Pre-engineered abruptly autofocusing beams

We introduce a new family of (2+1)D light beams with pre-engineered abruptly autofocusing properties. These beams have a circularly symmetric input profile that develops outward of a dark disk and oscillates radially as a sublinear-chirp signal, creating a series of concentric intensity rings with gradually decreasing width. The light rays involved in this process form a caustic surface of revolution that bends toward the beam axis at an acceleration rate that is determined by the radial chirp itself. The collapse of the caustic on the axis leads to a large intensity buildup right before the intended focus. This ray-optics interpretation provides valuable insight into the dynamics of abruptly autofocusing waves.     

Abruptly autofocusing waves

We introduce a new class of (2+1)D spatial and (3+1)D spatiotemporal waves that tend to autofocus in an abrupt fashion. While the maximum intensity of such a radial wave remains almost constant during propagation, it suddenly increases by orders of magnitude right before its focal point. These waves can be generated through the use of radially symmetric Airy waves or by appropriately superimposing Airy wave packets. Possible applications of such abruptly focusing beams are also discussed.     

Fourier-space generation of abruptly autofocusing beams and optical bottle beams

We demonstrate analytically and experimentally that a circular abruptly autofocusing (AAF) Airy beam can be generated by Fourier-transforming an appropriately apodized Bessel beam whose radial oscillations are chirped by a cubic phase term. Depending on the relation between the chirp rate and the focal distance of the Fourier-transforming lens, it is possible to generate AAF beams with one or two foci, the latter case leading to the formation of an elegant paraboloid optical bottle.     

Three-Airy autofocusing beams

We numerically and experimentally demonstrate that a three-Airy autofocusing beam can be generated by superposing three deformed two-dimensional(2 D) Airy beams with a triangle symmetry. When the initial angle between two wings of the deformed 2 D Airy beams increases, such a three-Airy autofocusing beam exhibits that the focusing length decreases and the intensity contrast at the focal point changes. Moreover, after introducing an optical vortex phase, this three-Airy autofocusing beam displays a transverse rotation in propagation. The rotation angle is determined by the topological charge of the vortex and the initial wing angle. Our results may have some potential applications in optical manipulation.     

Observation of equipartition of seismic waves

Equipartition is a first principle in wave transport, based on the tendency of multiple scattering to homogenize phase space. We report observations of this principle for seismic waves created by earthquakes in Mexico. We find qualitative agreement with an equipartition model that accounts for mode conversions at the Earth's surface.     

Observation of ion free streaming waves

The excitation of the ion acoustic wave by free streaming ions which have been velocity modulated at the grid, is observed experimentally.     

多艾里光束合成自聚焦光束的实验实现

多光束合成和单光束聚焦一直是提高激光束功率和功率密度的两个重要方法. 结合艾里光束在自由空间中沿弯曲路径传播的特性, 从数值模拟和实验两个方面, 研究了利用多个一维艾里光束合成自由空间自聚焦光束的方法, 并对所得到的模拟和实验结果进行了对比. 采用分步束传播法, 分别模拟了由四个和八个一维艾里光束合成的自聚焦光束在自由空间中的传播过程, 给出了自聚焦光束在传播过程中横向和纵向的光强分布和变化趋势. 采用计算全息和空间光调制器技术实验, 实现了多个一维艾里光束合成的自聚焦光束. 实验中分别测量了四个和八个一维艾里光束合成的自聚焦光束的横向光强分布. 实验结果和理论结果符合得较好. 另外, 为了进一步增大自聚焦光束的功率, 可以增加参与合成的一维艾里光束的数量. 同时, 自聚焦光束的焦距可以通过调整各个一维艾里光束的相对位置进行调节.     

Precise autofocusing microscope with rapid response

The rapid on-line or off-line automated vision inspection is a critical operation in the manufacturing fields. Accordingly, this present study designs and characterizes a novel precise optics-based autofocusing microscope with a rapid response and no reduction in the focusing accuracy. In contrast to conventional optics-based autofocusing microscopes with centroid method, the proposed microscope comprises a high-speed rotating optical diffuser in which the variation of the image centroid position is reduced and consequently the focusing response is improved. The proposed microscope is characterized and verified experimentally using a laboratory-built prototype. The experimental results show that compared to conventional optics-based autofocusing microscopes, the proposed microscope achieves a more rapid response with no reduction in the focusing accuracy. Consequently, the proposed microscope represents another solution for both existing and emerging industrial applications of automated vision inspection.     

Observation of sub-Bragg diffraction of waves in crystals

We investigate the diffraction conditions and associated formation of stop gaps for waves in crystals with different Bravais lattices. We identify a prominent stop gap in high-symmetry directions that occurs at a frequency below the ubiquitous first-order Bragg condition. This sub-Bragg-diffraction condition is demonstrated by reflectance spectroscopy on two-dimensional photonic crystals with a centered rectangular lattice, revealing prominent diffraction peaks for both the sub-Bragg and first-order Bragg conditions. These results have implications for wave propagation in 2 of the 5 two-dimensional Bravais lattices and 7 out of 14 three-dimensional Bravais lattices, such as centered rectangular, triangular, hexagonal, and body-centered cubic.     

Observation of laser-pulse shortening in nonlinear plasma waves

We have measured the temporal shortening of an ultraintense laser pulse interacting with an underdense plasma. When interacting with strongly nonlinear plasma waves, the laser pulse is shortened from 38 +/- 2 fs to the 10-14 fs level, with a 20% energy efficiency. The laser ponderomotive force excites a wakefield, which, along with relativistic self-phase modulation, broadens the laser spectrum and subsequently compresses the pulse. This mechanism is confirmed by 3D particle in cell simulations.     

Observation of shock transverse waves in elastic media

We report the first experimental observation of a shock transverse wave propagating in an elastic medium. This observation was possible because the propagation medium, a soft solid, allows one to reach a very high Mach number. In this extreme configuration, the shock formation is observed over a distance of less than a few wavelengths, thanks to a prototype of an ultrafast scanner (that acquires 5000 frames per second). A comparison of these new experimental data with theoretical predictions, based on a modified Burger's equation, shows good agreement.     

一种新的自动调焦方法—离轴探测法

本文提出了的种新的自动调焦方法——离轴探测法,此法没用任何附加元件,结构简单、装调容易、线性度好、灵敏度高、调焦范围大、实用性强;介绍了此法的原理、理论计算结果及实验结果;给出了应用实例.     

Observation of rogue wave triplets in water waves

Doubly-localised breather solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) are considered to be appropriate models to describe rogue waves in water waves as well as in other nonlinear dispersive media such as fibre optics. Within the hierarchy of this type of formations, the Peregrine breather (PB) is the lowest-order rational solution. Higher-order solutions of this kind may be understood as a nonlinear superposition of fundamental Peregrine solutions. These superpositions are nontrivial and admit only a fixed well prescribed number of elementary breathers in each higher-order solution. Here, we report first observation of second-order solution which in reality is a triplet of rogue waves.     

Observation of the Talbot effect for ultrasonic waves

The diffraction of ultrasonic radiation on an amplitude diffraction grating in the near-field area (Fresnel diffraction) has been studied. The effect of self-imaging of the grating (Talbot effect) has been detected for ultrasonic radiation at distances from the grating in the range from z = 0 to z = 2L _T, where L _T is the Talbot length. The fractional Talbot effect, i.e., the ultrasonic image of the grating with the period d/2, has been observed.     

Observation of faraday waves in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Faraday waves in a cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate are created. It is shown that periodically modulating the transverse confinement, and thus the nonlinear interactions in the BEC, excites small amplitude longitudinal oscillations through a parametric resonance. It is also demonstrated that even without the presence of a continuous drive, an initial transverse breathing mode excitation of the condensate leads to spontaneous pattern formation in the longitudinal direction. Finally, the effects of strongly driving the transverse breathing mode with large amplitude are investigated. In this case, impact-oscillator behavior and intriguing nonlinear dynamics, including the gradual emergence of multiple longitudinal modes, are observed.     

Observation of slow and fast cylindrical soliton-like waves

Two types of soliton-like ion acoustic waves are observed simultaneously, one travelling initially faster and the other slower than a one-dimensional soliton.     

Observation of slow and fast cylindrical soliton-like waves

Two types of soliton-like ion acoustic waves are observed simultaneously, one travelling initially faster and the other slower than a one-dimensional soliton.     

Observation of nonconventional spin waves in composite-fermion ferromagnets

We find unexpected low energy excitations of fully spin-polarized composite-fermion ferromagnets in the fractional quantum Hall liquid, resulting from a complex interplay between a topological order manifesting through new energy levels and a magnetic order due to spin polarization. The lowest energy modes, which involve spin reversal, are remarkable in displaying unconventional negative dispersion at small momenta followed by a deep roton minimum at larger momenta. This behavior results from a nontrivial mixing of spin-wave and spin-flip modes creating a spin-flip excitonic state of composite-fermion particle-hole pairs. The striking properties of spin-flip excitons imply highly tunable mode couplings that enable fine control of topological states of itinerant two-dimensional ferromagnets.