Enhanced optical nonlinearity near the photonic bandgap edges of a cholesteric liquid crystal

The third-order Kerr nonlinear optical effect of a one-dimensional photonic bandgap structure of a cholesteric liquid crystal is investigated. In a femtosecond nonlinear transmission measurement, nonlinear optical changes in the bandgap edges are observed. From analysis of the dispersion relation, Kerr nonlinear coefficients of nematics, forming the cholesteric liquid crystal, are found to be enhanced by 1-2 orders of magnitude through the photonic bandgap structure.     

Luminescence spectra of a cholesteric photonic crystal

The transmission and luminescence spectra of a cholesteric photonic crystal doped with an organic dye are measured. The density of photon states is calculated using the material parameters obtained from the comparison of the experimental and theoretical spectra. The shape of the luminescence spectra is modified with respect to the density of photon states owing to the difference in the structure of the normal modes of the photonic crystal near the short-wavelength and long-wavelength edges of the photonic quasi-band gap upon the “pushing” of the photon states from the gap and to the nonvanishing orientation ordering of the luminescent molecules. The luminescence spectrum calculated taking into account the chiral structure of the photonic crystal agrees with the experimental spectrum.     

Temperature dependence of birefringence in olarization-maintaining photonic crystal fibres

In this paper,the temperature dependence of birefringence in polarization maintaining photonic crystal fibres(PMPCFs) is investigated theoretically and experimentally.Utilizing the structural parameters of the PM-PCF samples in the experiment,two effects leading to the birefringence variation under different temperatures are analysed,which are the thermal expansion of silica material and the refractive index variation due to the temperature variation.The actual birefringence variation of the PM-PCF is the combination of the two effects,which is in the order of 10-9 K-1 for both fibre samples.Calculation results also show that the influence of refractive index variation is the dominant contribution,which determines the tendency of the fibre birefringence variation with varying temperature.Then,the birefringence beat lengths of the two fibre samples are measured under the temperature,which varies from -40℃ to 80℃.A traditional PANDA-type polarization maintaining fibre(PMF) is also measured in the same way for comparison.The experimental results indicate that the birefringence variation of the PM-PCF due to temperature variation is far smaller than that of the traditional PMF,which agrees with the theoretical analysis.The ultra-low temperature dependence of the birefringence in the PM-PCF has great potential applications in temperature-insensitive fibre interferometers,fibre sensors,and fibre gyroscopes.     

Temperature dependence of the relaxation time of the superconducting order parameter

We have measured the temperature dependences of the relaxation time of the superconducting order parameter and of the equilibrium energy gap close to the transition temperature in very clean films of aluminum. The results are only consistent with the temperature and energy gap dependence predicted by Schmid and Schön. We also show that the magnitude and mean free path dependence of the electron inelastic collision time is in good agreement with calculations.     

Improved air-silica photonic crystal with a triangular airhole arrangement for hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber design

We propose an improved photonic crystal (PC) cladding design for existing air-guiding photonic bandgap (PBG) fibers whose cladding airholes are arranged in a triangular lattice pattern. By increasing the sizes of concentrated silica regions in the cladding PC, we can have a larger degree of freedom in controlling the cladding bandgap regions. We predict that a fiber made from this type of cladding would perform better in terms of the PBG-guiding wavelength range, radiation loss owing to finite cladding size, and the ability to avoid surface mode problems.     

A comparison of orientational order measurements in cholesteric and nematic liquid crystals

We present a quantitative comparison of orientation order parameter measurements at constant pressure and constant density in cholesteric and nematic liquid crystals. The two phases show great similarity. In addition, the volume dependence of the mean-field potential is estimated for this cholesteric, and found to differ from measurements in nematics.     

Effect of liquid crystal alignment on bandgap formation in photonic bandgap fibers

A simple analytical model is proposed to study the formation of bandgaps in liquid crystal photonic bandgap fibers. The model shows good agreement with full-vectorial plane-wave simulations. Particularly, bandgap splitting is observed due to anisotropy. If the optic axis of the liquid crystal lies perpendicular to the fiber axis, splitting of the fundamental modes of E(x) and E(y) is also observed.     

Defect-mode dependence of two-photon-absorption enhancement in a one-dimensional photonic bandgap structure

A one-dimensional photonic crystal containing a single CdS defect layer of various thicknesses was fabricated. The dependence of the two-photon-absorption (TPA) coefficient on the defect mode was investigated by use of a femtosecond pump-probe method. Experimental results show that the TPA coefficient of the CdS defect layer depends strongly on the defect mode in the photonic bandgap. This is consistent with the predicted dependence of light intensity within the defect layer.     

Silica-air photonic crystal fiber design that permits waveguiding by a true photonic bandgap effect

A theoretical investigation of a novel type of optical fiber is presented. The operation of the fiber relies entirely on wave guidance through the photonic bandgap effect and not on total internal reflection, thereby distinguishing that fiber from all other known fibers, including recently studied photonic crystal fibers. The novel fiber has a central low-index core region and a cladding consisting of a silica background material with air holes situated within a honeycomb lattice structure. We show the existence of photonic bandgaps for the silica-air cladding structure and demonstrate how light can be guided at the central low-index core region for a well-defined frequency that falls inside the photonic bandgap region of the cladding structure.     

基于空气环结构的大带隙二维光子晶体的设计

用平面波展开法研究了内介质柱截面为长方形的三角晶格空气环型光子晶体的完全带隙特性。通过调节内介质柱的大小、介电常数、旋转角度以及空气环外半径对完全带隙的影响,找到了一组可以获得大带隙二维光子晶体结构的最佳参数。经优化后得到禁带宽度Δω=0.082(2πca-1)(其中a为晶格常数,c为光速),中心频率ω0=0.401(2πca-1),完全带隙宽度与中心频率的比值达到了20.4%,该结果比圆形内介质柱截面空气环结构的完全带隙大,比普通的空气孔结构的完全带隙增大了37%。     

低损宽频高双折射太赫兹光子带隙光纤

设计了一种低损耗、宽频段、高双折射太赫兹光子带隙光纤,呈三角晶格排列的亚波长空气孔包层实现了带隙的局域作用.利用全矢量有限元法对光纤的双折射及损耗特性进行了理论分析.结果表明,在大约0.3 THz的宽频范围内,类矩形纤芯太赫兹光子带隙光纤的损耗小于0.009 cm^-1,相双折射在10^-3数量级,群双折射可达10^-2数量级. 关键词： 太赫兹 太赫兹波导 光子晶体光纤 双折射     

非密堆积TiO2空心微球光子晶体的制备与能带分析

利用胶体自组装、高温烧结和HF酸刻蚀技术,制备了SiO2微球非密堆积面心立方(FCC)结构的胶体晶体,并以此为模板,利用溶胶凝胶方法和NaOH湿法刻蚀技术制备了TiO2空心微球非密堆积FCC结构光子晶体.利用电子显微镜分析了晶体的结构,用平面波展开法对该结构进行了能带计算与分析.计算结果表明,制备的TiO2空心微球非密堆积FCC结构光子晶体在低能区的第二、第三能带之间除布里渊区的W点仍保持简并外,其余各点简并都已经消除.     

Scaling properties of a tetragonal photonic crystal design having a large complete bandgap

Photonic crystal structures (PCs) of tetragonal lattice type are introduced and studied. They feature complete three-dimensional (3D) photonic bandgaps (PBGs). The PC design is based on two systems of ordered, parallel pores being perpendicular to each other. For increasing pore radii, the pore systems interpenetrate and an inverted woodpile geometry arises. The size of the 3D bandgaps depends on the ratio of the cell parameters L_x, L_y, and L_z, the pore radii and the refractive index of the dielectric material. If realized as a silicon/air structure, the maximum 3D gap is larger than 25%. A possible fabrication route for the near-infrared is based on 2D macroporous silicon where perpendicular pores are drilled, e.g., by focused-ion-beam etching. The dispersion behaviour of the PCs is theoretically analysed (band structures, density-of-states), systematically varying all relevant parameters. The optimization of the PBG sizes as well as a possible tunability of the PBG energies are discussed.     

空芯光子晶体光纤光子带隙的测量与数值模拟

用全矢量平面波法计算三角结构光子晶体光纤的带隙. 用透射法测量了自制的空芯光子晶体光纤的透射谱,得到了它在可见光波段透射强度与波长的关系,并在随后的实验中观测到了传光的模场图.通过理论模拟了实验所用的空芯光子晶体光纤的带隙图,与实验结果具有较好的一致性. 关键词： 空芯光子晶体光纤 光子带隙 全矢量平面波法 透射     

Temperature dependence of second order Raman spectra of rubidium iodide crystal

The temperature variation of the second order Raman spectra of RbI has been theoretically studied in three basic symmetries on the basis of the modified Born and Bradburn theory. The phonon frequencies and corresponding eigenvectors have been determined at the room temperature by employing a three body force shell model. It has been assumed that the major factor which governs the temperature dependence of Raman intensity is the occupation number and the changes in the phonon eigen data and the polarizability parameters with temperature have been ignored. Calculations have been made at three temperatures namely, 300,90 and 23 K and the theoretical results have been compared to the experimental Raman spectra.     

Resonance in quantum dot fluorescence in a photonic bandgap liquid crystal host

Microcavity resonance is demonstrated in nanocrystal quantum dot fluorescence in a one-dimensional (1D) chiral photonic bandgap cholesteric-liquid crystal host under cw excitation. The resonance demonstrates coupling between quantum dot fluorescence and the cholesteric microcavity. Observed at a band edge of a photonic stop band, this resonance has circular polarization due to microcavity chirality with 4.9 times intensity enhancement in comparison with polarization of the opposite handedness. The circular-polarization dissymmetry factor g(e) of this resonance is ~1.3. We also demonstrate photon antibunching of a single quantum dot in a similar glassy cholesteric microcavity. These results are important in cholesteric-laser research, in which so far only dyes were used, as well as for room-temperature single-photon source applications.     

Confinement-induced orientational order in a ferroelectric liquid crystal containing dispersed aerosils

The study of the smectic-A to chiral smectic-C(*) phase transition of the liquid crystal S-(+)-[4-(2(')-methyl butyl) phenyl 4(')-n-octylbiphenyl-4-carboxylate] (CE8) containing dispersed hydrophilic aerosils reveals novel properties, important to understanding quenched disorder and confinement in ferroelectric liquid crystals. Smectic layer compression leads to a distribution of transition temperatures inducing smearing of the macroscopic data across the transition. A pronounced confinement-induced pretransitional tilted order is observed.     

Low loss liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber in the near-infrared region

We infiltrate a perdeuterated liquid crystal with a reduced infrared absorption in a photonic crystal fiber. The H atoms of this liquid crystal were substituted with D atoms in order to move the vibration bands which cause absorption loss to longer wavelengths and therefore reduce the absorption in the spectral range of 1–2 μm. We achieve in the middle of the near-infrared transmission bandgap the lowest loss (about 1 dB) ever reported for this kind of devices.     

Intersecting veins effects of a two-dimensional photonic crystal with a large two-dimensional complete bandgap

Optimal design of a two-dimensional photonic crystal with a square lattice of dielectric rods with intersecting veins in GaAs is investigated numerically using plane wave expansion method. It is shown how a maximum complete two-dimensional bandgap is obtained by optimally connecting the dielectric rods with intersecting veins. The complete two-dimensional photonic bandgap (PBG) of our optimal design reaches Δω = 0.10664(2πc/a) (where a is the lattice constant and c is the speed of light in vacuum) when the radius of dielectric rod is 280.1 nm and the half-vein width is 60 nm. Our result shows 40% the width of PBG higher than that obtained from Ref. [M. Qiu, S. He, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 17 (2000) 1027] (Δω = 0.0762(2πc/a)). In addition, we found that the complete bandgap can be obtained in a large range of radius R of dielectric rod when the half width of intersecting veins d is larger than 65 nm.     

通讯波段禁带胶体光子晶体的制备及实验参数研究

采用直径为700nm的二氧化硅微球,通过垂直沉积法在玻璃基片上制备了位于光通讯波段的禁带胶体光子晶体。研究了不同蒸发温度、湿度条件、干燥过程对样品晶体质量的影响。用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)对其形貌进行了观测。实验结果表明,在温度为65℃,相对湿度为70%,缓慢干燥条件下制备出的样品具有较好的晶体质量,晶体在大范围内保持了面心立方(FCC)单晶结构,其(111)面平行于生长基片。