Periodic sub-micrometric structures using a 3D laser interference pattern

A method to obtain three-dimensional sub-micrometric periodic structures is presented. The experimental set-up consists in a pulsed UV laser beam source (λ = 355 nm) coming into an interferometer in order to generate four beams converging inside a chamber. According to the directions, to the relative intensities and to the polarizations of these four beams, a 3D interference pattern can be obtained inside the overlapping volume of these four beams; the characteristics of the four laser beams have been optimized in order to obtain a maximal contrast of intensity. In order to visualize the interference pattern, its contrast and its stability at each laser pulse, a video camera coupled to an oil immersion microscope objective has been installed above the interferometer. By suppressing the central beam, it is also possible to generate a bidimensional interference pattern which defines an hexagonal structure in the (1 1 1) plane with a period of 377 nm.This optical set-up has been used to obtain 3D sub-micrometric periodic structures in negative photoresists. Experiments consist in a one- or multi-pulse irradiation of the photoresist followed by a development procedure which leads to a sub-micrometric face-centred cubic structure cut in a (1 1 1) plane with a cell parameter of 650 nm. The optimization of the experimental conditions is presented for two kinds of photoresists; the role of the substrate according to its reflectivity at the laser wavelength and its influence on the interference pattern is also discussed.     

3D laser scanner system using high dynamic range imaging

Because of its high measuring speed, moderate accuracy, low cost and robustness in the industrial field, 3D laser scanning has been widely used in a variety of applications. However, the measurement of a 3D profile of a high dynamic range (HDR) brightness surface such as a partially highlighted object or a partial specular reflection remains one of the most challenging problems. This difficulty has limited the adoption of such scanner systems. In this paper, an optical imaging system based on a high-resolution liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) device and an image sensor (CCD or CMOS) was built to adjust the image's brightness pixel by pixel as required. The radiance value of the image captured by the image sensor is constrained to lie within the dynamic range of the sensor after an adaptive algorithm of pixel mapping between the LCoS mask plane and image plane through the HDR imaging system is added. Thus, an HDR image was reconstructed by the LCoS mask and the CCD image on this system. The significant difference between the proposed system and a traditional 3D laser scanner system is that the HDR image was used to calibrate and calculate the 3D profile coordinate. Experimental results show that HDR imaging can enhance 3D laser scanner system environmental adaptability and improve the accuracy of 3D profile measurement.     

Analysis of the optical properties of Er3+-doped strontium barium niobate nanocrystals using time-resolved laser spectroscopy

This paper reports the results obtained in strontium barium niobate (SBN) nanocrystals in glasses doped with 1, 2.5 and 5 mol% of Er³⁺ ions. The melt-quenching method was applied to fabricate the glasses with composition SrO–BaO–Nb₂O₅–B₂O₃ and further thermal treatment was used to obtain glass ceramic samples from the glass precursor. X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the formation of SBN nanocrystals with an average size of about 50 nm in diameter. Time-resolved fluorescence spectra for the emission of Er³⁺ ions at 1550 nm have been analyzed in order to confirm the incorporation of the Er³⁺ ions into the nanocrystals. Green frequency upconversion emission under excitation at 975 nm coming from the ions in the nanocrystals has been obtained. This intense upconversion is about a factor of 500 higher than that obtained from the ions which reside in the glassy phase. Moreover, temporal evolution studies have been carried out with the purpose of determining the involved upconversion mechanism and the importance of these processes as a source of losses for the optical amplification at 1550 nm.     

Multi-lognormal soot particle size distribution for time-resolved laser induced incandescence in diesel engines

In-cylinder and exhaust soot particle size measurements were carried out using time-resolved laser induced incandescence and electrical mobility spectrometer techniques in a single cylinder optical diesel engine and multi-cylinder high-speed diesel engine. The temporal decay of the laser induced incandescence signal from a polydisperse nanoparticle ensemble of soot during transient diesel combustion is shown to be described by both a single-lognormal distribution as well as multi-lognormal size distribution. However, a multi-lognormal particle size distribution is introduced in the existing model for a comprehensive characterisation and realistic reconstruction of the size distribution. Detailed theoretical analysis of multi-lognormal size distribution along with its application to the experimentally measured soot particle size is validated in this work. These results were also qualitatively compared and independently verified by the experimental results obtained by the electrical mobility spectrometer and published transmission electron microscopy data. These findings reveal that the in-cylinder and the exhaust soot particle size distributions in engines are better represented by a multi-lognormal size distribution.     

Carrier-envelope phase measurement using a non phase stable laser

We demonstrate that the phase between the carrier and the pulse envelope of a few-cycle laser pulse can be retrieved from non phase stable laser systems, provided that such laser pulses are about 5 fs long and the repetition rate is in the order of 1 kHz. Our approach is based on online determination of the phase using f-2f interferometry. By a comparison of the self referencing interferometric signal with the photoelectron current emitted into a 7 degree solid angle parallel to the laser polarization, we obtain the absolute value of the carrier envelope phase. This is provided that a Coulomb correction for electron energies below 10 eV can be correctly taken into account. PACS 42.50.Hz; 42.65.Re; 32.80.Rm     

Lifetime measurements in Gd II and Gd III using time-resolved laser spectroscopy

Natural radiative lifetimes of 20 levels (energy range between 29 000-35 000 cm^-1) in Gd II and 5 levels (energy range between 43 000-49 000 cm^-1) in Gd III have been measured using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence in a laser-produced plasma. Received 17 July 2000 and Received in final form 13 October 2000     

Ultrafast structural dynamics using time-resolved x-ray diffraction driven by relativistic laser pulses

Based on a femtosecond laser plasma-induced hard x-ray source with a high laser pulse energy( 100 mJ) at 10 Hz repetition rate,we present a time-resolved x-ray diffraction system on an ultrafast time scale.The laser intensity is at relativistic regime(2 × 10~(19) W/cm~2),which is essential for effectively generating K_α source in high-Z metal material.The produced copper K_α radiation yield reaches to 2.5 × 10~8 photons/sr/shot.The multilayer mirrors are optimized for monochromatizating and two-dimensional beam shaping of K_α emission.Our experiment exhibits its ability of monitoring the transient structural changes in a thin film SrCoO_(2.5) crystal.It is demonstrated that this facility is a powerful tool to perform dynamic studies on samples and adaptable to the specific needs for different particular applications with high flexibility.     

Evaluation of absolute phase for 3D profile measurement using fringe projection

A new method of absolute phase evaluation for three-dimensional (3D) profile measurement using fringe projection is presented, which combines the gray code and the phase shift technique. Two kinds of fringe patterns are projected onto the object surface respectively, one is sinusoidal intensity distribution used for phase demodulation and the other is gray code fringe pattern for unwrapping. These images are acquired by camera and stored into computer. The absolute phase is obtained by analyzing these images. The validity of this method is verified experimentally. The method is superior to other phase unwrapping methods.     

Measurement of aerosol size distribution functions by wavelength-multiplexed laser extinction

Previous work on the measurement of aerosol size distribution functions (SDFs) by laser extinction mainly relied on light sources from a relatively narrow wavelength range. This paper investigates the potential advantages of extending the extinction method to a general wavelength-multiplexed laser extinction (WMLE) concept by incorporating an arbitrary number of laser sources from a wider wavelength range. This extension improves the sensitivity of SDF measurements over wider aerosol diameter ranges and enables a stable algorithm to invert the extinction data to obtain SDFs. These advantages are illustrated by an example WMLE scheme employing wavelengths in the spectral range from 0.25 to 10μm to measure SDFs of water aerosols. Application of this approach to other aerosol systems is also considered. The WMLE scheme was found to provide stable determination of a variety of SDFs with Sauter mean diameters ranging from sub-micron to about 10μm. The sensitivity of such determinations was evaluated to reveal the optimum applicable range of the wavelengths employed. The analyses performed here provide theoretical background and motivation for practical applications of the WMLE concept.     

Quantum distribution functions in the phase space of cylindrical coordinates

Cohen's quantum distribution function (QDF) is treated in cylindrical coordinates, and both the Wigner and Terletskii-Blokhintsev QDFs are obtained as special cases. It is shown that the Terletskii -Blokhintsev representation provides the simplest expression in the phase space of the dynamic variables      

Correspondence rules and properties of smoothed phase space distribution functions

According to the link between phase space distribution functions and correspondence rules via an arbitrary weighting function, we show that a necessary and sufficient condition for obtaining a direct correspondence between a real phase space distribution function and the density operator of a pure state imposes the weighting function to be unimodular. The same condition is also shown to a particular case of interest for deriving a general formula from which previous known results such as orthonormality of phase space eigenfunctions, non-negativity of smoothed Wigner distributions or phase space interpretation of the scalar product are recovered as special cases.     

Improved differential 3D shape retrieval

Phase unwrapping is a complex step in three-dimensional (3D) surface measurement. To simplify the computation process, Martino et al. proposed a differential algorithm. However, it will result in large error when the orthogonal fringes are not in horizontal or vertical direction. To solve this problem, the relationship between projector׳s and camera׳s coordinate systems is introduced. With the data obtained from coordinate transformation, the improved differential algorithm can be used for orthogonal fringes in any direction. Besides that, taking advantage of Fourier differentiation theorem makes operation and calculation simpler. By contrast, the results of experiments show that the proposed method is applicable to the patterns with orthogonal fringes in every direction. In addition, Fourier differentiation theorem effectively increases the speed of differential process.     

Characterization of transition shifts in perpendicular magnetic recording using 3D FEM

Transition shift can create serious timing problems for high density recording environments. However, it is possible to use techniques such as write precompensation to offset the timing error introduced if the magnitude and the behaviour of the transition shift are properly understood. This paper introduces a 3D finite element method (FEM) to analyse the transition shift in perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) quantitatively, allowing the combinational effects of the transition shifts from non-linear transition shift (NLTS), HTS, and neighbourhood-induced transition shift (NITS) to be examined. The consideration of all contributing factors to the final written transition position is important in determining the precompensation scheme of magnetic data recording, and 3D FEM can facilitate such quantitative analysis.     

Characterization of ultrasonic imaging systems using transfer functions

The transfer functions for focussed and defocussed, coherent and confocal optical imaging systems have been applied to the equivalent ultrasonic imaging systems. The transfer functions with varying degrees of defocus were calculated to show the defocus effects for ultrasonic imaging systems. Assuming that the acoustic waves are reflected perfectly on the surface of the step edge, the theoretical line-scans for small amplitude signals across a step edge, with various degrees of defocus, were generated. The first derivative of the line-scan for a step edge is shown theoretically to yield the same impulse response as that calculated using the inverse Fourier transform applied to the original transfer function. These results show how the real and imaginary parts of the transfer functions contribute to ultrasonic image formation. A method for the experimental determination of the impulse response, and the transfer functions for the characterization of an ultrasonic imaging system, such as an acoustic microscope, is provided.     

Transverse pseudo-nonlinear effects measured in solid-state laser materials using a sensitive time-resolved technique

The fluorescence of different types of planthopper (Hemiptera) and moth (Lepidoptera), which constitute important Chinese agricultural pests, was investigated both in situ in a laboratory setting and remotely using a fluorescence light detection and ranging (lidar) system operating at a range of about 50 m. The natural autofluorescence of different species, as well as the fluorescence from insects that had been dusted with fluorescent dye powder for identification were studied. Autofluorescence spectra of both moths and planthoppers show a maximum intensity peak around 450 nm. Bleaching upon long-time laser illumination was modest and did not affect the shape of the spectrum. A single dyed rice planthopper, a few mm in size, could be detected at 50 m distance by using the fluorescence lidar system. By employing various marking dyes, different types of agricultural pest could be determined. We suggest that lidar may be used in studies of migration and movement of pest insects, including studies of their behavior in the vicinity of pheromone traps and in pheromone-treated fields.     

Fokker-Planck equation,distribution and correlation functions for laser noise

As an application of a preceding paper we set up a Fokker-Planck equation with quantum mechanically defined dissipation and fluctuation coefficients for a distribution function of the atomic variables (dipole moments and level occupation numbers) as well as of the lasing light amplitude in a laser with a homogeneously broadened line. Since the nonlinear coefficients can be linearized in appropriate coordinates well below and well above threshold, the equation can be solved with the Wang-Uhlenbeck method. Then it is easy to obtain correlation functions, spectral densities and expressions for linewidth.     

高稳定的差分相位编码量子密钥分发系统

在差分法基础上提出了一种改进的差分相位编码量子密钥分发(QKD)方案.Alice采用脉冲激光光源,通过两个串联光纤延迟环产生四个均匀的相干脉冲，并对脉冲进行差分调制，补偿了传输过程中环境对偏振的扰动.Bob采用双FM干涉仪,在窄脉冲门控模式下进行单光子探测.单程传输避免了木马攻击，增强了方案的安全性.实验结果表明，系统可以长期稳定运转(大于24h)，误码率为3％.改进的系统具有高效、稳定、低成本的优点，实施方便，有很好的实用价值. 关键词： 量子保密通信 量子密钥分发 差分相位编码