Characterization of a high efficiency, ultrashort pulse shaper incorporating a reflective 4096-element spatial light modulator

We demonstrate pulse shaping via arbitrary phase modulation with a reflective, 1 × 4096 element, liquid crystal spatial light modulator (SLM). The unique construction of this device provides a very high efficiency when the device is used for phase modulation only in a prism based pulse shaper, namely 85%. We also present a single shot characterization of the SLM in the spatial domain and a single shot characterization of the pulse shaper in the spectral domain. These characterization methods provide a detailed picture of how the SLM modifies the spectral phase of an ultrashort pulse.     

Filamentation length of ultrashort laser pulse in presence of aerosol layer

Filamentation behavior of femtosecond laser pulses in the air in presence of aerosol on the optical path is simulated numerically on basis of (3D + 1)-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The effect of a localized attenuating layer modeling an aerosol medium, on spatial extension and evolution of the light filament is investigated. For the first time, it is shown that filamentation length depends not only on the optical depth of the aerosol layer and pulse peak power, but also on aerosol location on the propagation path and its spatial extension along the beam. The length of the filament is maximal if the nonlinear focus of the beam is located behind the aerosol layer rather than before it.     

Photon mapping of MgO thin films with an STM

The light emission from an STM junction consisting of an MgO thin film on Mo(0 0 1) and an Au tip is analyzed with respect to its spatial distribution for various excitation conditions. The spectral characteristic of the light is compatible with an emission mechanism mediated by tip-induced plasmons that are excited by inelastic electron tunneling involving field-emission resonances in the tip-sample gap. The dependence of field-emission resonances on the MgO work function allows the controlled stimulation of differently thick oxide islands in the photon maps by changing the sample bias.     

Utilizing interband and intraband processes in QD-SOAs for controlling the light velocity

Physical processes in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) are discussed for the purpose of controlling the velocity of light. For all-optical networking applications, control of velocity of light at bandwidths greater than 100 Gb/s is required. Using interband and ultra-fast intraband nonlinear processes, including spectral hole burning and carrier heating, present in SOAs enables the control of optical signals ranging from 1 GHz to larger than 1 THz. The rate equations for intraband effects are derived and utilized to control optical signals at THz bandwidth. Both optical and electrical control of phase shifts is obtained. An advance bandwidth product of 10 is achieved by utilizing intraband effects in QD-SOA.     

Single-shot tomography by means of VIPA and spatial phase modulator installed optical interferometer

A VIPA (virtually imaged phased array) installed optical interferometer has been proposed for scanless tomography. Also, a spatial phase modulator and a line-image sensor were installed into the interferometer to realize single-shot measurement by displaying the delay time on a line-image sensor. The correlation peak function was observed on the line-sensor at same time. The envelope of the peak was given by the inverse Fourier transformation of the light source spectrum. The peak position on the image-sensor reflects the sample structure. Furthermore, the correlation peaks are appeared repeatedly along the delay time of the interferometer. The repeated correlation function raise an alignment flexibility of the sample set position, which has been limited in the traditional time-domain interferometry involving the delay time to be zero. The flexibility was experimentally confirmed at 25 mm related to the VIPA coherency. The resolution was experimentally 52.5 μm when the ASE (amplified spontaneous emission) light source of the optical fiber amplifier was used. The single-shot measurement was realized by a line-image sensor of the 30 frames per second. The repeatability of the interfered peak position was 5 μm by the tunable mirror position. The one-dimensional scanless measurement was demonstrated by use of 3-layer glass plates.     

Proposal for nonlinear refractive index measurement using spectral ratio in modulated OFRR dynamics

A novel method for measuring the nonlinear refractive index of an optical fiber using a spectral ratio between the modulation frequency and a harmonic component in a modulated optical fiber ring resonator (OFRR) is proposed. The spectral ratio between the modulation frequency and the 2nd-harmonics generated by phase-modulation through the OFRR is increased with increasing the input light power and has peaks above 5 W input power, however, the peaks was shifted to the lower input power below 1 W by averaging taken into account of the phase distribution. A experimental setup consisted of an OFRR system and an Ar-laser as a pump light source was used to determine the nonlinear refractive index of an optical fiber. In the experimental results, the peaks of the spectral ratio as a function of the input power was found out at 0.8 W and 0.45 W of the input power corresponding to the input source line at 488.0 nm and 514.5 nm, respectively. The profile was similar to that obtained by the simulation and the nonlinear refractive index of a optical fiber was determined as 1.0 × 10⁻²² m²/V² by a relationship between the input power giving the peak and the nonlinear refractive index.     

High-resolution spectroscopy using interleaved 100 GHz optical frequency comb scanned by phase modulator

A high-resolution spectroscopy technique is proposed with an optical phase modulator combined with an interleaved optical frequency comb. The optical phase modulator and a frequency-locked laser light guarantee a spectral resolution less than 1 MHz on an absolute frequency axis. A wide measurement frequency range was realized using a 25 GHz optical frequency comb lying over a 4 THz frequency region. An extraction of single tooth intensity from the comb was realized by a heterodyne technique with a frequency-tunable laser used as a local oscillator. Also, the 25 GHz optical frequency comb was interleaved to generate four 100-GHz combs for removing the crosstalk from the 25 GHz neighboring sidebands in the teeth. This proposed spectroscopy technique was experimentally demonstrated with a resonator of less than 1 MHz linewidth and a H¹³C¹⁴N gas cell. Thus, a measurement frequency range higher than 4 THz (1530 nm-1560 nm) was confirmed with an effective spectral resolution 100 kHz order. In addition, the characteristics of the proposed system were compared with those of the previous system with a single-sideband (SSB) optical modulator.     

Optical phase-based beamformer using MZM SSB modulation combined with crystal polarization optics and a spatial light modulator

The performance of a widely tunable phase-based beamformer for phased array antennas using a new technique to cross-polarized the carrier and the sideband, in order to allow the phase control by means of a spatial light modulator, is experimentally demonstrated. The technique relies on the combination of single sideband amplitude modulation (SSB) using a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) and birefringence (to cross-polarized the carrier and the sideband). The architecture has the potential of controlling multiple independent beams simultaneously. The beamformer feeds an eight elements array showing an insertion loss and a reset speed of around 12 dB and 70 ms, respectively. Far-field antenna patterns between 7.5 GHz and 8.5 GHz for nine elevation angles within a range of ±20° have been measured showing beam steering capability, amplitude distribution weighting as well as multibeam operation.     

Optical implementation of (3, 3, 2) regular rectangular CC-Banyan optical network

CC-Banyan network plays an important role in the optical interconnection network. Based on previous reports of (2, 2, 3) the CC-Banyan network, another rectangular-Banyan network, i.e. (3, 3, 2) rectangular CC-Banyan network, has been discussed. First, according to its construction principle, the topological graph and the routing rule of (3, 3, 2) rectangular CC-Banyan network have been proposed. Then, the optically experimental setup of (3, 3, 2) rectangular CC-Banyan network has been designed and achieved. Each stage of node switch consists of phase spatial light modulator (PSLM) and polarizing beam-splitter (PBS), and fiber has been used to perform connection between adjacent stages. PBS features that s-component (perpendicular to the incident plane) of the incident light beam is reflected, and p-component (parallel to the incident plane) passes through it. According to switching logic, under the control of external electrical signals, PSLM functions to control routing paths of the signal beams, i.e. the polarization of each optical signal is rotated or not rotated 90° by a programmable PSLM. Finally, the discussion and analysis show that the experimental setup designed here can realize many functions such as optical signal switch and permutation. It has advantages of large number of input/output-ports, compact in structure, and low energy loss. Hence, the experimental setup can be used in optical communication and optical information processing.     

Accurate optical wavefront reconstruction based on reciprocity of an optical path using low resolution spatial light modulators

A method for high precision optical wavefront reconstruction using low resolution spatial light modulators (SLMs) was proposed. It utilizes an adiabatic waveguide taper consisting of a plurality of single-mode waveguides to decompose an incident light field into simple fundamental modes of the single-mode waveguides. By digital generation of the conjugate fields of those simple fundamental modes a field proportional to the original incident light field might be reconstructed accurately based on reciprocity. Devices based on the method using transparent and reflective SLMs possess no aberration like that of a conventional optic lens and are able to achieve diffraction limited resolution. Specifically on the surface of the narrow end of a taper a resolution much higher than half of the wavelength is attainable. The device may work in linear mode and possesses unlimited theoretical 3D space-bandwidth product (SBP). The SBP of a real device is limited by the accuracy of SLMs. A pair of 8-bit SLMs with 1000 × 1000 = 10⁶ pixels could provide a SBP of about 5 × 10⁴. The SBP may expand by 16 times if 10-bit SLMs with the same number of pixels are employed or 16 successive frames are used to display one scene. The device might be used as high precision optical tweezers, or employed for continuous or discrete real-time 3D display, 3D measurement, machine vision, etc.     

Modulation instability with incoherent white light in self-defocusing photorefractive crystal

We report on the first experimental observation of modulation instability and spontaneous pattern formation with incoherent white light emitted from an incandescent lamp in self-defocusing photorefractive LiNbO₃:Fe crystal. Experimental results show that the modulation instability of white light in self-defocusing medium is related to the input intensity, illumination time and the direction of the crystalline c-axis with respect to that of the lamp filament. At the illumination time t = 0 and the steady-state of MI, we give the spatial distribution of the optical Fourier power spectrum experimentally and the corresponding Fourier transformation of the output intensity numerically, and observe the emergence of the high frequency component along the c-axis.     

Light figure studies of optical anisotropy induced by nanoscale spatial modulation in TlInS2

The incommensurate material, TlInS₂, with layer structure was studied by light figure spectroscopy techniques in spectral range 400-700 nm in temperature interval 80-350 K. Evolution of light figures with temperature in phase transition region was reliably established. The optic angle of TlInS₂ was found to be sample-dependent with essentially two types of critical behavior with temperature; peak-like behavior that was ascribed to a pure incommensurate phase and peak-free behavior that was attributed to the influence of the domains or defects. In latter case the samples showed symmetry forbidden rotation of optic plane with temperature. As a whole, the obtained results allow for a conclusion that incommensurate spatial modulation with correlation length at the nanoscale was contributing to biaxial anisotropy of TlInS₂ to a level of 10⁻³ versus 10⁻⁴ for basic lattice.     

Characterization of two-emitter WOLED with no additional blocking layer

In this paper, white organic light emitting diodes (WOLEDs) utilizing two primary-color emitters with no additional blocking layer are fabricated. With a structure of ITO/2TNATA (20 nm)/NPB (20 nm)/NPB: rubrene (2%) (10 nm)/ADN (30 nm)/Alq₃ (20 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm), a white light with CIE coordinates of (0.344, 0.372) is generated at a current density of 30 mA/cm² and the electroluminescence (EL) spectra consist of two broad bands around 456 nm (ADN) and 556 nm (NPB:rubrene). The device shows the low turn-on voltage and bright white emission with a power efficiency of 2.3 lm/W at a luminance of 100 cd/m². Through control of the location of the recombination zone and energy transfer, a stable white light emission is achieved. The maximum color shift is less than 0.02 units on the 1931 CIE x,y chromaticity diagram. Given the spectral power distribution of WOLED, the parameters of a light source (chromaticity coordinate, CCT, CRI, and the luminous efficacy) can be calculated. A MATLAB program for this purpose is developed in this paper. Based on this, the design of WOLED for an illumination and display system using a white emitter with color filter arrays is discussed.     

Novel ultrasmall Si-nanowire-based arrayed-waveguide grating interleaver with spirals

A novel layout is presented to achieve an ultrasmall arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) interleaver based on Si-nanowire waveguides. Spiral waveguides are inserted in the middle of arrayed-waveguide to obtain a large lightpath (required for the ultra-high diffraction order) in a small occupied area. A designed ultrasmall AWG interleaver with a free spectral range of 0.8 nm has a total size of only about 73 μm × 372 μm (0.027 mm²).     

Two-dimensional shift-orthogonal random-interleaving phase-code multiplexing for holographic data storage

A novel phase encoding technology for phase-code multiplexing in holographic data storage (HDS) system called two-dimensional shift-orthogonal random-interleaving (2-D SORI) phase encoding is proposed. Compared with the traditional one-dimensional orthogonal phase-code multiplexing methods, the 2-D method is less sensitive to the variations of the diffraction amplitude and to the phase error of the phase mask. Phase masks for the 2-D SORI phase-code multiplexing can be generated by shifting an elaborately designed phase plate at a certain step, which can avoid the use of a high-cost phase spatial light modulator for the generation of multiple orthogonal phase masks. The cross-talk arising from the systematic phase defects of the static phase modulator is eliminated by the shift operation of the phase plate. Phase codes are interleaved under a predetermined random mapping rule to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the data and eliminate the Bragg degeneration cross-talk. A 2-D SORI phase plate with the size of 5.12 mm × 10.24 mm is designed and fabricated, from which 128 orthogonal phase patterns are generated. The feasibility of the 2-D SORI phase-code multiplexing method for HDS is experimentally demonstrated.     

Utilization of four WDM channels with signal remodulation of OFDM-QAM for 10 Gb/s uplink passive optical networks

In this investigation, we experimentally investigate an extended reach (ER) time-division-multiplexed passive optical network (TDM-PON) using four wavelength-multiplexed channels to achieve 16 Gb/s downlink and 10 Gb/s uplink traffic. Each downlink signal uses the highly spectral efficient 4 Gb/s OFDM-QAM, and each uplink signal is generated by signal remodulating the downlink signal via a reflective semiconductor amplifier (RSOA) at 2.5 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ). In addition, the performance of the proposed ER TDM-PON has also been analyzed and discussed.     

Digital Micro-mirror Device-based broadband optical image sensor for robust imaging applications

To the best of the authors' knowledge, presented for the first time is the design of a robust broadband optical image sensor using a Digital Micro-mirror Device (DMD). Electronic focus control of the imaging lens and full programmability of the spatial sampling aperture shape, size, and location on the DMD plane that mechanically scans the incident incoherent optical irradiance distribution lead to imaging smartness. Dual port single-point photo-detection design provides imaging operation robustness to the global light irradiance variations such as via environmental effects, e.g., moving clouds. As the Texas Instruments (TI) DMD can provide light modulation over 400 nm to 2500 nm wavelengths, visible, Near Infrared (NIR), and Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) bands can be simultaneously processed to generate three independent band images via three point photo-detectors. A proof-of-concept experiment in the SWIR band at 1580 nm is conducted using an incoherent heart-shaped target that is sampled using the DMD imager set for a 68.4 μm side square moving pinhole. A 60 × 60 pixel image from the proposed imager produces a 0.94 cross-correlation peak when compared to an optically attenuated heart shape image produced by a near 9 μm pixel size phosphor coated Charge Coupled Device (CCD) imager. Using the dual-detection method, robust 633 nm visible light imaging of an Air Force (AF) Chart figure is successfully demonstrated for 3 Hz global light fluctuation. Applications for the proposed imager include optical sensing in the fields of astronomy, defense, medicine, and security.     

A flat-top birefringent interleaver based on ring-cavity architecture

We propose and demonstrate a flat-top 25-GHz birefringent interleaver using a novel ring-cavity architecture. The ring-cavity provides the phase shifts needed to achieve a flat-top spectral passband at the output. Fresnel reflectivities (for s- and p-polarization states) at the prism-air interface of the ring cavity are employed so that highly accurate thin-film coatings are not needed for the phase shifts. By choosing the appropriate incident angle near the Brewster angle, the optimum interface reflectivities for flat passbands and low crosstalk can be obtained. The ring cavity based interleaver in a 25-GHz channel spacing application exhibits a 0.5-dB passband larger than 0.14 nm, a 25-dB stopband greater than 0.14 nm, and a channel isolation higher than 28 dB over the entire C-band.     

Spectral-mismatch-induced resolution limit of interferometric fiber Fabry-Perot sensor system

The mismatch of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in spectral profiles can lead to a severe degraded resolution of the constructed fiber Fabry-Perot (FFP) sensor system through its effect on the fringe visibility. The variation of visibility induced by spectral mismatch and the corresponding phase resolution limit are analyzed theoretically and experimentally. Theoretical analyses are based on the approximation of Gaussian profiles to the reflection spectra of weak FBGs, especially with consideration of side lobes. The investigation provides an insight into the evolution of the fringe visibility caused by spectral mismatch, and shows good agreement with experimental results. An optimum phase resolution of about 55 μrad/Hz^1/2 above 100 Hz is achieved for a nearly 4 m-long FFP sensor by matching spectral profiles of the gratings and balancing path length differences of the tandem interferometers.     

35 W high power all fiber supercontinuum generation in PCF with picosecond MOPA laser

We demonstrate 35 W high power all fiber supercontinuum generation by pumping photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a 57.7 W picosecond fiber MOPA. The picosecond fiber MOPA pumped supercontinuum source exhibits an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of up to 61.7%, covering a spectral range from 600 nm to beyond 1700 nm. The compact and practical configuration of this supercontinuum source has potential to achieve higher power scale together with perfect continuum spectrum.