattering is a serious drawback that limits the applicability of thick holographic recording media but provides valuable information on the recording medium. As long as there is no correlation between the scattering centers in the crystal, photoinduced light scattering may be explained to result from the interference pattern of the incident beam and the field scattered from a single point-like scattering center. The hologram of this ellipsoidally scattered wave field will have practically the same structure in the reciprocal space modified by a response function which reflects the anisotropic properties of the recording medium. We studied photoinduced light scattering in LiNbO₃:Fe, a model system for photorefractive materials. The transmitted intensity in the stationary state of the scattering process is investigated as a function of the reconstruction angle at different wavelengths and polarizations of the reconstructing beam. The experimental results are analyzed by a simple phenomenological model based on the Ewald construction and can be used to choose suitable conditions at which holographic scattering can be minimized as well as to extract some physical parameters of the crystal. Received: 27 September 2000 / Revised version: 1 December 2000 / Published online: 21 February 2001     

c向直流电压作用下α—LiIO3单晶的光的异常散射的进一步研究

文献[1]发现激光束通过c向直流电压作用下的α-LiIO₃单晶时,产生一种电矢量有特定取向且不同于入射光电矢量方向的异常散射带。本文进一步研究了这种散射带的精细结构。确定散射光相对于入射光没有大于15MHz的频移。这种散射带的强度在透射光斑两侧分布不对称,一侧强,另一侧弱。我们发现两种绝对构型的晶体,散射带的强度分布正相反,D型晶体散射强的一侧,正是L型晶体散射弱的一侧。并研究了异常散射带位置和透射光斑的位置间的各种配置状况,发现它们取决于两个通光面相对于c轴的取向。 关键词：     

Space- and time-resolved Brillouin light scattering from nonlinear spin-wave packets

We have constructed a new Brillouin light scattering apparatus, based on the Sandercock multipass tandem interferometer design, for space- and time-resolved investigations of nonlinear wave packets in thin films. We have applied the method to studies of nonlinear spin-wave pulse propagation in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films. Spatial resolution is achieved by scanning the laser spot across the YIG film surface, and temporal resolution is obtained by measuring the elapsed time between the launch of spin-wave pulses by an applied microwave pulse and the arrival of the respective inelastically scattered photons at the detector. We report the observation of nonlinear self-focusing of wave beams and pulses in one and two dimensions, the formation of one-dimensional envelope solitons, and of strongly localized, two-dimensional wave packets, 'spin-wave bullets', analogous to 'light bullets' predicted in nonlinear optics. By generating two counter-propagating wave pulses, pulse collision experiments were performed. We show that quasi-one-dimensional envelope solitons formed in narrow film stripes ('waveguides') retain their shapes after collision, while two-dimensional spin-wave packets formed in wide YIG films are destroyed in collision.     

Electrooptical properties of aqueous suspensions of nickel hydrosilicate nanotubes

We present the results of our investigations of electrooptical effects that occur as a result of light scattering by an aqueous polydisperse system the disperse phase of which consists of nickel hydrosilicate nanotubes with a chrysotile structure. Multilayer nanotubes were synthesized by the hydrothermal method and had the composition Ni₃Si₂O₅. The dimensions of nanotubes were as follows: the length was 0.1–1 μm or more, the outer diameter was 10–15 nm, and the inner diameter was 3 nm. We have studied relative changes in the intensities of light transmitted and scattered by the suspension that were caused by the orientation of nanotubes in an external electric field. Experiments have been performed at different directions of the linear polarization of the incident and scattered light, different scattering angles, and different degrees of orientation of nanotubes along the field. These measurements allowed us to determine the magnitude of electrooptical effects, such as the conservative dichroism, the light scattering, and the influence of the orientation of nanotubes in the field on the intensity and degree of depolarization of light scattered by them. Curves of free relaxation of electrooptical effects and their field dependences allowed us to determine the distributions of nanotubes and their aggregates in the colloid over lengths and polarizability anisotropy values. The dependences of the degree of depolarization of the scattered radiation on the scattering angle and the relaxation dependences of electrooptical effects allowed us to characterize the aggregation stability of nanotubes in water.