Inverse Relaxation of Photoinduced Birefringence in a Liquid-Crystalline Azobenzene Side-Chain Polymer

Photoinduced birefringence in a liquid-crystalline azobenzene side-chain polymer is investigated. It is observed that the birefringence does not show any decay but increases after switching off the pump light at room temperature. The magnitude of the birefringence relaxation is found to depend on the exposure dose of the pump light. A discussion about the mechanism of the inverse relaxation of birefringence is presented.     

Negative Refraction in One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals with Tilted Interface

We investigate the wave propagation through the tilted interface of one-dimensional photonic crystals. Negative refraction can be realized by excitation of the Bloch states in the extended Brillouin zone with suppressed reflection. Equi-frequency surface analysis shows that the positive refraction, negative refraction or birefringence in this configuration can be achieved under a proper incident angle, which is confirmed by finite-difference timedomain simulations. The results may be useful in applications in the new devices based on one-dimensional photonic or optical waveguide arrays.     

Photoinduced linear and/or circular birefringences from light propagation through amorphous or smectic azopolymer films

The self-induced rotation of the azimuth of elliptically polarized light passing through birefringent azopolymer thin films is investigated. The experiments were carried out on thin films of the amorphous p(DR1M-co-MMA) and p(DR1M) azopolymer samples and of the p(6MAN) derivative in its glassy and liquid-crystalline phases. In fact, using various controlled input light ellipticities, linear birefringence (LB) and/or circular birefringence (CB) measurements were performed separately and in conjunction with polarization analyses of the transmitted pump beam. According to a general theoretical analysis based on Jones’ matrix formalism, it is thus shown that the induced rotation angle through the films depends mainly on the ellipticity of the input light, on the generated LB level and, to a lesser extent, on the CB photoinduced in the liquid-crystalline phase. In the latter case, it is concluded that irradiation with circularly polarized light does induce a chiral arrangement in the polymer film, although the photosensitive chromophores do not contain any optically active group. Received: 22 April 2002 / Revised version: 28 May 2002 / Published online: 25 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +33-5/5684-8402; E-mail: csouri@morgane.lsmc.u-bordeaux.fr     

Temperature Dependence of Photoinduced Birefringence in an Azobenzene Polymer

The photoinduced birefringence in an azobenzene polymer is investigated at different temperatures between -20℃ to 50℃. It is found that there is a peak value of photoinduced birefringence in the temperature dependence of the photoinduced birefringence under a certain pumping intensity. With the pump light in 90mW/cm^2, the peak value of the photoinduced birefringence appeared at about 0℃ C. The effect of temperature on the photoinduced birefringence is discussed using the competition mechanism between the photoinduced reorientation and the thermal random motion.     

Photoinduced anisotropy in an azo-containing ionic liquid-crystalline polymer

Photoinduced anisotropy in an azobenzene ionic liquid-crystalline polymer was investigated through dichroism, birefringence and polarization holography. A dichroism degree of 1.58 and a birefringence value Δn ∼ 10⁻² were achieved in the polymer film at room temperature, and the polymer film was found to possess the characteristics of reversible and long-term optical storage. Particularly the stored birefringence could be enhanced to Δn ∼ 10⁻¹ by annealing the film, and it is attributed to the thermal self-organization of the molecules. Furthermore, linear- and circular-polarization holographic recordings were accomplished in the polymer film and pure polarization gratings were produced.     

Photoinduced macroscopic chiral structures in a series of azobenzene copolyesters

A study of the propagation of elliptically polarized light and the resulting formation of macroscopic chiral structures in a series of azobenzene side-chain copolyesters, in which the morphology is varied from liquid crystalline to amorphous, is reported. Real-time measurements are presented, showing the dynamic behavior of the photoinduced rotation of the polarization ellipse in the different samples. The relationship between the ellipticity of the recording light and the linear birefringence induced is studied. A numerical solution that takes into account the influence of the photoinduced linear dichroism on the light propagation through the samples is presented. Received: 10 June 2002 / Revised version: 26 July 2002 / Published online: 15 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +45-4677/4588, E-mail: lian.nedelchev@risoe.dk RID="**" ID="**"Permanent address: Department of Chemistry and Physics, The Nottingham Trent Unversity, Clifton Lane, Nottingham NG11 8NS, England     

Bandwidth tuning of hybrid liquid-crystal Šolc filters based on an optical cancelling technique

We demonstrate that in addition to their role in tuning the wavelength of an N-stage hybrid liquid-crystal Šolc filter, liquid-crystal cells can also be used to vary the transmission bandwidth of such filter around any of the tuned wavelength. This bandwidth tuning is based on the variation of the number of stages by what we call here an “optical cancelling technique”. This is achieved by varying the birefringence of the liquid-crystal cells whose optical path difference switches between two particular values. We show that for a 10-stage filter and at λ_i = 1.532 μm, the calculated 3-dB bandwidth varies from 2.6 to 11.8 nm when the number of “optically-cancelled” hybrid plates increases from 0 to 8. During the tuning process, the contrast ratio remains equal to that of the equivalent classical Šolc filter.     

Photosensitive post tuning of chalcogenide Te20As30Se50 narrow bandpass filters

We present an experimental study on the photosensitive properties of narrow bandpass filters based on a chalcogenide Te₂₀As₃₀Se₅₀ (TAS) spacer. The transmittance curve of single TAS layer was shifted towards long wavelength direction after 2 h exposure by Xenon arc lamp. The refractive index and extinction coefficient were both increased together with a red shift of optical gap. A maximum 1.7% photo-induced effect was observed. Narrow band filters constituted by TAS and cryolite were manufactured by electron beam deposition. The transmittance spectrum of the filter during the exposure by a wide band source was in situ measured and the resonant wavelength was observed to turn longer gradually till saturation. A spatially localized central wavelength change up to 5.7 nm was finally obtained. The stability of the photo-induced effect was studied and some comments were given at the end of this paper.     

Photonic Crystal Polarizing and Non-Polarizing Beam Splitters

A polarizing beam splitter （PBS） and a non-polarizing beam splitter （NPBS） based on a photonic crystal （PC） directional coupler are demonstrated. The photonic crystal directional coupler consists of a hexagonal lattice of dielectric pillars in air and has a complete photonic band gap. The photonic band structure and the band gap map are calculated using the plane wave expansion （PWE） method. The splitting properties of the splitter are investigated numerically using the finite difference time domain （FDTD） method.     

Giant Birefringence of Lithium Niobate Crystals in the Terahertz Region

Terahertz time-domaln spectroscopy （THz-TDS） is used to study the spectral response of lithium niobate crystals （LiNbO3） in the far infrared region. The optical constants are derived from the measured complex refractive index. A giant birefringence is observed in this material, and the average refractive-index difference between the ordinary wave and the extraordinary wave, no - ne, can reach up to about 1.6. Such a large birefrlngence is attributed to the different p honon modes orAl（z） and E （ x , y ）. This unusual property makes LiNbO3 a promising material to be used as a functional material in the terahertz region, e.g. employed as wave-plates and polarization separators.     

Rotations of eigenvibration direction in anisotropic crystals

The electric field of incident light induces dipoles in anisotropic media, vibrating in two perpendicular directions of the principal axes. Because of the tensor property of the dielectric constant, an induced dipole is subject to a torque, tending to rotate it about the axis parallel to the propagation direction. The directions of eigenvibration of the ordinary (o-ray) and extraordinary (e-ray) waves are no longer perpendicular in this sense. We propose here the relationships to describe the rotation of the induced dipole in the perpendicular electric fields. The rotation angles are found to increase with increasing dielectric constants and electric field strength of the incident light, exhibiting large values near the resonance frequencies in the infrared range at the azimuth angle /4 of the polarized incident light. Piezoelectric and ferroelectric crystals have a large value of the dielectric constant in the infrared frequency range. Rotations of the vibration direction of the o-ray and the e-ray waves are shown in the infrared transmission spectra recorded by incidence of the polarized light and transmission through piezoelectric and ferroelectric crystals (-quartz, LiNbO₃, and LiTaO₃). Interference of the o-ray and the e-ray waves transmitted through the crystals confirms the rotations of the vibration directions, a self-modulation effect of light in piezoelectric and ferroelectric crystals induced by the electric field of the propagating light.     

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.     

Photonic Crystal Waveguide Intersection Based on Self-Imaging of Multi-Mode Interference

A new mechanism of intersection formed by two line defect photonic crystal （PC） waveguides are numerically investigated using the finite-diFference time-domain method. The results show that the normalized crosstalk is smaller than 10^-4; the reflection is smaller than 10^-3, and the transmission is larger than 0.999. The authors analyse the physical origins and find that a modified self-imaging process in the intersected multi-mode region is the main reason of the excellent performance. This kind of multi-mode interference based intersection may find potential applications in PC optical circuits.     

All-Optical Modulation with a Surface Plasmon Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

We use two parallel nano-slits in a silver film to form a surface plasmon Mach Zehnder interferometer （MZI）, based on the interference of two surface plasmon waves propagating along the two surfaces of the silver film. Coating the silver film with a photoinduced birefringence polymer film, we achieve optical modulation of the MZI output by changing the refractive index of the polymer film with a pump beam. An on/off ratio 0f 2. 7 is obtained for a probe wavelength of 865 nm.     

Biphotonic effect of azo-dye-doped liquid crystals using the sequential Z-scan technique

This study investigates the biphotonic effect of azo-dye-doped liquid crystals (ADDLCs) using the sequential Z-scan technique. A spot on the sample is illuminated by a green light for 6 s, and then the same spot is illuminated simultaneously with a red light and a green light for 6 s. Measurements are made by scanning the sample near the beam waist of the green laser. The results show that the biphotonic effect is important to the nonlinear coefficient of the sample. The variations of the optical Kerr constant with intensity of red light are measured. Measurement results demonstrate that the molecular reorientation of liquid crystals induced by the photoisomerization of the azo dyes dominates at low red-light intensity, but the thermal effect compensates for the molecular reorientational nonlinearity of the sample at high red-light intensity.     

Photonic band gap properties of GaP opals with a new topology

In this paper, we propose that the “anomalous” optical response exhibited by GaP and InP infiltrated opals is due to the peculiar morphology shown by these materials when grown within the pores. In order to account for their optical response, we propose a new structural model consisting of a network of high dielectric spheres located in the pores of the bare opal, interconnected by cylinders of the same material. A fair agreement between the theoretical predictions using this model and the experimental measurements has been found. We also show that the inverse structure presents very interesting optical properties.     

A Multilayered Configuration Broadband Polarization Insensitive Reflector Utilizing a Multi-Subpart Profile Grating Structure

A multilayered configuration broad bandwidth polarization insensitive reflector realized by a multi-subpart profile grating structure is presented. The properties of the reflector are investigated by rigorous coupled-wave analysis. It is shown that over a broadband spectrum of 1.62-1.76μm, the reflector demonstrates high reflectivity （R 〉 99%）, low polarization-dependent loss （PDL〈 0.02 dB） and good angular insensitivity of about 29.6% for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarized waves.     

TM-like and TE-like Modes Coupling in a Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystal Slab Composed of Truncated Cone Silicon Rods

We numerically investigate the coupling of TE-like modes and TM-like modes in a two-dimensional （2D） photonic crystal （PC） slab composed of truncated cone silicon rods. In such structures, the classification of TE-like modes and TM-like modes is generally impossible and the coupling occurs due to vertical structural asymmetries. The frequency and wavevector dependences of the mode coupling are discussed by investigating the photonic band structures, and the coupling efficiency is studied by examining the transmittance. The results show that the efficiency of mode conversion is strengthened by the vertical asymmetry and weakened by the clear sinall gap. These structures could be used as polarization conversion devices in integrated optics.     

Efficient transmission in cascaded photonic crystal waveguides via a strong coupling effect

A design of cascaded photonic crystal waveguide is proposed in this paper inspired by the work of Tang et al. [D. Tang, L. Chen, W. Ding, Appl. Phys. Lett. 89 (2006) 131120]. In contrast to a conventional waveguide source, a plane wave source is applied in the current design. We show that an efficient guide mode in the photonic band gap can be achieved. The same idea also works for a slight variation by defects introduction in the photonic crystal. Finally, the strong coupling effect present in the cascaded waveguides is demonstrated by an analogy with photonic quantum wells.     

Near-Field Birefringence Response of Liquid Crystal Molecules in Thickness Direction of Liquid Crystal Thin Film Orientated by Shear Force

Information of molecular orientation in nematic liquid crystal （LC） is attractive and important for applications in the field of display devices. We demonstrate a novel method using a birefringence scanning near-field optical microscope （Bi-SNOM） with a probe which is inserted into the LC thin film to detect the molecular orientation from its birefringence responses in the thickness direction of the LC thin film. The probe is laterally vibrated when going forward into the LC thin film, and the retardation and azimuth angle are recorded as the probe going down. Firstly, the thickness of the LC thin film is measured by the shear force detection. Since the shear force acts as a stimulation to reorientate the LC molecules above the substrate surface, we can detect the molecular orientation caused by a polyimide alignment substrate and the effect to molecular orientation caused by vibration of fibre probe. As a result, the orientation profiling of the LC film in depth direction is obtained in both the cases that the direction of probe vibrating is vertical/parallel to the rubbing direction of the alignment film. Furthermore, the thickness of completely orientated layers just above the substrate surface can also be obtained by either vibrating probe or no-vibrating probe. Ultimately, the LC thin film can be modelled in thickness direction from all the results using this method.