Specific features of speckle structure formed by dispersed laser beams

The geometry of statistical average of intensity speckles formed by a broadband dispersed laser beam spatially coherent in initial plane z = 0 is studied theoretically. A computer simulation was used to obtain two-dimensional distributions of random intensity that provide a clear picture of the transformations experienced by the speckle structure upon laser beam propagation. Correlation functions and power spectra of random intensity are calculated in order to determine the characteristic size and shape of speckles as a function of longitudinal coordinate z, the width and shape of the frequency spectrum, and the degree of dispersion of the light beam. Analytical expressions that describe an increase in the speckle size along the beam axis and in the direction of beam dispersion as a function of distance from the initial plane are obtained. The ultimate (at z → ∞) width of speckles in the direction of beam dispersion is calculated.     

Spatial fluctuations in intensity of dispersed laser beams with broad spectra

The statistical characteristics of spatial fluctuations of the intensity of dispersed laser beams are studied theoretically. The density of the probability distribution for the intensity is found and its transformation with a change in the longitudinal coordinate is studied. It is shown that a decrease in the intensity fluctuations and a drop in the contrast of the beam speckle structure occur with increasing distance from the initial plane in which the spatially inhomogeneous broadband field is assumed to be spatially coherent. A decrease in fluctuations is accompanied by an increase in the size of speckles in the direction of dispersion, as well as along the beam axis. An interpretation of the found regularities is given.     

Sampled-speckle photography for measurement of deformation

Speckles usually are of two kinds: laser speckle and white-light speckle. An additional kind, termed a sampled speckle, is proposed. Whereas laser speckles arise from multiple interference of light scattered from an object illuminated by a coherent laser beam and white-light speckles are a physically generated speckle pattern on the surface of the object, sampled speckles are generated as a result of the sampling of a digital image. The generation of these speckles and their application to displacement measurement are demonstrated.     

Spatial structure of the degree of coherence for broadband dispersed laser beams

1D and 2D spatial distributions of a complex degree of coherence are obtained using numerical simulation for the broadband dispersed laser beams. The configuration of the spatial inhomogeneities (speck-les) of the degree of coherence is studied at various spectral widths and dispersions of the beam. It is shown that the speckle size increases with increasing distance from the initial plane where the light field is assumed to be spatially coherent. The small- and large-scale structures of the degree of coherence are shown for the transverse cross section of the beam. The results are compared with the analytically calculated correlation functions of the spatial coherence. The features of the speckle structure are interpreted using the concept of partial speckles.     

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.     

Extremal Properties for Weakly Correlated Random Variables Arising in Speckle Patterns

Extremal properties of the statistics of speckle pattern are studied in the context of so-called “optically smoothed” light beams of laser-matter interaction. It is shown that the asymptotic statistics of the highest intensity in a speckle pattern, which can be associated with the most intense speckles, follows a Gumbel law, which is in agreement with numerical simulations. It is found that the probability density function of the most intense speckle peaks around the value corresponding to the logarithm of the number of speckles in the considered volume times the average intensity value of the speckle pattern. This result is of great interest for nonlinear processes, like instabilities, where extreme speckles play an important role.     

Long-range correlations in the speckle patterns of directed waves

We develop a general method for calculating statistical properties of the speckle pattern of coherent waves propagating in disordered media. In some aspects this method is similar to the Boltzmann-Langevin approach for the calculation of classical fluctuations. We apply the method to the case where the incident wave experiences many small angle scattering events during propagation, but the total angle change remains small. In many aspects our results for this case are different from results previously known in the literature. The correlation function of the wave intensity at two points separated by a distance r, has a long-range character. It decays as a power of r and changes sign. We also consider sensitivities of the speckles to changes of external parameters, such as the wave frequency and the incidence angle.     

Speckle size and decorrelation time; space-time correlation analysis of coherent light dynamically scattered from turbid media

We report on the dependence of the decorrelation time on the spatial intensity correlation of speckles generated in the far-field by back-scattered photons from turbid media. The effects contribute to an explanation of an earlier observation that the average Doppler width of the power spectrum of detector current fluctuations depends on the size of the illuminating laser beam. The space-time correlation of the speckles generated by a particle suspension illuminated by a collimated laser beam is analyzed from serial images taken by a high speed camera. It was found that larger spatial correlation distances, associated with large speckles, exhibit a slower temporal decorrelation.     

Comparison of two theories during self-focusing of Gaussian laser beam in thermal conduction-loss predominant plasmas

In the present paper, self-focusing phenomenon occurring as a result of non-linear interaction of intense laser beam with thermal conduction-loss predominant plasmas is studied by following both approaches viz. paraxial theory approach and moment theory approach. Non-linear differential equations for the beam width parameters of laser beam have been set up and solved numerically in both cases to study the variation of beam width parameters with normalized distance of propagation. Effects of laser intensity as well as plasma density on the beam width parameters have also been analyzed. It is observed from the analysis that in case of moment theory approach, strong self-focusing of laser beam is observed as compared to paraxial theory approach.     

The optical near-field speckles and their first order statistics on the basis of the integral equations of electromagnetic field

Speckle fields are the random light wave distributions produced when the light fields are scattered from random surfaces or a random medium. They appear in many optical phenomena that are related to light propagations[1,2] and have found wide appli-cations in a variety of scientific and technical fields. The examples of the recent impor-tant applications of speckles include the analysis of the movement of the granules[3], the three-dimensional imaging for the microstructures of metal nanocryst…     

Error analysis for polychromatic speckle contrast measurements

Revival of interest in speckle technologies raises a curial question on the accuracy calculation of speckle measurements. In particular, the accuracy calculation of speckle contrast, an important metrics of a stochastic process, is quite different from the accuracy calculation of a typical intensity measurement. Speckle contrast depends more on stochastic characteristics of a process rather than on hardware characteristics. In this article, we consider errors introduced by the limited number of available speckle and by intensity saturation for monochromatic and polychromatic speckles. Equations for these types of errors were derived. Particularly, we show that the error due to limited number of speckles is inversely proportional to the square root of the speckle number, in the similar way as the average intensity error. For the error due to limited dynamic range of a recording device, the truncation effect increases the error as the mean intensity increased. Monochromatic speckles are more sensitive to such truncation than polychromatic speckles. We report the optimal mean intensity in terms of the pixel depth of a recording device and the total number of speckle recorded. In addition, a recommendation to minimize the saturation error for a typical camera is included.     

Effect of diffraction on stimulated Raman scattering of laser radiation in the middle atmosphere

The theoretical aspects of propagation of laser radiation along slanted paths in the atmosphere at high altitudes under conditions of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) by molecular nitrogen are considered. The SRS power conversion coefficient, the transverse intensity distribution, and the effective size of laser beams with different initial spatial profiles are numerically simulated along the propagation path. The behavior of these parameters is studied for different ratios between the optical path length and the length of free diffraction of the initial laser beam. It is shown that, at a given level of the increment of the SRS amplification, the diffraction can both increase and decrease the efficiency of the Raman interaction of waves owing to the intensity redistribution in the transverse beam profile. This effect is the most pronounced for beams with non-Gaussian initial spatial intensity profiles.     

Distribution regimes of intense laser beam in a self-consistent plasma channel

In the present work, we investigate the distributed regimes of an intense laser beam in a self-consistent plasma channel. As the intensity of the laser beam increases, the relativistic mass effect as well as the ponderomotive expulsion of electrons modifies the dielectric function of the medium due to which the medium exhibits nonlinearity. Based on Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin and paraxial ray theory, the steady-state solution of an intense, Gaussian electromagnetic beam is studied. A differential equation of the beamwidth parameter with the distance of propagation is derived, including the effects of relativistic self-focusing (SF) and ponderomotive self-channeling. The nature of propagation and radial dynamics of the beam in plasma depend on the power, width of the beam, and Ω _p, the ratio of plasma to wave frequency. For a given value of Ω _p (<1), the distribution regimes have been obtained in beampower–beamwidth plane, characterizing the regimes of propagation as steady divergence, oscillatory divergence, and SF. The related focusing parameters are optimized introducing plasma density ramp function, and spot size of the laser beam is analyzed for inhomogeneous plasma. This results in overcoming the diffraction and guiding the laser beam over long distance. Numerical computations are performed for typical parameters of relativistic laser–plasma interaction studies.     

菲涅耳衍射区和夫琅和费衍射区的动态部分相干光散斑场特性

研究了菲涅耳衍射区和夫琅和费衍射区动态部分相干光散斑的特性.利用部分相干光互强度传播的理论，得出了在部分相干光照明时，由运动散射体产生的动态散斑光强时空交叉的自相关函数的一般形式，并由此得出了散斑沸腾和平移的一般规律.通过适当选择光源和调整光路参数，在实验上得到了菲涅耳和夫琅和费衍射区的部分相干光散斑，对夫琅和费面上的动态部分相干光散斑的平移和沸腾现象进行了定性研究；采用光子计数及数据自动采集的方法，对部分相干光散斑随时间的演化及动态部分相干光散斑的沸腾进行了定量测量.这些实验结果与理论结果相符合. 关键词： 部分相干光动态散斑 时空交叉相关函数 沸腾     

Scaling reduction of the contrast of fractal speckles detected with a finite aperture

It is known that speckle patterns with fractal properties, called fractal speckles, are produced by illuminating a diffuser with the coherent light having the intensity distribution obeying a negative power law. One of key properties of fractal speckles is the spatial correlation function obeying a negative power law, which implies that such speckles have scaling properties. In detecting fractal speckles, the effect of the spatial integration is inevitable in most cases since they have speckle grains of various scales including very fine ones. To evaluate this effect, in this paper, the contrast of spatially integrated intensity distributions is investigated theoretically and experimentally for fractal speckles. The results show that the contrast reduction with the size of the detector aperture obeys a negative power function related with the exponent of the intensity correlation coefficient of fractal speckles.     

Numerical Simulations on the Formation of Speckles in Nanofluids Illuminated by a TEM00 Laser Beam

On the basis of a Rayleigh scattering model for a single nanoparticle illuminated by a TEMoo laser beam, we theoretically and numerically study the speckle formation when nanofluids are illuminated by a TEMoo laser beam. The results show that the laser speckles possess a Gaussian distribution, which are in agreement with the experimental results. The results may be useful for using a laser speckle velocimetry to determine the velocitiies of nanoparticles in nanofluids.     

Controlling a bunch of multiple filaments by means of a beam diameter

We demonstrate a three orders of magnitude increase and stability in the backscattered fluorescence signal from nitrogen molecules by terawatt femtosecond laser pulse induced air filaments using a new method. The method is based on squeezing the initial beam diameter using a telescope. The effect of laser shot-to-shot fluctuations was included in numerical simulations by a random distribution of the initial intensity in both squeezed and non-squeezed beams. Statistical processing of the simulation results shows that the average diameter of plasma channels as well as the total amount of free electrons generated in a bunch of multiple filaments in air is larger in the squeezed beam. Shot-to-shot stability of the simulated plasma density increases in the squeezed beam. The change of this plasma density with propagation distance is in good qualitative agreement with the change of the range-corrected nitrogen fluorescence signal with distance. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.60.Jf; 42.68.Ay; 42.68.Wt     

Mechanism of speckle reduction in laser-microscope images using a rotating optical fiber

The reduction mechanism of speckles appearing in laser-microscope images is studied theoretically and experimentally when an object is illuminated by laser light through a rotating multimode optical fiber. The principle of the speckle reduction is based on independent addition of microscope images with boiling-like speckles as a result of the rotational motion of the optical fiber used for illumination. Especially, the speckle reduction is evaluated from first-order statistics of the speckle intensity in which its saturation effect is taken into consideration.     

A Modified Monte Carlo Model of Speckle Tracking of Shear Wave Induced by Acoustic Radiation Force for Acousto-Optic Elasticity Imaging

A modified Monte Carlo model of speckle tracking of shear wave propagation in scattering media is proposed.The established Monte Carlo model mainly concerns the variations of optical electric field and speckle.The twodimensional intensity distribution and the time evolution of speckles in different probe locations are obtained.The fluctuation of speckle intensity tracks the acoustic-radiation-force shear wave propagation,and especially the reduction of speckle intensity implies attenuation of shear wave.Then,the shear wave velocity is estimated quantitatively on the basis of the time-to-peak algorithm and linear regression processing.The results reveal that a smaller sampling interval yields higher estimation precision and the shear wave velocity is estimated more efficiently by using speckle intensity difference than by using speckle contrast difference according to the estimation error.Hence,the shear wave velocity is estimated to be 2.25 m/s with relatively high accuracy for the estimation error reaches the minimum(0.071).     

Dynamic laser speckles and their application to velocity measurements of the diffuse object

In connection with the parameters of the optical configuration used to produce speckles and under illumination of a Gaussian beam over a moving diffuse object, this paper discusses the statistical properties of dynamic speckles produced in the diffraction and image fields by the diffuse object moving in a plane with constant velocity. Especially, the space-time correlation function of the dynamic speckle intensity is examined in detail. Two typical speckle motions of translation and boiling are interpreted for various optical configurations in the diffraction and image fields. As one of the interesting applications of dynamic speckles to metrology, various methods for velocity measurements of the diffuse object are introduced.