High-sensitivity moire flaw detection for comparison of periodic composite structures

For the moire visualization of macroscopic defects in composite periodic structures by comparing a structure under study with the reference, it is proposed that rerecorded moire patterns from each of the substructures be used as reference ones. The use of the rerecorded moire patterns obtained by filtering complex conjugate orders of diffraction improves the sensitivity of the method.     

Detection of macrodefects in spatially periodic structures using a two-mirror interferometer

A scheme for a two-mirror interferometer intended to detect macrodefects in spatially periodic structures is proposed. This scheme is shown to provide both double-beam interferograms and shear interferograms that visualize the behaviors of the function reflecting a macrodefect in the structure and of the derivative of this function.     

Specific features of light propagation in periodic structures with natural and electric-field-induced anisotropy

It is shown that the presence of natural and electric-field-induced anisotropy gives rise to doubling of the number of photonic bandgaps in a layered periodic structure and to their shift, with its value depending significantly on the applied electric field. The possibility of development of compact (several micrometers thick) electric-field-controlled polarization devices and half-wave elements on the basis of anisotropic periodic structures containing cubic centrosymmetric media with high electro-optic efficiency is shown. A method for determination of the photonic-band-gap boundaries of confined superlattices on the basis of precision polarization measurements is proposed.     

Enhancement of measurement sensitivity in determination of changes in the shape of a wavefront by holographic lateral-shearing interferometry

A method for increasing measurement sensitivity in the visualization of dynamics of changes in wavefront shape with the use of holographic lateral-shearing interferometry is considered. At the first stage of this method, a photograph of a reference shear interferogram obtained with tuning to closely spaced fringes is recorded under linear conditions. After chemical treatment, the photograph of the reference shear interferogram is installed in exactly its initial position. At the second stage, a series of photographs of lateral-shear interferograms of the wavefront under study is recorded under nonlinear conditions using the photograph of the reference interferogram. The photographs of the lateral-shear interferograms are optically processed by two coherent beams with selection of the highest diffraction orders, which makes it possible to visualize the dynamic component of the wavefront deformation with an increase in the measurement sensitivity (the static component is excluded in this case). The effect of the degree of nonlinearity of photograph recording on the range in which the measurement sensitivity can be controlled during the optical processing of a pair of matched photographs or one double-exposure photograph of interferograms recorded at different values of a lateral shift is analyzed.     

Extension of the controlled sensitivity range in holographic interferometry with a lateral shear

The possibility of controlling the measurement sensitivity in shearing interferometry with a small lateral shear is considered. A method based on recording several holographic interferograms with different magnitudes of lateral shear and with different carrier frequencies of holographic fringes during a single exposure is proposed. The measurement sensitivity of the interference patterns is controlled at the stage of optical processing of the combined holographic interferograms with lateral shear, when the interferograms are illuminated by two coherent light beams and the filtering of the corresponding diffraction orders is performed. The results of the experimental testing of the proposed method by using it for the visualization of the melting zones of planar polymethylmethacrylate samples under heat treatment are presented.     

Extraction of difference of two images using periodic carrier modulation

The optical method of extraction of difference between transparencies using periodic carrier modulation was first proposed and successfully demonstrated by Pennington. His method was based on the modulation of each of the image transparencies by the same grating with the difference that one modulating carrier was shifted by half-period with respect to the other. In order to ensure extraction of difference signal from unwanted sum signal, the modulating carrier frequency must be too low. This poses a serious problem because shifting a high frequency grating exactly by a half-period is not an easy task. In order to surmount this difficulty Belvaux and Lowenthal proposed that instead of using a grating, the images transparencies can be modulated by fringes obtained in a Wollaston prism. It is well-known that these fringes can be shifted by a half-period by rotating an analyzer at the output side by 90°. The optical methods of subtraction of images suffer from the disadvantage that the photographic record has to be developed and fixed by wet processes. The processed record is then Fourier transformed and suitably filtered to extract the difference signal. In the present paper we have carried out extraction of difference of two images using the principle of periodic carrier modulation by carrying out spatial frequency filtering of the total irradiance distribution numerically. Some of the results of subtraction are presented.     

Image differentiation with the aid of a phase knife

A scheme for optical differentiation of images based on spatial filtering is proposed. A phase knife—a glass plate consisting of two halves, whose thicknesses are chosen so that the optical path difference between the light waves passed through them makes up half the wavelength—serves as a filter. The linearity of the transformation and the sensitivity of the system to noise are investigated theoretically. The scheme was experimentally implemented on the basis of a liquid-crystal light valve. The experimental results confirm that such a setup can be efficiently used for processing images with a narrow-band spatial spectrum and for visualization of phase objects.     

On the possibility of optical measurement of strains by persistent spectral hole burning in an opaque sample

A method proposed for persistent spectral hole burning makes it possible to store (“photograph”) the field structure of dynamic and static strains and to choose an appropriate point of measurement in the bulk of a sample. Another intriguing possibility consists in measuring strains in a material opaque to light. To do this, optical fibers (light guides) should be embedded in the sample and activated by impurities sensitive to hole burning, i.e., having good zero-phonon lines in their spectra.     

Recording and optical processing of images of projected fringes in the study of objects with a periodic surface texture

Specific features of application of the fringe projection method to the study of objects with a periodic surface texture are analyzed. It is shown that a moire pattern is formed in the image recording process. It is caused by the superposition of two periodic structures, namely, the image of the texture of the surface under study and the system of projected fringes. The bending of moire fringes in the pattern is determined by the summary effect of two functions, which describe the bending of the images of surface texture and the system of projected fringes, because of the deviation of the relief shape from the comparison plane. A method for the optical processing of a photographic image by two coherent light beams is described, which makes possible a separate interferometric visualization of the aforementioned functions. Results of experimental studies are presented.     

THE CHARACTERISTIC RECEPTANCE METHOD FOR DAMAGE DETECTION IN LARGE MONO-COUPLED PERIODIC STRUCTURES

An approach based on the concept of wave propagation to detect the structural damage in large mono-coupled periodic structures is presented in this paper. The free vibration analysis of a finite mono-coupled periodic structure with a single disorder has been conducted by the characteristic receptance method, and the sensitivity of the natural frequencies to the disorder in flexibility has been discussed. Based on the sensitivity analysis, the locations and magnitude of damage in large mono-coupled periodic systems have been estimated using measured changes in the natural frequencies. The paper also introduces a substructure-based method for improving the computational efficiency and the accuracy of damage detection in large mono-coupled periodic structures. Numerical results from two periodic mass-spring-structures show that the proposed method can provide good predictions of both the locations and magnitude of damage at one or more sites. Furthermore, the proposed method, in which a priori information about the nature such as stiffness of the undamaged structure is not needed, and only measurements of the change in a few of the structure's natural frequencies between the undamaged and damaged states are required, is particularly attractive in practice. However, some issues such as the role of noise in actual measurements, application to multi-coupled periodic structures with complex boundary conditions remain to be resolved before this approach becomes a truly variable method of structural damage assessment.     

Functional imprinting structures on GaN-based light-emitting diodes for light pattern modulation and light extraction efficiency enhancement

In this study, we demonstrated a simple method that can be used to simultaneously modulate the far field pattern and enhance the light extraction of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In this method, microstructures were imprinted on a reliable spin-on-glass surface on top of a transparent conductive layer. The far-field pattern was modulated using microoptical structures, and at the same time, the light extraction was enhanced owing to the small refractive index difference and surface roughness. There was no decrease in the electrical performance of these devices. The peak intensity shifted from 0 to 22° in one-dimensional (1D) asymmetrically blazed periodic structures, and a flattened distribution with a uniform intensity within a span of 110° was observed in two-dimensional (2D) symmetrically periodic structures. This method achieved 13 and 40% light enhancements for 1D and 2D structures, respectively.     

Phase and group synchronization in second-harmonic generation of ultrashort light pulses in one-dimensional photonic crystals

It is shown, on the basis of an analysis of the dispersion relation for an infinite one-dimensional periodic multilayer structure and direct numerical integration of Maxwell’s equations by the finite-difference method, that structures with photonic band gaps (PBGs) make it possible to provide simultaneously conditions for phase and group synchronizations for second-harmonic generation with participation of extremely short light pulses. The phase and group detunings, which arise as a result of the dispersion of the nonlinear medium, are compensated by the dispersion of the PBG structure. The use of this regime of nonlinearly optical interactions opens up the possibility of attaining high frequency conversion efficiencies irrespective of the synchronization length in the interior volume of a nonlinear material.     

Spectral-morphological analysis of acoustical images of biological tissues and composite structures: I. Statistical approach

The problem of classifying images of different biological tissues and composite structures is solved using the spectral and morphological analysis based on the Bayesian method for statistical hypothesis verification. The basis functions are constructed from a learning set. The spectral approach and its particular realizations in the form of Bartlett’s and Pisarenko’s methods adapted to the problem are considered. An extension of the spectral approach to the more general spectral-morphological classification is proposed. The latter takes into account the spatial-spectrum features of the structure types to be classified, as well as their morphological features, which manifest themselves in a correlation between the expansion coefficients. The characteristic properties of the spectral and spectral-morphological approaches are discussed using numerical classification examples. The method is generalized to the classification of multiparameter images of structures, which may be represented, for example, by the distributions of the sound velocity, density, absorption, and values of the nonlinear parameter.     

Interference comparative analysis of the shape of wavefronts of incoherent light beams

A technique of interference comparative analysis of the shape of wavefronts that can be applied to incoherent light beams is proposed. The difference in the shape of the wavefronts of the incoherent light beams under study is visualized by using the moire pattern appearing upon superposition in real time of the lateralshear interferograms or their photographs. The possibility of producing the interference pattern that visualizes the difference in the shape of the wavefronts of incoherent beams with an enhanced measurement sensitivity is shown. The results of experimental testing of this technique in visualization of the difference between the shapes of the wavefronts of two light beams emitted by different lasers are presented.     

Brillouin zone spectroscopy of nonlinear photonic lattices

We present a novel, real-time, experimental technique for linear and nonlinear Brillouin zone spectroscopy of photonic lattices. The method relies on excitation with random-phase waves and far-field visualization of the spatial spectrum of the light exiting the lattice. Our technique facilitates mapping the borders of the extended Brillouin zones and the areas of normal and anomalous dispersion within each zone. For photonic lattices with defects (e.g., photonic crystal fibers), our technique enables far-field visualization of the defect mode overlaid on the extended Brillouin zone structure of the lattice. The technique is general and can be used for photonic crystal fibers as well as for periodic structures in areas beyond optics.     

Efficient Computational Schemes of the Conjugate Gradient Method for Solving Linear Systems

The technique of the initial guess calculation for the conjugate gradient method is proposed. Computational schemes of the linear system solution with symmetrical positive definite matrices are constructed on its basis. Their efficient modifications for systems with five-diagonal matrices are proposed. The investigation of the developed methods using the problem of two-dimensional numerical simulation of bipolar transistors has been carried out. Experimental evidence of the proposed method's efficiency has been obtained.     

Magnetooptical method of investigation of the magnetic inhomogeneity of easy-plane antiferromagnets with a weak ferromagnetism

A method for determining the spatial orientation of the local vector of spontaneous magnetization in low-symmetry magnets with the easy-plane anisotropy is described that is based on the combination of magnetooptical visualization and computer processing of the observed images of magnetic inhomogeneity of the medium. The possibility of using this method to determine the structure of weak ferromagnets in both the ground state and modulated magnetic phase is illustrated on the example of the rhombohedral FeBO₃:Mg crystal.     

Multistage morphological segmentation of bright-field and fluorescent microscopy images

This paper describes the multistage morphological segmentation method (MSMA) for microscopic cell images. The proposed method enables us to study the cell behaviour by using a sequence of two types of microscopic images: bright field images and/or fluorescent images. The proposed method is based on two types of information: the cell texture coming from the bright field images and intensity of light emission, done by fluorescent markers. The method is dedicated to the image sequences segmentation and it is based on mathematical morphology methods supported by other image processing techniques. The method allows for detecting cells in image independently from a degree of their flattening and from presenting structures which produce the texture. It makes use of some synergic information from the fluorescent light emission image as the support information. The MSMA method has been applied to images acquired during the experiments on neural stem cells as well as to artificial images. In order to validate the method, two types of errors have been considered: the error of cell area detection and the error of cell position using artificial images as the “gold standard”.     

Influence of the periodic motion of a monochromatic light source on the spectrum of its radiation

The influence of the periodic motion of a monochromatic light source on the observed spectrum of its radiation in the far-field and near-field zones is considered. The appearance of components shifted in frequency (harmonics of the oscillation frequency of the source) is demonstrated. The spatial structure of harmonics is investigated, and the presence of optical vortices in these harmonics is shown.