Small-angle scattering during formation of periodic structures in light-sensitive films subjected to laser radiation

Patterns of small-angle scattering that appear in thin AgCl films containing granular silver upon the formation of spontaneous periodic structures by p-polarized and circularly polarized laser beams (He-Ne laser, P=8 mW, λ = 632.8 nm) are studied. It is found that, at angles of incidence exceeding 4° regardless of the type of polarization, the diffraction of the waveguide modes excited by the dominant C gratings from neighboring microgratings with the vectors K ≠ K c dominantly contributes to the small-angle scattering. In the case of circularly polarized light, the pattern of small-angle scattering becomes more complicated as a result of the formation of S _? gratings and related secondary regular gratings.     

Photoinduced transformations in a thin-film waveguide AgCl-Ag composition under a green (532 nm) laser beam

A linearly polarized (E ₀) laser beam (λ = 532 nm) causes photoinduced transformations in an AgCl-Ag composition consisting of a thin waveguide AgCl film on glass covered by a layer of Ag nanoparticles. Before the illumination the sample exhibits an absorption band due to localized plasmons in nanoparticles. The illumination excites plasmons and leads to scattering of waveguide TE₀ modes. The interference of modes with the incident light beam leads to the development of a periodic structure, the lines of which are formed by Ag particles and directed along E ₀. The measured structure period coincides with the result of calculation based on solving the dispersion equation for the TE₀-mode. Measurement of absorption in the E ‖ E ₀ polarization reveals dichroism and a spectral hole (at λ ≈ nm). It is shown that the structures formed remain on the substrate after removing AgCl in a fixing agent. The dichroism value and dispersion change after fixing. The character of dichroism prior to fixing is recovered after depositing an AgCl layer (with the parameters retained) on the fixed film.     

Features of faraday rotation in cs atomic vapor in a cell thinner than the wavelength of light

Features of the effect of Faraday rotation (the rotation of the radiation polarization plane) in a magnetic field of the D ₁ line in Cs atomic vapor in a nanocell with the thickness L varying in the range of 80–900 nm have been analyzed. The key parameter is the ratio L/λ, where λ = 895 nm is the wavelength of laser radiation resonant with the D ₁ line. The comparison of the parameters for two selected thicknesses L = λ and λ/2 has revealed an unusual behavior of the Faraday rotation signal: the spectrum of the Faraday rotation signal at L = λ/2 = 448 nm is several times narrower than the spectrum of the signal at L = λ, whereas its amplitude is larger by a factor of about 3. These differences become more dramatic with an increase in the power of the laser: the amplitude of the Faraday rotation signal at L = λ/2 increases, whereas the amplitude of the signal at L = λ almost vanishes. Such dependences on L are absent in centimeter-length cells. They are inherent only in nanocells. In spite of a small thickness, L = 448 nm, the Faraday rotation signal is certainly detected at magnetic fields ≥0.4 G, which ensures its application. At thicknesses L < 150 nm, the Faraday rotation signal exhibits “redshift,” which is manifestation of the van der Waals effect. The developed theoretical model describes the experiment well.     

Electroweak interactions probing the nucleon structure

The possibility is studied of isolating single electroweak structure functions in deep inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering atQ ² aroundM _Z ² . Utilizing the cross-section dependence on the lepton charge and longitudinal polarization λ it is shown that the most-conclusive results follow from measurements of σ⁺(?λ)±σ^?(+λ). Considerable simplifications of the problem are possible if λ can be tuned to sin² θ dependent values of about 0.2. New quark-parton model relations are derived.     

Deep-UV Rayleigh scattering of N2, CH4 and SF6

Rayleigh scattering room temperature cross-section values of N₂, CH₄ and SF₆ have been obtained between 198 and 270 nm by combining cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) and pressure ramp measurements. The experimental data have been fitted to a functional representation, describing the ～1/λ⁴ like behaviour of the Rayleigh scattering cross section over a wide wavelength range. The resulting values are compared with numerical predictions, based on refractive indices and molecular anisotropy data available in the literature. From this, values of molecular volume polarizability α_vol and depolarization ratios are derived. It is found that the optical extinction for all three gases is governed by Rayleigh scattering for wavelengths down to 200 nm. No absorption onsets in the specified deep-UV region have been observed.     

Dominance of radiative coupling over disorder in resonance Rayleigh scattering in semiconductor multiple quantum-well structures

Resonance Rayleigh scattering by periodic semiconductor multiple quantum-well structures is studied experimentally and theoretically. Polaritonic effects are found to dominate disorder in the secondary emission dynamics. The coexistence of several radiant polaritonic modes with different radiative decay times leads to polarization beating between modes, strongly influences the rise times, and determines the fast decay times of the resonance Rayleigh scattered signals.     

The Rayleigh law in silicon doped hafnium oxide ferroelectric thin films

A wealth of studies have confirmed that the low‐field hysteresis behaviour of ferroelectric bulk ceramics and thin films can be described using Rayleigh relations, and irreversible domain wall motion across the array of pining defects has been commonly accepted as the underlying micro‐mechanism. Recently, HfO₂ thin films incorporated with various dopants were reported to show pronounced ferroelectricity, however, their microscopic domain structure remains unclear till now. In this work, the effects of the applied electric field amplitude, frequency and temperature on the sub‐coercive polarization reversal properties were investigated for 10 nm thick Si‐doped HfO₂ thin films. The applicability of the Rayleigh law to ultra‐thin ferroelectric films was first confirmed, indicating the existence of a multi‐domain structure. Since the grain size is about 20–30 nm, a direct observation of domain walls within the grains is rather challenging and this indirect method is a feasible approach to resolve the domain structure. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Faraday effect on the Rb <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis> <Subscript>1</Subscript> line in a cell with a thickness of half the wavelength of light

The rotation of the radiation polarization plane in a longitudinal magnetic field (Faraday effect) on the D₁ line in atomic Rb vapor has been studied with the use of a nanocell with the thickness L varying in the range of 100–900 nm. It has been shown that an important parameter is the ratio L/λ, where λ = 795 nm is the wavelength of laser radiation resonant with the D₁ line. The best parameters of the signal of rotation of the radiation polarization plane have been obtained at the thickness L = λ/2 = 397.5 nm. The fabricated nanocell had a large region with such a thickness. The spectral width of the signal reached at the thickness L = 397.5 nm is approximately 30 MHz, which is much smaller than the spectral width (≈ 500 MHz) reached with ordinary cells with a thickness in the range of 1–100 mm. The parameters of the Faraday rotation signal have been studied as functions of the temperature of the nanocell, the laser power, and the magnetic field strength. The signal has been reliably detected at the laser power P_L ≥ 1 μW, magnetic field strength B ≥ 0.5 G, and the temperature of the nanocell T ≥ 100°C. It has been shown that the maximum rotation angle of the polarization plane in the longitudinal magnetic field is reached on the F_g = 3 → F_e = 2 transition of the ⁸⁵Rb atom. The spectral profile of the Faraday rotation signal has a specific shape with a sharp peak, which promotes its applications. In particular, Rb atomic transitions in high magnetic fields about 1000 G are split into a large number of components, which are completely spectrally resolved and allow the study of the behavior of an individual transition.     

The rotation number for finite difference operators and its properties

We discuss a rotation number α(λ) for second order finite difference operators. Ifk(λ) denotes the integrated density of states, thenk(λ)=2α(λ). For almost periodic operators,k(λ) is proved to lie in the frequency-module whenever λ is outside the spectrum; this yields a labelling of the gaps of the spectrum.     

金属微粒-半导体薄膜中小胶粒的光吸收和散射

金属微粒-半导体薄膜具有特殊的电学、光学及光电特性。本文讨论了埋藏于半导体基体中金属小胶粒光吸收和光散射公式。这些胶粉可以是球形,也可以是长球或扁球形。本文以银胶粒-氧化铯半导体为例,讨论了胶粒大小、椭球的偏心率对相对光吸收系数和光散射系数的影响,并给出这些系数随波长改变的曲线。 关键词：     

Nanocell with a pressure-controlled Rb atomic vapor column thickness: Critical influence of the thickness on optical processes

A new device is designed: it consists of a nanocell (NC) filled with Rb atom vapors and placed in a vacuum chamber. When the pressure in the chamber changes in the range 0–1 atm, the NC thickness is smoothly varied in the range L = 140–1700 nm, which is caused by the pressure-induced deformation of thin garnet windows in the chamber. The pressure dependence has excellent reproducibility even after many hundreds of cycles of letting in of air and its complete pumping out from the chamber. The accuracy of setting required thickness L is much better than in the wedge-gap NCs to be moved mechanically that were used earlier. The processes of Faraday rotation (FR) of a polarization plane, resonance absorption, and fluorescence are studied using the D ₁-line narrow-band continuous laser radiation when the thickness changes from L = λ/2 (398 nm) to L = 2λ (1590 nm) at a step λ/2. The FR signal is shown to be maximal at L = λ/2 and 3λ/2 and to have the minimum spectral width (≈60 MHz). At L = λ and 2λ, the FR signal is minimal and has the maximum spectral width (≈200 MHz). The resonance absorption demonstrates the same oscillating behavior; however, the effect in the case of FR is much more pronounced. The oscillating effect is absent for resonance fluorescence: its spectral width and amplitude increase monotonically with L. The detected effects are explained and possible applications are noted.     

Anomalously high photovoltages in terbium molybdate

In terbium molybdate Tb₂(MoO₄)₃ at room temperature, a laser beam of wavelength λ ₁=4880 Å induces an electric polarization that lasts for several days after the irradiation is turned off. The photoinduced polarization has the same sign as the spontaneous polarization. At a laser power of 0.5 W and an exposure time of 4.5 h, the photoinduced polarization exceeds the spontaneous polarization by an order of magnitude. The corresponding electric field is 2.5×10⁶ V/cm. Under the influence of radiation with λ ₁=4880 Å, terbium molybdate luminesces in the green part of the spectrum near λ ₂≈5425 Å. The luminescence quantum yield is 20%.     

Point Source of Nonstationary Polarized Radiation in a Homogeneous Fluctuating Medium

Based on the method of irreducible representations of the rotation group, we obtain an analytical expression for the source function of the radiative transport equation with allowance for polarization of light. The scattering indicatrix is assumed Rayleigh. It is shown that not all polarization characteristics of light in a fluctuating medium are lost in time. Some of them always carry information about the emitter and the scattering medium.     

Influence of the optical activity on hologram formation in photorefractive crystals

It is shown that dynamical hologram formation in photorefractive, optically active crystals is accompanied by polarization and energy exchange. These effects may be used like new effective holographic methods for determinations of crystal parameters and optical signal processing in real time. In self-diffraction a polarization rotation the order of degrees/cm for Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ and Bi₁₂SiO₂₀ is predicted.     

Stimulated emission at the second order stop-zone edge of the two-dimensional opal–zinc oxide photonic crystal

The fabrication of the 2D periodic structures in ZnO thin films by magnetron sputtering on the opal matrices was developed. The microstructures were characterized by AFM and SEM. The spontaneous and stimulated emissions of the ZnO layers on opal were studied at N₂ laser excitation (λ = 337 nm). The stimulated emission near 397 nm was observed at room temperature from ZnO–opal structure. The threshold of the electron–hole plasma recombination laser process was 300 kW/cm² for this structure. This threshold is two orders of magnitude smaller of that one for the flat ZnO–SiO₂ films owing to DFB resonator effect in 2D structure.     

Periodic structures induced by scattered light in a photosensitive film on a dielectric plane-parallel substrate

Periodic structures appearing in a thin AgCl-Ag film on a plane-parallel substrate irradiated with a normally incident, focused, linearly polarized Gaussian laser beam λ=633 nm) with a waist spot size of about 0.01 mm have been studied. The structures are formed in the beam spot and its nearest vicinity (with a radius of up to 0.2 mm) as a result of the interference of the incident beam and the waveguide TE modes excited due to the Rayleigh scattering in the film. In the vicinity of the waist spot, the periodic structures develop under the action of a coherent recurrent scattering from back side of the substrate. In addition, periodic structures of ring symmetry have been revealed far (up to 10 mm) from the irradiated spot. It is demonstrated that these structures are due to the interference of radiation scattered from the film and back side of the substrate and reflected from the two boundaries. Interference models are proposed that provide for a good agreement of the interference period, calculated as a function of the distance from the beam center, with the experimental values.     

Experimental studies of polarization of laser radiation in a rotating optical glass

The results of experiments on observation of rotation of the plane of polarization of coherent laser radiation with wavelength λ = 0.632991 μm after propagation through a rotating optical disk made of TF3 glass with refractive index n = 1.71250 are analyzed. The experiments were conducted at angle of ray incidence on the flat disk surface ?₀ = 60°, and the rotational speed of the disk was varied from 0 to 200 Hz in both directions. The results indicate that rotation of optically transparent, homogeneous, and isotropic dielectric causes rotation of linear polarization of the monochromatic electromagnetic plane wave by several tens of degrees. At a rotational speed of 3 Hz, the rotation of polarization reached Δφ = 70° for the vertical component of laser output polarization. The dependences of the angle of rotation of polarization and the degree of polarization of the rays on rotational speed are nonlinear and are attributed to the appearance of substantial anisotropic properties in a rotating dielectric.     

Dependence of the cesium absorption D1 linewidth on the thickness of atomic vapor column

A new nanocell has been elaborated, where the thickness of the atomic vapor column varies smoothly in the range L = 350–5100 nm. The cell allows studying the behavior of the resonance absorption at the D₁ line of cesium atoms by varying the thickness from L = λ / 2 to L = 5 λ with the step λ / 2 (λ being the resonant wavelength of the laser, 894 nm) and the laser intensity. It is shown that at low laser intensities a narrowing of the resonance absorption spectrum is observed for L = (2n + 1)λ/2 (with an integer n) up to L = (7/2)λ, whereas for L = nλ the spectrum broadens. The developed theoretical model well describes the experiment.     

Optical microscopy of quasi-periodic structures induced upon excitation of waveguide TE and TM modes under irradiation of AgCl-Ag films by a laser beam

This paper reports on the results of analyzing the conditions under which quasi-periodic structures induced in AgCl-Ag photosensitive films by a linearly polarized Gaussian laser beam (λ=633 nm) can be clearly observed with the use of an optical microscope. It is shown that quasi-periodic structures with vectors K ∥ E (where E is the vector of polarization of the inducing beam) and periods d > λ are effectively formed upon excitation of waveguide TM₀ modes at a large angle of incidence (φ=70°) and the p polarization of the inducing beam. Exposure of the film on a 60° glass prism to a p-polarized beam incident on the sample at an angle φ=60° from the side of the glass leads to the effective formation of primary gratings with vectors K⊥E (due to the excitation of waveguide TM₀ modes) and secondary oblique gratings. The specific features of the quasi-periodic structures and the correlation between the primary and secondary gratings are revealed and analyzed.     

Instability and optical turbulence in the formation of spontaneous gratings in single-mode photosensitive AgCl-Ag films

In experiments on illumination of thin photosensitive AgCl films containing granular Ag by a focused laser beam (λ=633 nm), self-pulsations in the form of optical turbulence were found and studied. In the course of illumination, the turbulence was observed in the pattern of small-angle scattering in the form of “boiling” of light spots separated by dark spacings. The formation of turbulence is associated with spontaneous microgratings, whose origin involves waveguide TE modes scattered in a film, and their competition in the course of illumination, which leads to the growth of one microgratings and the decay of the other.