Spatial coherence properties of light from optical fibres

The mutual intensity of the optical field in the Fraunhofer diffraction region produced from the end of an optical fibre under illumination of a coherent beam, is theoretically analysed by using an optical fibre-end source model. In this source model, the optical field at the end of the fibre is expressed as an aggregation of independent plane waves with random directions and phases, because the guided modes propagating through the fibre may be regarded as a stochastic process. It is found that the optical field in the diffraction region from the multimode optical fibre is not homogeneous butquasi homogeneous in a statistical sense. The spatial coherence properties in the field are discussed in connection with theV number (the normalized frequency) of the fibre and in comparison with those in the field produced from an incoherent source obeying the van Cittert-Zernike theorem.     

Spatial coherence of laser light passed through rotating ground glass

The ensemble-averaged spatial coherence of quasi-thermal light, produced by passing a focused laser beam through a rotating ground glass plate, is studied as a function of the illuminated area, the fineness of the glass used, the speed of rotation of the glass, and the laser mode selected as a primary source. It becomes clear that the ensemble-averaged spatial coherence depends strongly upon the illuminated area and on the fineness of the rotating ground glass, and also on the laser mode chosen but not on the speed of rotation of the glass.     

Calculation of propagating modes in a graded-index optical fibre

The characteristics of propagating modes of an optical fibre consisting of a cylindrical core whose refractive index varies arbitrarily with radius, embedded in a homogeneous cladding of infinite outer radius, are studied numerically. It is shown that, to avoid strongly accumulating errors, the numerical solution of the field equations in the core region must be performed by a combination of solution techniques, namely, by step-by-step integration in cylindrical shells where the solution is of oscillatory type, and by a two-point boundary-value technique in shells where the solution is of exponential type. When the core solution is matched at the core boundary to the cladding solution, there results a characteristic equation whose roots specify the effective refractive indices of the propagating modes. A complete theoretical discussion is presented for modes with, as well as without, axial symmetry. However, numerical results are reported here only for axially symmetric modes. Mode-to-mode dispersion in SELFOC-type fibres is calculated in the wavelength region near 0.85 μm for several configurations having either parabolic-type or hypersecant-type index profiles.     

Spatial coherence in optical fibers

The spatial degree of coherence on the cross-section of a graded-index optical fiber is evaluated under the assumption that all the propagating modes are uncorrelated among themselves. A detailed example for the case of parabolic fibers is given.     

Decrease in spatial coherence of light propagating in free space

It is shown that a highly spatially incoherent light distribution may be generated from a highly coherent one on propagation in free space. This result essentially demonstrates that there exists an inverse of a classic result of optical coherence theory, namely, the van Cittert-Zernike theorem. The analysis also indicates that the technique of phase conjugation may be used to reverse changes in the coherence properties of light, at least those which are generated on propagation in free space.     

On the modulation instability of femtosecond light pulses propagating in an optical fiber

The well-known problem of the modulation instability of femtosecond light pulses propagating in a cubic nonlinear medium is considered on the basis of computer simulation with allowance made for the time dispersion of the nonlinear response. The dependence of the maximum perturbation frequency at which the instability takes place on the parameter characterizing the time dispersion of the nonlinearity is studied. The numerical experiments carried out verified the previous conclusion of the authors, based on an original approach to the analysis of propagation of a femtosecond pulse, that the frequency interval of the modulation instability can increase with increasing influence of the dispersion of the nonlinear response. This conclusion is at variance with the conclusion drawn by other researchers on the basis of linear analysis.     

Reduction of the coherence time of an intense laser pulse propagating through a plasma

We present direct measurements of the coherence time of a laser beam after propagation through an underdense plasma. At an intensity of 10(14) W/cm(2), a large decrease of the coherence time is observed, from 300 ps to a few picoseconds. This decrease is larger as the plasma density is increased or as the light is scattered at larger angles. The amount of temporal decorrelation as well as the effect of the plasma density, laser intensity, and scattering angle all coincide with trends observed in recent numerical simulations.     

Polymer optical fibre Bragg gratings based fibre laser

For the first time the fibre laser constructed from a polymer optical fibre Bragg grating is reported. The single frequency laser with the peak power of −5 dBm and signal to noise ratio greater than 45 dB has been achieved. Further examination demonstrates the excellent characteristics of the fibre laser. First, the fibre laser can be easily tuned over 35 nm by the simple axial tension method. Second, the fibre laser has the high strain sensitivity of 1.48 pm/με with the dynamic measurement range as large as 2.37%.     

Spatial coherence of random laser emission

We experimentally studied the spatial coherence of random laser emission from dye solutions containing nanoparticles. The spatial coherence, measured in a double slit experiment, varied significantly with the density of scatterers and the size and shape of the excitation volume. A qualitative explanation is provided, illustrating the dramatic difference from the spatial coherence of a conventional laser. This work demonstrates that random lasers can be controlled to provide intense, spatially incoherent emission for applications in which spatial cross talk or speckle limit performance.     

Speckle-pattern contrast of semiconductor laser propagating in a multimode optical fiber

Speckle patterns produced by coherent light from a GaA1As double-hetero-structure laser diode that has been transmitted through a multi-mode optical fiber are experimentally studied by analyzing the average contrast. It has been found that the speckle contrast observed in the far-field region is significantly lowered when the spectral width of a laser diode is as broad as a few tens of Angstroms.     

Dual femtosecond laser multiheterodyne optical coherence tomography

A time domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) system without moving parts is described, which is based on multiheterodyning utilizing two mode-locked femtosecond lasers. By synchronizing the two lasers to slightly different repetition rates and coupling to an interferometric OCT setup, we obtain amplitude-modulated beat signals representing the structure of the specimen under investigation. Our system is suitable for biological imaging as well as technical applications. We demonstrate high axial imaging depths of 150 mm with up to 5000 axial scans per second, achieving equivalent path scanning velocities of 750 m/s.     

Spatial coherence properties of azimuthally polarized laser modes

Understanding of coherence properties of optical fields is of basic importance both in classical optics and in quantum physics. Coherence properties of electromagnetic laser modes are only now beginning to be explored and have not yet been tested experimentally, except in the simplest cases. In this paper, we first study theoretically the coherence properties of azimuthally polarized laser modes and we clarify the distinction between coherence and correlations in stochastic electromagnetic fields, a distinction which has up to now not been fully understood and has, in fact, been a subject of controversy. Our analysis clearly illustrates the distinction between these two concepts. After elucidating theoretically the coherence properties of radially polarized laser modes, we describe an experimental study of their properties, made by the use of a recently introduced reversed-wavefront Young’s interferometer. A good agreement between theory and experiment has been found.     

Spatial coherence and information entropy in optical vortex fields

We show how a vortex structure manifests itself in the one-dimensional projection of a vortex field. We calculate the extent of spatial coherence and entropy of such projections. We quantify the spatial coherence and discuss the properties of the Wigner functions for the projected field.     

Phase conjugation in an optical fibre

We report experimental studies of phase conjugation by stimulated Mandelstam Brillouin scattering in multimode fibres. A dramatic decrease in the threshold power as compared to that (10⁴ to 10⁵ W) typically observed in conventional media was achieved. A ruby pulsed pump with 500-ns pulses was used. For the 7-m-long fibre, the threshold power was 50 W, the degree of phase conjugation was almost one, the pump-to-Stokes conversion efficiency was about 80%. For the 130-m-long fibre, the threshold power decreased to 10 W and the pump-to-Stokes conversion efficiency reached 100%. Polarization scrambling was observed in the 130-m-long fibre, but the Stokes wave with polarization coinciding with that of the pump wave was a phase-conjugate replica of the pump, as before.     

Slow light propagating characteristics through a two-dimensional silicon-based coupled-resonator optical waveguide

The light propagating characteristics of the coupled-resonator optical waveguides (CROWs) are studied by the finite-difference time-domain method. The circular CROWs are constructed by arranging the micro-cavities at a certain distance, which is constructed by removing the air holes along the edge of a circle from a two-dimensional (2D) triangular-lattice photonic crystal (PC). With the increasing of distance between the adjacent cavities, the group velocities of the guiding modes reduce significantly. The circular CROW studied in the paper have much minibands within the band gap, and their respective group velocities can be quite different from each other. This kind of CROW structure can provide different group velocities for the light signals with different frequencies, and avails to the separating and controlling the light signals in the all optic integrated circuits.     

Mesoscopic quantum coherence in an optical lattice

We observe the quantum coherent dynamics of atomic spinor wave packets in the double-well potentials of a far-off-resonance optical lattice. With appropriate initial conditions the system Rabi oscillates between the left and right localized states of the ground doublet, and at certain times the wave packet corresponds to a coherent superposition of these mesoscopically distinct quantum states. The atom/optical double-well potential is a flexible and powerful system for further study of quantum coherence, quantum control, and the quantum/classical transition.