Optical spin hall effect

A remarkable analogy is established between the well-known spin Hall effect and the polarization dependence of Rayleigh scattering of light in microcavities. This dependence results from the strong spin effect in elastic scattering of exciton polaritons: if the initial polariton state has a zero spin and is characterized by some linear polarization, the scattered polaritons become strongly spin polarized. The polarization in the scattered state can be positive or negative dependent on the orientation of the linear polarization of the initial state and on the direction of scattering. Very surprisingly, spin polarizations of the polaritons scattered clockwise and anticlockwise have different signs. The optical spin Hall effect is possible due to strong longitudinal-transverse splitting and finite lifetime of exciton polaritons in microcavities.     

Polarization dependence of L- and M-edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering in transition-metal compounds

The resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) cross section at the L and M edges of transition-metal compounds is studied using an effective scattering operator. The intensities of the elastic peak and for spin-flip processes are derived. It is shown how the polarization dependence can be used to select transitions. Comparisons are made with experiment. A detailed analysis of the polarization and angular dependence of L- and M-edge RIXS for divalent copper compounds, such as the high-Tc superconductors, is given.     

Characteristics of Guided Acoustic Wave Brillouin Scattering in Polarization Maintaining Fibers

Characteristics of guided acoustic wave Brillouin scattering in polarization maintaining fibers are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Spectra of polarized and depolarized scattering are measured for two different types of polarization maintaining fibers: the PANDA (polarization maintaining and absorption reducing) fibers and the elliptical-jacket fibers. Calculated results are in agreement with the experimental ones in the low frequency region.     

Polarization effects in elastic electron deuteron scattering

The vector and tensor polarization of the deuteron after scattering and the dependence of the cross section on the polarization before scattering are given for elastic electron deuteron scattering treating the deuteron as a spin 1 elementary particle characterized by three electromagnetic formfactors and describing the interaction by the first Born approximation. By using polarization measurements a separation of the charge and quadrupole formfactors may be accomplished, and thus the assumptions may be tested, which are necessary for the extraction of the isoscalar nucleon formfactors from the deuteron formfactors.     

Parity non-conservation effects in neutron elastic scattering reactions

Energy dependence of parity non-conservation effects is derived for neutron elastic scattering on nuclei: emission asymmetry and the rotation of the polarization plane for the polarized neutron beam and longitudinal polarization for unpolarized neutrons. Both potential scattering and scattering through the compound-nucleus resonances (multi-level approximation) are taken into account. The expressions obtained are compared with experimental data on thermal neutron scattering.     

Optical properties of a waveguide written inside a LiTaO3 crystal by irradiation with focused femtosecond laser pulses

Optical waveguides were fabricated by modifying the optical properties inside a LiTaO₃ crystal by irradiation with femtosecond laser pulses, and the performance and optical properties of the waveguide were investigated. On the basis of near-field pattern of the light guided through the waveguides, the optimum writing conditions such as the pulse energy and the pulse duration were determined. The waveguide written inside a LiTaO₃ crystal had a strong polarization dependence of guided light. Observation by a polarized microscope suggested that the stress distribution around the photoexcited region should be responsible for the polarization dependence of guided light. In addition, the second harmonic generation from a laser beam passing through the waveguide was observed, which suggests that the ferroelectric properties of LiTaO₃ were preserved after the photoexcitation.     

Polarized angular dependence of out-of-plane light-scattering measurements for nanoparticles on wafer

Bidirectional ellipsometry has been developed as a technique for distinguishing among various scattering features near surfaces. The polarized angular dependence of out-of-plane light-scattering by the nanoparticles on wafer is calculated and measured according to Rayleigh limit. These calculations and measurements yield angular dependence of bidirectional ellipsometric parameters for out-of-plane scattering. The experimental data show good agreement with theoretical predictions for different diameter of nanoparticles. The results suggest that improvements for accuracy are possible to perform measurements of scattering features from nanoparticles. The angular dependence and the polarization of light scattered by nanoparticles can be used to determine the size of nanoparticulate contaminants on silicon wafers.     

High order Correlation polarization potential for vibrational excitation scattering of diatomic molecules by low-energy electrons

This paper introduces a correlation--polarization potential with high order terms for vibrational excitation in electron--molecule scattering. The new polarization potential generalizes the two-term approximation so that it can better reflect the dependence of correlation and polarization effects on the position coordinate of the scattering electron. It applies the new potential on the vibrational excitation scattering from N₂ in an energy range which includes the ²П_g shape resonance. The good agreement of theoretical resonant peaks with experiments shows that polarization potentials with high order terms are important and should be included in vibrational excitation scattering.     

光子晶体光纤中去极化型声波导布里渊散射频移和散射效率研究

利用矢量有限元法,数值模拟了不同结构参数下光子晶体光纤中空气孔填充率与去极化型声波导布里渊散射频移的关系,以及布里渊散射频移与布里渊散射效率的关系。研究结果表明,空气孔填充率的增大会导致扭转径向模式的去极化型声波导布里渊散射频移下移。空气孔节距或纤芯直径一定时,高阶模式的频移对空气孔填充率的变化更为敏感。扭转径向模式的去极化型布里渊散射效率都随布里渊散射频移的增大而增大。     

Anomalous polarization effects during light scattering in random media

The dependence of the intensity of light backscattered from a layer of a randomly inhomogeneous medium on the polarization of incident light and the size of scatterers has been investigated. The results of numerical simulation have demonstrated that the direction of rotation of the plane of polarization is different in systems with small- and large-scale inhomogeneities. It is shown for the first time that the dependence of the sign of the residual circular polarization on the size of scatterers can be observed in systems described by the Henyey-Greenstein phase function used in simulating biological tissues. A similar anomalous polarization effect, which consists in changing the direction of rotation of the plane of polarization of backscattered light with an increase in the scattering angle, is revealed in studying the coherent backscattering component. These polarization effects are observed in light backscattering from optically active media.     

Polarization dependence of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectroscopy in correlated electron systems

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at the transition-metal K-edge is studied as a tool to detect the electronic structure in correlated electron systems. We, in particular, focus on the polarization dependence of RIXS intensity and symmetry of the electronic excitations. It is shown that by analyzing the polarization of the initial and scattered X-rays, the symmetry of the 4p orbitals are selected. Combined effects of the polarization of X-rays and the momentum transfer in the scattering are also studied.     

Spin dependence of the parity non-conserving neutron-nucleus interaction

We show that the spin dependence of the parity violating amplitudes can provide a clue to the precise origin of the large parity non-conserving effects observed in neutron scattering on nuclei. The polarization asymmetries for longitudinal and transverse polarization of the incoming neutrons allow the separation of these spin amplitudes. In the mechanism of parity admixing of the virtually excited compound nucleus states, the spin dependence of the weak amplitudes is determined by the spin dependence of the strong interaction amplitudes for the elastic channel of the decay of the p-wave resonance     

Two-Color Dual-Polarization Pulsed Bistatic Lidar for Measuring Water Cloud Droplet Size

The concept of a pulsed bistatic lidar for measuring water cloud particle size is presented. The method uses a two-color laser and a receiver with a polarization analyzer located at a suitable scattering angle. The dependence of Mie scattering on scattering angle, wavelength, and polarization is used to derive water cloud droplet size. The measurement was simulated for the C₁ and C₂ clouds, and the technique for determining mode radius was studied. The result shows the lidar system with a two-wavelength laser (1064 nm and 532 nm) and a dual-polarization receiver fixed at a scattering angle of around 178 deg can be used to measure a cloud particle size (mode radius) of 4 to 12 μm. Evaluation of the effect of multiple scattering showed that the method can be applied not only for the measurement at the cloud base but also in the cloud where multiple scattering is not negligible.     

Interference effects in backscattering of light by a layer of a discrete random medium

Multiple backscattering of light by a layer of a discrete random medium is considered. A brief derivation of equations for describing the coherent and incoherent components of scattered light is presented. These equations are solved numerically in the approximation of doubled scattering of light by a semi-infinite medium of spherical scatterers having a size comparable with the wavelength in order to study the effect of the properties of particles on the angular dependence of interference effects. Calculations show that the half-width of the interference peak decreases upon an increase in lateral scattering by particles and that the degree of polarization has a complex angular dependence on the properties of the particles. For an optically thin layer of the medium, the relations defining the interference peak half-width and the scattering angle upon extreme linear polarization as functions of the effective refractive index are given.     

The T-matrix technique for calculations of scattering properties of ensembles of randomly oriented particles with different size

We develop a modification of the T-matrix method that allows efficient studies of scattering properties of ensembles of independent irregular particles of different size. The advantage of the modification is quick calculations using the so-called shape-matrices (Sh-matrices), which allow more rapid calculations of scattering by particles of different size and can be used for averaging scattering properties over particle size. To illustrate the advantage we calculate the scattering-angle dependence of the intensity and degree of linear polarization of ensembles of cubes and Chebyshev particles of different size using both the new and traditional methods. Our time savings in calculating scattering properties for the particles with the new methodology is approximately a factor of ten when calculating scattering properties of one hundred of the same type of particles with different size parameter. As can be anticipated, increasing the size interval results in a smoothing of the structure of the photometric curves and a decrease in the linear polarization.     

Residual polarization of non-coherently backscattered linearly polarized light: the influence of the anisotropy parameter of the scattering medium

The effect of preservation of the residual polarization of backscattered light in the case of multiply scattered disordered media illumination by a linearly polarized plane wave is examined using the path-integral approach and Monte Carlo simulation. Disordered ensembles of non-interacting dielectric particles are considered as the model of scattering media. The influence of the anisotropy parameter of the scattering system on the degree of residual polarization is analysed. Experimental results obtained for various scattering systems at different wavelengths of illuminating light are in satisfactory agreement with the results of theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. The dependence of statistical properties of the polarization states of backscattered field partial components, such as probability distributions of ellipticity, on the anisotropy parameter is studied.     

Phase signatures in laser-assisted electron-atom collisions

We study electron-atom scattering in the presence of a laser field with elliptic polarization. We discuss the dependence of the differential cross sections for the cases of circular and linear polarizations as a function of scattering angle. Interesting typical signatures of the phase between the two components of the circular polarization of the laser field appear in the differential cross section.     

Plasmonic light scattering from nanoscopic metal tips

Linear light scattering by individual nanoscopic metal wire tips is investigated. Using evanescent-wave excitation, the spectral and polarization dependence of the emission are addressed. Choosing gold and tungsten as representative tip materials, intense scattering and a strongly plasmon-resonant behavior observed for gold contrasts a comparatively weak and spectrally flat response for tungsten. Spectral dependence and local-field enhancement are found to be sensitive to details of the structural parameters and can be described by a simple model. The results provide selection criteria for tips to be used in scattering-type near-field microscopy or photoemission in inelastic tunneling spectroscopy.This revised version was published online in April 2005. The last name of the corresponding author M. B. Raschke was corrected.     

Rotational Raman scattering dependence on pump polarization

The influence of the ellipticity degree of the pump radiation polarization on threshold energies and energy conversion efficiencies of stimulated rotational Raman scattering (SRRS) are investigated in H₂ with a XeCl excimer laser, by using different focusing geometries. For the first time, it is shown that the dependence of SRRS on pump radiation polarization is also affected by the focusing geometry, i.e. whether low- or high-angle focusing is applied. The experimentally determined threshold energies as a function of the pump radiation polarization are in accordance with theory mainly at high-angle focusing geometries. It is also shown for the first time that gain suppression effects on vibrational Raman scattering have to be considered in understanding the experimental results. Received: 5 January 1999 / Final version: 10 September 1999 / Published online: 8 March 2000