Ti:LiNbO3 optical waveguides

Various experiments on Ti diffused optical waveguides in LiNbO₃ have been carried out in order to determine precisely the character of the diffusion process. The required guide parameters and the effective mode indices could be controlled by adjusting only the diffusion time under fixed temperature and film thickness. Therefore the dependence of the guide characteristics on the diffusion time has been investigated in detail. On the basis of the data obtained, a two-stage diffusion model is proposed. In the first stage, the Ti diffusant profile is described by a erfc-function, and the second stage is characterized by a modified Gaussian form.     

Loss in low-finesse Ti:LiNbO3 optical waveguide resonators

We propose to measure the contrast of Fabry-Perot resonances in low-finesse (end face polished) integrated optical resonators to determine an upper limit of the waveguide attenuation coefficient. The method is discussed; its absolute accuracy increases with decreasing loss. As example, experimental results are presented for 3 and 10 m wide Ti: LiNbO₃ strip guides; the attenuation coefficients are 0.46 dB/cm (EH₁₁) in the narrower guide at =0.63 m, respectively 0.19 dB/cm (EH₁₁) and 0.09 dB/cm (HE₁₁) in the 10 m wide guide at =1.15 m.     

Brillouin scattering study of multilayer cobalt-niobium films

Spin waves which are characteristic of periodic structures of thin ferromagnetic Co films alternating with nonmagnetic Nb films have been investigated by means of Brillouin light scattering. The dependence of the magnon frequencies on the magnetic inplane field and on the wave-vector was measured for several samples with different numbers and thicknesses of the layers. The experimental data are in good agreement with a theory of magnetostatic surface spin waves in such media elaborated by Grünberg and Mika. The amplitudes of the transverse magnetization in the different layers of the stack have been calculated. The highest frequency branch resembles the Damon-Eshbach surface magnon. With decreasing frequency the branches acquire volume mode character. In addition, a number of phonon branches has been observed which are interpreted as plate modes of the combined Co-Nb layer on the Si substrate.     

Temperature-dependent Brillouin scattering studies of surface acoustic modes in Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3

Brillouin scattering experiments are carried out to study the surface acoustic waves in Nd_0.5Sr_0.5MnO₃ as a function of temperature in the range of 40-300 K covering the metal-insulator and charge-ordering phase transitions. The surface modes include surface Rayleigh wave, pseudo-surface acoustic wave (PSAW) and high velocity PSAW. The observed softening of the sound velocities for the surface modes below paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition, T_c is related to the softening of the C₄₄ elastic constant. The subsequent hardening of the sound velocity below the charge ordering transition temperature T_co is attributed to the coupling of the acoustic phonon to the charge ordered state via long range ordering of the strong Jahn-Teller (JT) distortion.     

Acoustic scattering of a high-order Bessel beam by an elastic sphere

The exact analytical solution for the scattering of a generalized (or “hollow”) acoustic Bessel beam in water by an elastic sphere centered on the beam is presented. The far-field acoustic scattering field is expressed as a partial wave series involving the scattering angle relative to the beam axis and the half-conical angle of the wave vector components of the generalized Bessel beam. The sphere is assumed to have isotropic elastic material properties so that the nth partial wave amplitude for plane wave scattering is proportional to a known partial-wave coefficient. The transverse acoustic scattering field is investigated versus the dimensionless parameter ka(k is the wave vector, a radius of the sphere) as well as the polar angle θ for a specific dimensionless frequency and half-cone angle β. For higher-order generalized beams, the acoustic scattering vanishes in the backward (θ = π) and forward (θ = 0) directions along the beam axis. Moreover it is possible to suppress the excitation of certain resonances of an elastic sphere by appropriate selection of the generalized Bessel beam parameters.     

Surface acoustic wave distribution and acousto-optic interaction in proton exchanged LiNbO3 waveguides

The efficiency of acoustooptic (AO) interaction in YZ-cut proton exchanged (PE) LiNbO₃ waveguides is theoretically analysed by determining the overlap between the optical and acoustic field distributions. The present analysis takes into account the perturbed SAW field distribution due to the presence of the PE layer on the LiNbO₃ substrate determined by the rigorous layered medium approach. The overlap is found to be significant upto very high acoustic frequencies of the order of 5 GHz, whereas in the earlier analysis by vonHelmolt and Schaffer [6] for diffused waveguides, it was shown that the overlap integral rolls down to nearly zero at this high frequency range.     

Fabrication and characterization of titanium indiffused proton exchanged optical waveguides in Z-cut LiNbO3

We report a systematic study on the fabrication and characterization of planar optical waveguides in Z-cut LiNbO₃ made by a process which combines the titanium indiffusion and proton exchange techniques. Mode effective index measurements have been made on a large number of such TIPE guides as well as guides using proton-exchange alone with various exchange temperatures and times. The data have been analyzed to calculate the values of the diffusion coefficient and activation energy for the proton exchange process. The presence of a titanium layer reduces the diffusion coefficient by about 20%. m-line scans indicate that there is a considerable amount of scattering in TIPE guides. The quality, however, improves and becomes comparable with that of PE guides as the exchange time increases.     

Effects of a lossy thin plasma-film on metal-diffused LiNbO3 optical waveguides

I intend to investigate the effects of different kinds of partially reflecting metal film (plasma layer) on the wave characteristics of a stratified titanium-diffused LiNbO₃ optical waveguide. The mode number, the equivalent indices, the extinction coefficients, the field distributions and the powers carried in each layer are given as a function of the free-space wavelength, of the diffusion parameters, and of the opticc-axis orientation. Of course, the power of TM-like hybrid waves flows in opposite directions in the plasma and the other regions.For ac-axis varying in the transverse plane, the ith-order hybrid mode is rather complicated in the guide with an aluminum layer. There, in fact, the field mapping can be seen as an overlap of a TE _i with a TM _i+1, mode because of a sudden transformation of the TM₀ mode into a superficial plasma wave (SPW). On the contrary, with a silver layer, the hybrid field is a simple combination of a TE _i with a TM _i mode with no SPW growing.The guide losses assume the lowest values (1 dB/cm) for an Ag layer which is the prime candidate for making electro-optical or acoustic-optical devices. On the other hand, the nickel film causes the highest losses (66 dB/cm).     

Co/Ti金属磁性多层膜的激光布里渊散射研究(英文)

在室温下利用直流磁控溅射法制备出了具有不同Co层厚度的 [Co(dConm) /Ti(dTinm) ]n 金属磁性多层膜 (其中dCoanddTi是Co和Ti的厚度 ,n薄膜调制周期数 )。在 30 0K下用X射线衍射法 (XRD)和布里渊散射方法研究了Co层厚度分别为dCo=1 ,2 ,2 5 ,3 5nm ,Ti层厚度为dTi=2 5nm的Co/Ti多层膜。XRD的结果所示在Co/Ti多层膜中Co层厚度超过 2 5nm ,其结构类似块材Co的多晶结构。对比之下 ,Co/Ti多层膜中Co层厚度低于 2 5nm ,其XRD衍射峰随Co层厚度减少变的峰形加宽 ,衍射峰的强度减少 ,峰位移动和消失。在Co/Ti多层膜中自旋波的布里渊散射结果表明 :在Co/Ti多层膜中 ,对于dCo>2 5nm磁性呈铁磁性耦合 ,在dCo≤ 2 5nm时 ,其呈反铁磁性耦合。除表面自旋波外 ,在呈反铁磁性耦合的材料中观测到了两个有体特征的自旋波 ,而在呈铁磁耦合的材料中只观测到一个有体特征的自旋波。     

Comparison of the electro-optic coefficient r33 in well-defined phases of proton exchanged LiNbO3 waveguides

The electro-optic coefficient, r₃₃, of proton exchanged LiNbO₃ waveguides has been measured in well-defined phases of the exchanged layer. Namely, in two low index-jump α-phases, i.e. unannealed soft-exchanged (SPE) and annealed (APE) guides, and in two high index-jump phases, i.e. β₁ guides and, for comparison, ordinary proton exchanged (PE) guides (having a mixture of phases). The following values have been obtained (in pm/V): 22.1±0.6 for SPE; 20.9±0.7 for APE; 0.33±0.01 for β₁; and 0.76±0.04 for PE. Differences between these values are discussed in terms of the structure of the phase involved. Received: 18 May 2001 / Revised version: 22 August 2001 / Published online: 30 October 2001     

Optical beam splitter and focuser in Ti:LiNbO3 planar waveguide

A -type two-electrode system on a Ti diffused optical waveguide in LiNbO₃ has been studied in symmetrical and in asymmetrical operation regimes. In the first case the device acts as a beam splitter or focuser, depending on the polarity of the applied voltage. In the second case the device acts as a scanner. The driving voltage is relatively low. Possible applications are optical communication systems and optical processing of information.     

Generation of submicron surface gratings on LiNbO3 by ultrashort UV laser pulses

3 by short ultraviolet laser pulses (0.5 ps, 248 nm) is presented. Gratings with a period of 360 nm and a modulation depth of 80 nm are fabricated on the sample surface by single-laser-shot exposure. The structures are projection imaged by a Schwarzschild objective in air. The modulation depth can be varied by applying multiple-pulse exposure. Received: 18 July 1997/Accepted: 5 August 1997     

Focussing of laser beams by means of a z-pinch formed plasma guiding system

It is shown that during a capillary discharge, plasma channels for guiding light from high-power lasers are temporarily formed. The experiments are performed with alumina capillaries of 2-mm radius and 14-cm length filled with about 100 Pa of helium, methane or hydrogen. The transmission of probe light is enhanced due to light guiding by a factor up to 20 during a time window of 5 ns. The results indicate the formation of a first channel, when the shock wave reaches the axis, and of a second channel after the reflection of the shock wave on the axis. Compared to simple focussing by a lens, in the guiding device the intensity–length product increases by almost two orders of magnitude. Guiding is achieved over 180 times the Rayleigh length. Received: 20 June 2000 / Revised version: 4 August 2000 / Published online: 6 September 2000     

Anisotropic scattering generated by photorefractive four-wave mixing in BaTiO3 crystal

A new type of anisotropic scattering with ring-and-line structure is observed for the first time from a BaTiO₃ crystal illuminated by a linearly polarized laser beam. The analysis presented herein is based on the photorefractive four-wave interaction of the incident, reflected, and scattered beams. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical analysis.     

Polarization effects in photoisomerization of azo dyes in polymeric films

The reversible cis-trans photoisomerization of disperse red 1 (DR1) in PMMA thin films has been demonstrated previously by using the Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) method. In this communication photoisomerization of DR1 is shown to be strongly polarization sensitive. This new property of dye doped polymeric films could lead to practical applications in integrated optics. A simple molecular interpretation is given. Illumination of a DR1 sample by polarization fringes produces a grating of molecular orientation able to diffract a probe beam.     

Internal dynamics of a living cell nucleus investigated by dynamic light scattering

Recent progresses in cellular biology have shown that the nucleus of a living cell is a structured integration of many functional domains with a complex spatial organization. This organization, as well as molecular and biochemical processes, is time regulated. In the past years many investigations have been performed using fluorescent microscopy techniques to study the internal dynamics of the nucleus of a living cell. These investigations, however, have never focussed on the global internal dynamics of the nucleus, which is still unknown. In this article we present an original light scattering experimental device that we built to investigate this dynamics during biological processes. By means of this experimental set-up, we investigated the global dynamics of the nucleus of a living cell treated with a DNA replication inhibitor. This dynamics presents different and independent kinds of relaxation well separated in time that vary as a function of the cell cycle phases.     

Laser scattering by metallic particles in two-phase nozzle flow into a vacuum

For several years the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics has performed experiments with artificial barium clouds in space by means of research rockets and satellites in order to investigate electric fields and currents in the ionosphere and in the magnetosphere. The processes which lead to the formation of these artificial clouds were simulated in laboratory in order to optimize the barium vapor yield and to obtain a better insight into the initial phase of the clouds. In these experiments the combustion of excess barium with copper oxide, the two-phase flow of the combustion products through a nozzle and their expansion into a 20 m³ vacuum chamber were investigated in detail. Purpose of this work is to measure through detection techniques of scattered laser light and thermal radiation: 1) the density of small metall particles on the particle jet axis, 2) the particle velocity, 3) the thermal radiation of larger particles, and 4) the position of the Mach disk which limits the free nozzle jet downstream. This work was carried out at the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany.     

Characterization of LiNbO3 waveguides fabricated by proton exchange in water

Proton exchange of LiNbO₃ substrates has been achieved by immersing the samples in distilled water in sealed ampoules at temperatures between 190 °C and 300 °C. The samples have been studied by infrared spectra analysis, dark mode reflectivity and X-ray rocking curve diffraction. The results obtained show that exchange rates as high as with common acids (85%) are easily reached. The structure of the exchanged waveguides varies from the low index -phase to the high index -phases depending on the temperature and time length of the exchange process, as well as on the distilled water amount used. Optical waveguides made up of phases of high, sharp index jump (n_e0.12) as well as of low index jump and very low propagation losses (0.5 dB/cm) have been obtained and characterized. PACS 42.82.Et; 42.70.Mp