Trapping of surface-plasmon polaritons in a subwavelength cut

We study a transverse magnetic wave propagation in a subwavelength metallic slit which is modified by a perpendicular cut. The surface-plasmon polaritons (SPPs) can be trapped in the perpendicular cut by tuning the length or width of the cut. Moreover, the period of the resonance states corresponds to the difference of the cut's length ΔL which is 450 nm. An analytical solution for the resonance condition of the structure is derived by the cavity theory, which is consistent with the numerical simulation by using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method.     

One-dimensional surface-plasmon gratings for the excitation of intersubband polaritons in suspended membranes

We present the observation of the strong light-matter coupling regime between intersubband transitions of semiconductor quantum wells and the plasmonic-like resonances of a one dimensional metallic grating. Polariton spectra have been recorded in transmission employing a suspended membrane sample and are consistent with theoretical calculations. This arrangement, avoiding the complexity of dispersive substrate, is particularly attractive for the development of time-resolved pump-probe experiments.     

Reflection of surface polaritons at a dielectric barrier

The theory is worked out which considers reflection of surface polaritons normally incident on a vertical dielectric barrier. The theory is based upon treatments of interactions of localized and non-localized eigen modes of the system. For the cases of plasmon and phonon polaritons calculated are the reflection and transmission coefficients of polaritons and the energy diagrams of volume waves excited during reflection.     

Coupled-mode approach to surface plasmon polaritons in nonlinear periodic structures

We present a coupled-mode theory describing light propagation in an array of nonlinear plasmonic waveguides. Our model predicts a two-band dependence of the propagation constant versus transverse quasi-momentum and existence of discrete and gap plasmon solitons.     

Giant bistable lateral shift owing to surface-plasmon excitation in Kretschmann configuration with a Kerr nonlinear dielectric

We investigate the reflection of a TM-polarized light beam from a Kretschmann configuration with a Kerr nonlinear dielectric. It is found that there exists a hysteretic response between the lateral shift of the reflected beam and the intensity of the incident beam. In contrast to the lower switch threshold, the higher switch threshold of optical bistability is more sensitive to the variations of the angle of incidence and the thickness of metal film. It is also found that the peak value of the lateral shift is strongly dependent on the thickness of metal film.     

纯相位空间光调制器实现振幅调制的技术研究

纯相位空间光调制器能够方便地模拟各种相位型光学元件,但不能直接模拟振幅型元件。使用两种方法,即棋盘相格法和闪耀光栅法,把由这两种方法生成的计算全息图加载到纯相位空间光调制器上,通过搭建的光束变换系统进行实验验证。实验结果表明,棋盘相格法和闪耀光栅法都能很好地实现振幅调制,用闪耀光栅法生成的叉状振幅光栅,给拉盖尔-高斯光束的合束带来了一种新的方法。     

Experimental observation of energy modulation in electron beams passing through terahertz dielectric wakefield structures

We report the observation of a strong wakefield induced energy modulation in an energy-chirped electron bunch passing through a dielectric-lined waveguide. This modulation can be effectively converted into a spatial modulation forming microbunches with a periodicity of 0.5-1 ps and, hence, capable of driving coherent terahertz radiation. The experimental results agree well with theoretical predictions.     

两种方法实现对掺镱光纤放大器的相位校正

 在光纤激光器阵列的相干合成技术中,主振荡并联放大器（MOPA）方案最关键的技术是对光纤放大器进行相位控制与校正。本文用两种方法分别对掺镱光纤放大器进行了相位控制与校正。一种是爬山法,通过自动寻优的方式不断改变相位调制器控制电压,使系统输出保持在干涉最强处;另一种是外差法,通过实时探测和校正光路中相位的变化,确保输出光束的相位一致。实验系统中主振荡激光器的波长为1 083 nm,输出功率0~100 mW连续可调。光纤相位调制器是铌酸锂相位调制器。光纤放大器输出功率0~1 W连续可调,整个光路为全保偏光路。爬山法系统的工作频率为100 kHz,控制精度为λ/10;外差法系统的移频量为40 MHz,精度优于λ/20。在两类闭环控制过程中,铌酸锂相位控制器都很好地实现了光纤放大器的相位校正。该工作为实现光纤激光器阵列的相干合成打下实验基础。     

Dispersion of cylindrical surface plasmon polaritons in layered structures

The problem of the existence of cylindrical surface plasmon polaritons on thin metal conductors is considered. A dispersion relation is obtained and analyzed, the domain of existence of dispersion curve with a maximum is found, and parametric relations are derived.     

Damped low-frequency surface-plasmon resonance in metal-dielectric periodic structures of planar semi-infinite extent

In the low-frequency limit with respect to the bulk plasma frequency of metal, damped surface-plasmon resonance is examined for a periodic semi-infinite structure with metal-dielectric unit cells in slab geometry. In comparison to the author’s earlier results in [1], the additional material damping is found to alter the resonance characteristics in many nontrivial ways. In particular, the damped Bloch waves propagating in the direction normal to the slab planes are induced, thereby altering wave stability with respect to the ratio of dielectric constants.     

Multiple modes of surface plasmonic polaritons in transversely-truncated metal/dielectric superlattices

The surface plasmonic polariton (SPP) of a transversely-truncated metal/dielectric superlattice (SL) structure has been solved with an approximate method. The effect of inter-layer interfaces in the SL is taken into consideration efficiently in comparison with the effective-medium method. The silver/air and silver/SiO₂ SLs with a shorter period are regarded as two specific examples in numerical calculation. A series of separated SPP modes are found and highly localized at the surface, and the highest-frequency mode is the only one also predicated by the effective-medium method. These results obviously show the effect of inter-layer interfaces in the case of short period, whilst the reliability and limitation of the effective-medium method is presented as well. Because the skin depths of the modes are extremely small, the SLs can be used as ideal surface-wave waveguides.     

Spontaneous coherent phase transition of polaritons in CdTe microcavities

We report on evidence for polariton condensation out of a reservoir of incoherent polaritons. Polariton population and first-order coherence are investigated by spectroscopic imaging of the far-field emission of a CdTe-based microcavity under nonresonant pumping. With increasing pumping power, stimulated emission with thresholdlike behavior and spectral narrowing is observed in the strong exciton-photon coupling regime. We show that it comes from a narrow ring in k space, exhibiting enhanced spatial and angular coherence at the stimulation onset.     

Influence of the carrier-envelope phase of few-cycle pulses on ponderomotive surface-plasmon electron acceleration

Control over basic processes through the electric field of a light wave can lead to new knowledge of fundamental light-matter interaction phenomena. We demonstrate, for the first time, that surface-plasmon (SP) electron acceleration can be coherently controlled through the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of an excitation optical pulse. Analysis indicates that the physical origin of the CEP sensitivity arises from the electron's ponderomotive interaction with the oscillating electromagnetic field of the SP wave. The ponderomotive electron acceleration mechanism provides sensitive (nJ energies), high-contrast, single-shot CEP measurement capability of few-cycle laser pulses.     

Spatial condensation of trapped polaritons in graphene and semiconductor structures

The theoretical and experimental status of the Bose–Einstein Condensation (BEC) of trapped quantum well (QW) polaritons in a microcavity is presented. The results of recent experiments that have shown the possibility to create an in-plane harmonic potential trap for a two-dimensional (2D) exciton polaritons in a cavity are discussed. We report the theory of BEC and of the trapped QW exciton polaritons in a microcavity. In addition, we study the BEC of trapped magnetoexciton polaritons in a graphene layer (GL) embedded in an optical microcavity in high magnetic field. In both cases the polaritons are considered to be in a harmonic potential trap. We compare the theoretical results with the existing experiments and discuss the experimental observation of predicted phenomena.     

Deterministic phase unwrapping in the presence of noise

We present a new Fourier-based exact solution for deterministic phase unwrapping from experimental maps of wrapped phase in the presence of noise and phase vortices. This single-step approach has superior performance for images with high phase gradients or insufficient digital sampling approaching 2pi/pixel and therefore performs as a fast and practical solution for the phase-unwrapping problem for experimental applications in applied optics, physics, and medicine.     

Deterministic equations of motion and phase ordering dynamics

We numerically solve microscopic deterministic equations of motion for the two-dimensional straight phi(4) theory with random initial states. Phase ordering dynamics is investigated. Dynamic scaling is found and it is dominated by a fixed point corresponding to the minimum energy of random initial states.     

Interaction of guided modes and surface polaritons in a planar dielectric waveguide-semiconductor structure

In this work we have observed the interaction of waveguide modes and surface polaritons arising on the surface of a semiconductor in proximity to a dielectric wave-guide. It is shown that at frequencies for which the phase velocities of these waves coincide, there arises a resonant interaction between them, allowing the emergence of a reflected signal in the dielectric waveguide. The amplitude of this signal varies periodically with a change in the length of the semiconductor. The results that have been obtained have been able to be used as a diagnostic for semiconductor materials as well as for the excitation of surface polaritons with the aid of a dielectric waveguide.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 1, pp. 78–83, January, 1989.     

Efficient directional excitation of surface plasmon polaritons by partial dielectric filling slit structure

In this paper, we investigate the excitation of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) in the metallic slit partly filled with dielectric by using the finite-difference time-domain method. It is found that the slit structure displays high asymmetry in the field distribution and SPP excitation due to the difference in matching degree of SPP wavevector on the two sides of slit exit. At certain incident wavelengths, the power flow carried by SPP modes on one side of slit exit is over three orders of magnitude greater than that on the other side, an efficient directional excitation is achieved. The SPP generation efficiencies on both sides of slit exit can be periodically adjusted by the dielectric width, but their changes are not synchronous, implying that such slit structure could be acted as a directional splitter/coupler. Moreover, the asymmetry degree of SPP excitation can also be modulated by the refractive index of dielectric layer.     

Photoinduced phase transition in VO2 nanocrystals: ultrafast control of surface-plasmon resonance

We study the ultrafast insulator-to-metal transition in nanoparticles of VO2, obtained by ion implantation and self-assembly in silica. The nonmagnetic, strongly correlated compound VO2 undergoes a reversible phase transition, which can be photoinduced on an ultrafast time scale. In the nanoparticles, prompt formation of the metallic state results in the appearance of surface-plasmon resonance. We achieve large, ultrafast enhancement of optical absorption in the near-infrared spectral region that encompasses the wavelength range for optical-fiber communications. One can further tailor the response of the nanoparticles by controlling their shape.