Second-harmonic optical coherence tomography

Second-harmonic optical coherence tomography, which uses coherence gating of second-order nonlinear optical responses of biological tissues for imaging, is described and demonstrated. Femtosecond laser pulses were used to excite second-harmonic waves from collagen harvested from rat tail tendon and a reference non-linear crystal. Second-harmonic interference fringe signals were detected and used for image construction. Because of the strong dependence of second-harmonic generation on molecular and tissue structures, this technique imparts contrast and resolution enhancement to conventional optical coherence tomography.     

Second-harmonic interferometers II

Experiments on interferometers based on second harmonic generation of light are described. These make use of the distortions of phase and amplitude produced by the phase mismatch of angle-matched crystals to provide information. The interferometers are directly sensitive to small wavefront tilts and do not require additional reference wavefronts.     

Polarization-sensitive optoacoustic tomography of optically diffuse tissues

Polarization is indicative of material anisotropy, a property that reveals structural orientation information of molecules inside the material. Herein we investigate whether polarization can be detected optoacoustically in scattering and absorbing tissues. Using a laboratory prototype of polarization-sensitive optoacoustic tomography, we demonstrate high-resolution reconstructions of dichroism contrast deep in optically diffusive tissue-mimicking phantoms. The technique is expected to enable highly accurate imaging of polarization contrast in tissues, far beyond the current capabilities of pure optical polarization-imaging approaches.     

Second-harmonic generation at interfaces

Second-harmonic light can be generated at dye coated surfaces of fused silica. By changing either the angle of incidence or the frequency of the fundamental, phase matching of signals produced at the two surfaces of a plane-parallel plate has been achieved. The interaction of light from multiple internal reflections has also been studied.     

Second-harmonic optimization of computer-generated hologram

A method of optimizing a computer-generated hologram based on parallel second harmonic generation is proposed for holographic femtosecond laser processing. The method, which we call second harmonic optimization, incorporates the width and spatial profile of the pulse into the hologram design. With this method, we demonstrated parallel laser processing with high quality. Because of the enhanced processing accuracy, smaller structures were processed with a smaller energy than in our previous work. In parallel laser processing with 18 beams on a glass surface, the minimum average diameter of the processed structures was 271 nm when the mean fluence of the beams was 0.88 J/cm(2).     

Second-harmonic generation of polarization singularities

Second-harmonic generation was studied theoretically for the vector singularities (daisy modes) of linearly polarized light and for the elliptic singularities (C points) of elliptically polarized light. Topological charge doubling for C points and daisy modes, similar to that found for vortices, was found. Unlike for vortices, however, it was found that for both C points and daisy modes the sign of the charge is reversed; for C points the photon spin or handedness (right or left) is also reversed; and for daisy modes the number of intensity petals is not doubled. These findings are all unexpected because neither charge nor spin nor orbital angular momentum is conserved for C points, whereas a daisy mode in which the number of intensity petals does not equal twice the magnitude of the charge is anomalous.     

High-resolution ultrasound-modulated optical tomography in biological tissues

We present a novel implementation of high-resolution ultrasound-modulated optical tomography that, based on optical contrast, can image several millimeters deep into soft biological tissues. A long-cavity confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer, which provides a large etendue and a short response time, was used to detect the ultrasound-modulated coherent light that traversed the scattering biological tissue. Using 15-MHz ultrasound, we imaged with high-contrast light-absorbing structures placed >3 mm below the surface of chicken breast tissue. The resolution along the axial and the lateral directions with respect to the ultrasound propagation direction was better than 70 and 120 microm, respectively. The resolution can be scaled down further by use of higher ultrasound frequencies. This technology is complementary to other imaging technologies, such as confocal microscopy and optical-coherence tomography, and has the potential for broad biomedical applications.     

Second-harmonic generation with traveling-wave pulses

We experimentally studied properties of traveling-wave excitation and traveling-wave pulse compression for a Nd : glass laser system with a streak camera. These properties were extended to second-harmonic generation with a type-11 KDP crystal. We found that the second-harmonic pulse generated from the chirped-fundamental pulse also has a good chirp linearity, but the spectral bandwidth and temporal duration were reduced. We demonstrated the effective subpulse suppression in the compressed pulse with the second-harmonic generation. The pulse with tilted wave front, short wavelength and high contrast ratio can be obtained by the second-harmonic generation of traveling-wave pulse.     

Second-harmonic generation in centro-symmetric semiconductors

Summary The crystallographic dependence of optical-second-harmonic generation (SHG) in Si and Ge single crystals is obtained with 10 ps pulses at 527 nm and at incident fluences above the threshold for laser melting of the crystal lattice. We find that the experimentally observed dependence of SHG on crystal orientation remains unchanged up to the damage limit. Observed selection rules are analysed in terms of various possible contributions.

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Riassunto Generazione della seconda armonica ottica è ottenuta nei monocristalli di Si e Ge con impulsi laser di 10 ps, a 527 nm, e con densità di energia inpingente superiore all soglia per la fuzione del reticolo cristallino. Si osserva che la seconda armonica mantiene la propria dipendenza dall' orientazione cristallografica, indipendente dal valore della densità di energia che è incidente sulla superficie cristallina, fino alla soglia del danno. Il mutamento d'intensità di generazione a secondo orientazione cristallografica e piano di polarizzazione è stato analizzato in funzione di vari contributi probabili.

     

Second-harmonic generation in vortex-induced waveguides

We study the second-harmonic generation and localization of light in a reconfigurable waveguide induced by an optical vortex soliton in a defocusing Kerr medium. We show that the vortex-induced waveguide greatly improves conversion efficiency from the fundamental to the second-harmonic field.     

Ultrasound tomography of soft biological tissues containing strong inhomogeneities

Applied aspects concerning experimental data processing have been discussed. The data are obtained on a prototype of ultrasound medical acoustic tomograph, designed for early diagnostics of benign and malignant tumors in soft biological tissues. The result of the study is the reconstructed distribution patterns of speed of sound and absorption in an organ under test.     

Second-harmonic superprism effect in photonic crystals

By exploitation of the nonlinear optical properties of two-dimensional photonic crystals, a second-harmonic superprism effect is demonstrated. The anisotropy of the dispersion curves allows control of the propagation direction of the second-harmonic field. Smooth variations of the fundamental wavelength or the angle of incidence produce a drastic angular shift of the second-harmonic emission.     

Second-harmonic generation with a high-index-clad waveguide

Theoretical and experimental analyses of second-harmonic generation (SHG) with a high-index-clad waveguide are reported. It was found that confinement of the propagation modes and the overlap between the fields of fundamental and second-harmonic waves could be increased in this waveguide. This structure was achieved in an x-cut MgO:LiNbO (3) quasi-phase-matched (QPM) waveguide by use of Nb(2)O(5) as a cladding layer. With the QPM SHG device, harmonic blue light of 5.5 mW at the 434-nm wavelength was generated with a normalized conversion efficiency of 1200%/W cm(2).     

非线性左手材料中的二次谐波

基于电磁场理论，推导了无耗非线性左手材料中二次谐波的曼利－诺关系，及相位匹配条件下正向基波与逆向二次谐波的能量转换过程及其空间分布.验证了可将无耗非线性左手材料的入射面作为反射镜，把能量以二次谐波的形式反射.同时分别给出有限厚度介质板中基波和二次谐波的场强分布数值结果，验证了结论的正确性.最后从相位失配角度说明了相位匹配是分析非线性左手材料二次谐波的重要条件.这为研究左手材料的非线性理论奠定了基础.     

Second-harmonic light scattering near two-photon resonance

The light scattered by a quantum system, two levels of which are distant by an energy equal to that of two photons of the incident beam, is shown to contain three lines: a central line at 2ω, and two satellites at 2ω±δ, with δ and intensity-dependent level splitting term. The transition probabilities for the three lines are calculated in terms of the time evolution operator.     

Second-harmonic generation in graded metallic films

We study the effective second-harmonic generation (SHG) susceptibility in graded metallic films by invoking the local field effects exactly and further numerically demonstrate that graded metallic films can serve as a novel optical material for producing a broad structure in both the linear and the SHG response and an enhancement in the SHG signal.     

Second-harmonic generation from complementary split-ring resonators

We present experiments on second-harmonic generation from arrays of magnetic split-ring resonators and arrays of complementary split-ring resonators. In both cases, the fundamental resonance is excited by the incident femtosecond laser pulses under normal incidence, leading to comparably strong second-harmonic signals. These findings are discussed in terms of Babinet's principle and in terms of a recently developed microscopic classical theory that leads to good agreement regarding the relative and the absolute nonlinear signal strengths. The hydrodynamic convective contribution is found to be the dominant source of second-harmonic generation--in contrast to a previous assignment [Science 313, 502 (2006)].     

Second-harmonic generation in GaAs-based quantum-cascade lasers

We report second-harmonic (SH) and sum-frequency generation in GaAs-based quantum-cascade lasers. A doping dependence study of the second-order susceptibility in one of the investigated structure is shown. We also demonstrate that grating-coupled surface emission is a highly efficient way to couple out the SH radiation.