Atom lithography with a holographic light mask

In atom lithography with optical masks, deposition of an atomic beam on a given substrate is controlled by a standing light-wave field. The lateral intensity distribution of the light field is transferred to the substrate with nanometer scale. We have tailored a complex pattern of this intensity distribution through diffraction of a laser beam from a hologram that is stored in a photorefractive crystal. This method can be extended to superpose 1000 or more laser beams. The method is furthermore applicable during growth processes and thus allows full 3D structuring of suitable materials with periodic and non-periodic patterns at nanometer scales.     

Resolution of objects within subwavelength range by using the near field of a dipole

We analyze the far-field resolution of apertures that are illuminated by a point dipole located at subwavelength distances. It is well known that radiation emitted by a localized source can be considered a combination of traveling and evanescent waves, when represented by the angular spectrum method. The evanescent wave part of the source can be converted to propagating waves by diffraction at the aperture; thereby it contributes to the far-field detection. Therefore one can expect an increase in the resolution of objects. We present explicit calculations showing that the resolution at the far zone is improved by decreasing the source-aperture distance. We also utilize the resolution enhancement by the near field of a dipole to resolve two closely located apertures. The results show that without the near field (evanescent field) the apertures are not resolved, whereas with the near field of the dipole the far zone intensity distribution shows improved resolution. This method eliminates the requirements of near-field techniques such as controlling and scanning closely located tip detectors.     

Angular spectrum analysis of near-field diffraction of a small aperture

The near-field diffraction of a nanometer aperture is studied in this paper according to the angular spectrum theory. The mathematic expressions of the near-field diffraction are presented, and the influences of the polarization of the electromagnetic field and the evanescent wave on the diffraction in near field are analyzed by means of vector and scalar diffraction theory, respectively. The transverse and longitudinal diffraction intensity distributions of a small aperture are numerically calculated, and the results show the near-field diffraction of a small aperture is influenced strongly by the vector property of the electromagnetic field and the evanescent component.     

Fabrication of high-spatial-frequency gratings through computer-generated near-field holography

We demonstrate an innovative method for fabrication of high-spatial-frequency grating structures. This technique makes use of the near-field diffraction patterns from computer-generated phase holograms for lithographic fabrication of grating structures with periods that are one half that of the phase hologram mask. Linear, rectilinear, and circular gratings were fabricated with this technique. Experimental results from gratings with periods to 0.5 mum and feature sizes to ~0.2 mum are presented.     

Iterative retrieval of one-dimensional x ray wave field using a single intensity measurement

The problem of retrieving a complex function from the modulus of its Fourier transform has non-unique solutions in one dimension. Therefore iterative phase retrieval methods cannot in general be confidently applied to one-dimensional problems, due to the presence of ambiguities. We present a method for a posteriori reduction of the ambiguities based on the correlation analysis of the solution of a large number of runs of an iterative phase retrieval algorithm with different random starting phases. The method is applied to experimentally measured diffraction patterns from an x ray waveguide illuminated by hard x rays. We demonstrate the possibility of retrieving the complex wave field at the exit face of the waveguide and compare the result with theoretical prediction.     

Anisotropy of near-field speckle patterns

In the vicinity of a rough interface under normal illumination the speckle field has been found to be anisotropic; that is, its correlation length is much larger in the direction of polarization than in the perpendicular direction, forming stripe-shaped speckle patterns in the near-field region. Furthermore, with increasing distance from the interface, the anisotropy of the near-field speckles decays rapidly, while the speckle size increases drastically in all directions. Based on detailed analysis, it was found that the anisotropy of the near-field speckle patterns can be attributed to polarization-dependent coupling among the evanescent waves from different surface diffusers.     

Transmitted interference effect of double metallic nanoslits composed of a slit and a square-funnel slit

The transmitted interference characteristics for double metallic nanoslits, which are composed of a slit and a square funnel, are investigated by the finite-difference time-domain method. Two types of interference patterns, i.e., the periodic single peak or the periodic double peaks profile, are observed by varying the geometric parameters of the square-funnel slit. The fringe period crucially depends on the exit layer thickness of the square-funnel slit. The near-field field intensity can be enhanced three times that in symmetric slit-doublet structure by selecting specific parameters. We also find that surface plasmon waves can creep along the interface between metal and dielectric, even though the interface possesses orthogonal corners.     

基于光导微探针的近场/远场可扫描太赫兹光谱技术

太赫兹技术已经成为涉及公共安全、军事国防和国民经济等国家核心利益的前沿研究领域.以往太赫兹测量技术中通常以远场测量为主,如常用的太赫兹时域光谱仪.近年来太赫兹近场技术得到了迅猛的发展,特别是基于光导天线的探针技术的发展,为可扫描的太赫兹近场测量提供了可能.本文详细报道了我们近期在可扫描太赫兹近场光谱仪研究中的进展.采用光纤耦合的光导微探针实现了方便灵活的太赫兹近场/远场三维扫描,并同时获得振幅和相位信息.该系统将有可能广泛应用于人工微结构、石墨烯、表面等离子激元、波导传输、近场成像、生物样品检测、芯片检测等研究领域.     

Near-field scanning optical microscopy local luminescence studies of rhodamine dye

This article presents results of near-field scanning optical microscope measurement of local luminescence of rhodamine 3B intercalated in montmorillonite samples. We focus on how local topography affects both the excitation and luminescence signals and resulting optical artifacts. The Finite Difference in Time Domain method (FDTD) is used to model the electromagnetic field distribution of the full tip-sample geometry including far-field radiation. Even complex problems like localized luminescence can be simulated computationally using FDTD and these simulations can be used to separate the luminescence signal from topographic artifacts.     

阿基米德螺旋微纳结构中的表面等离激元聚焦

研究光在微纳结构中的分布与传播, 实现在纳米范围内操纵光子, 对于微型光学芯片的设计有着重要意义. 本文利用聚焦离子束刻蚀方法, 在基底为石英玻璃的150 nm厚金膜上刻制了不同参数的阿基米德螺旋微纳狭缝结构, 通过改变入射光波长、手性、及螺旋结构手性和螺距等方式, 在理论和实验上系统地研究了阿基米德螺旋微纳结构中的表面等离激元聚焦性质. 我们发现, 除了入射激光偏振态、螺旋结构手性之外, 结构螺距与表面等离激元波长的比值也可以用来控制结构表面电场分布, 进而在结构中心形成0阶、1阶乃至更高阶符合隐失贝塞尔函数的涡旋电场. 通过相位分析, 我们对涡旋电场的成因进行了解释. 并利用有限时域差分的模拟方法计算了不同螺距时, 结构中形成的电场及相应空间相位分布. 最后利用扫描近场光学显微镜, 观测结构中不同的光场分布, 在结构中心得到了亚波长的聚焦光斑及符合不同阶贝塞尔函数的涡旋形表面等离激元聚焦环.     

基于统计最优和波叠加的联合局部近场声全息

提出了一种基于统计最优近场声全息和波叠加法的联合局部近场声全息技术。首先利用两次统计最优近场声全息的声源定位结果来指导配置等效源,其后利用波叠加法进行局部声场重构。该技术适合于中低频声场的局部重建,计算快速,重建精度高;可以在测量数据有缺失的情况下重建声场。进行了脉动球声源模型的数值仿真,并在半消声室内对电机噪声源进行了实验,仿真实验都准确地重构了声源所辐射的外部声场。该技术可以重建任意类球形声源辐射的声场。      

Complex optical constants on a subwavelength scale

Optical phase contrast has for the first time been observed on a nanometer scale, with a near-field microscope of scattering type that maps the complete optical field of amplitude and phase. Backed by quasielectrostatic theory, we demonstrate the significance and experimental accessibility of even complex optical constants on a subwavelength scale. Further, our method can separate the near-field response from background artifacts and thus is expected to enable nanoscale optical mapping of even topography-rich objects such as resonant clusters and macromolecules.     

Diffraction equations for weak scattering reflective surface

In order to investigate the surface roughness dependence of speckle patterns, the complex-amplitude distribution of the speckle field should be obtained first. In previous studies, most investigators have treated this problem using the Fresnel or Fraunhofer diffraction equation. But for a weakly scattering reflective surface, when the observation plane is not parallel to the object plane, the Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction equations become inapplicable. Therefore, a reflective surface diffraction model (RSDM) is formed. When the difference between the RSDM and the transmission aperture diffraction model (TADM) is considered, then a general diffraction equation is presented. Considering the variations of the near-field approximation caused by coordinate system rotation, the near-field diffraction equation is derived. By introducing the far-field approximation, the far-field diffraction equation is obtained. The physical meanings of factors in the new equations are interpreted. Comparisons between the Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction equations and the newly derived ones show that the former are just the special cases of the latter. Finally, an application of these new diffraction equations is proposed.     

Transmissive beam steering through electrowetting microprism arrays

Reported is a numerical calculation of near-field and far-field intensities for two electrowetting microprism designs. This includes an investigation of one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and bi-prism pixellated arrays. The diffraction efficiency of an incident Gaussian beam is investigated. Far-field deflection angles are extended to more than 10°. For the phased arrays the diffraction angles are discrete and the angles between the diffraction peaks can be covered by applying a tilted phase to the input field.     

Near-field and far-field propagation of beams and pulses in dispersive media

We formulate an efficient exact method of propagating optical wave packets (and cw beams) in isotropic and nonisotropic dispersive media. The method does not make the slowly varying envelope approximation in time or space and treats dispersion and diffraction exactly to all orders, even in the near field. It can also be used to determine the partial differential wave equation for pulses (and beams) to any order as a power series in the partial derivatives with respect to time and space. The method can treat extremely focused pulses and beams, e.g., from near-field scanning optical microscopy sources whose transverse spatial extent in smaller than a wavelength.     

On-line beam diagnostics based on single-shot beam splitting phase retrieval

We propose a novel on-line beam diagnostic method based on single-shot beam splitting phase retrieval. The incident beam to be measured is diffracted into many replicas by a Dammann grating and then propagates through a weakly scattering phase plate with a known structure; the exiting beams propagate along their original direction and form an array of diffraction patterns on the detector plane. By applying the intensity of diffraction patterns into an iterative algorithm and calculating between the grating plane, weakly scattering plane, and detector plane, the complex field of the incident beam can be reconstructed rapidly; the feasibility of this method is verified experimentally with wavelengths of 1053 and 632.8 nm.     

Nonlinear optical catastrophe from a smooth initial beam

We observed an optical cusp diffraction catastrophe with an initially smooth but elongated Gaussian beam with an aspect ratio of 2:1. Nonlinear and linear diffraction regimes account for the near-field elliptical annulus and the far-field spatially complex astroid.     

Application of optical diffraction method in designing phase plates

Continuous phase plate(CPP),which has a function of beam shaping in laser systems,is one kind of important diffractive optics.Based on the Fourier transform of the Gerchberg-Saxton(G-S) algorithm for designing CPP,we proposed an optical diffraction method according to the real system conditions.A thin lens can complete the Fourier transform of the input signal and the inverse propagation of light can be implemented in a program.Using both of the two functions can realize the iteration process to calculate the near-field distribution of light and the far-field repeatedly,which is similar to the G-S algorithm.The results show that using the optical diffraction method can design a CPP for a complicated laser system,and make the CPP have abilities of beam shaping and phase compensation for the phase aberration of the system.The method can improve the adaptation of the phase plate in systems with phase aberrations.     

Communication modes in vector diffraction

The communication modes, which mathematically correspond to singular value decomposition, have proven a useful concept in optical scalar-field diffraction, with applications in resolution studies, image synthesis, and wave propagation. For optical near-field geometries the communication modes have to be extended to electromagnetic field accounting for the polarization properties. In this paper we present the vector-valued communication modes method based on the rigorous electric-field diffraction integral. As a special case the transverse-electric scalar field modes are obtained. The intensity and polarization properties of the leading electromagnetic communication modes in near-field arrangements with rectangular apertures are discussed in terms of the Stokes parameters. For small separations between the transmitting and receiving apertures the fundamental mode possesses a ring-shaped hollow structure. The polarization properties of the near-field modes show features on spatial scales smaller than the wavelength of light. The system symmetries lead to degenerate communication modes.     

Mathematical Operations of Transmissive Near Fields Controlled by Metasurface with Phase and Amplitude Modulations

Metasurfaces show great potential due to their powerful ability to manipulate electromagnetic waves as desired, which has been widely investigated in the microwave, terahertz, infrared, and visible regimes. Here, it is proposed to control near-field distributions through use of a metasurface with both amplitude and phase modulations. A C-shaped particle is designed to provide stable and continuous amplitude and phase profiles independently of transmitted waves by varying its opening and orientation angles. Benefiting from both amplitude and phase modulations on the metasurface, differentiation and integration on electric-field distributions can be achieved by changing the arrangements of complex coefficients on the metasurface. Besides, the differential operation can be utilized to show the edges of predesigned electric-field distributions. It is believed that the proposed method will accelerate the pace of metasurfaces towards many applications by engineering and operating the near-field distributions.