Algebraic and geometric space-time analogies in nonlinear optical pulse propagation

We extend recently developed algebraic space-time analogies for the dispersive and nonlinear propagation of optical breathers. Geometrical arguments can explain the similarity of evolutionary behavior between spatial and temporal phenomena even when strict algebraic translation of solutions may not be possible. This explanation offers a new set of tools for understanding and predicting the evolutionary structure of self-consistent Gaussian breathers in nonlinear optical fibers.     

Bragg amplification and oscillation in periodic optical media

The presence of gain in a periodic optical medium causes a fundamental change of the propagation behavior near the Bragg regime. The usual evanescent decay turns into exponential amplification. Some implications of this behavior are discussed.     

Loss analysis of air-core photonic crystal fibers

By using a multipole moment approach, we analyze the loss of an air-core photonic crystal fiber and demonstrate that it is possible reduce the transmission loss that is due to photon radiation leakage through the photonic crystal cladding to a level below 0.01 dB/km, with eight rings of air holes. An analogy is drawn between air-core photonic crystal fiber modes and Bragg fiber modes. The influence of material absorption in the silica glass is discussed.     

Classical many-body model for heavy-ion collisions (II)

A four-parameter classical many-body model, specifically designed for heavy-ion collisions, is presented. Binding energies and densities of infinite and finite nuclei (N = Z) are satisfactorily reproduced. So also is the viscosity moment of the two-body scattering cross section at lab energies between 100 and 300 MeV.     

Adiabatic coupling between conventional dielectric waveguides and waveguides with discrete translational symmetry

We study adiabatic transformation in optical waveguides with discrete translational symmetry. We calculate the reflection and transmission coefficient for a structure consisting of a slab waveguide that is adiabatically transformed into a photonic crystal waveguide and then back into a slab waveguide. The calculation yields high transmission over a wide frequency range of the photonic crystal waveguide band and indicates efficient coupling between the slab waveguide and the photonic crystal waveguide. Other applications of adiabatic mode transformation in photonic crystal waveguides and the coupled-resonator optical waveguides are also discussed.     

Loop dynamics in DNA denaturation

The dynamics of a loop in DNA molecules at the denaturation transition is studied by scaling arguments and numerical simulations. The autocorrelation function of the state of complementary bases (either closed or open) is calculated. The long-time decay of the autocorrelation function is expressed in terms of the loop exponent c both for homopolymers and heteropolymers. This suggests an experimental method for measuring the exponent c using florescence correlation spectroscopy.     

Thermal treatment of organoclays: Effect on the aqueous sorption of nitrobenzene on n-hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium montmorillonite

The aim of this work was to examine the effect of thermal treatment on organoclay sorptive properties. Aqueous sorption of nitrobenzene used as a probe compound was studied on Na-montmorillonite and two types of HDTMA-montmorillonite (where HDTMA is n-hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium exchanged by 41 and 90% of the clay cation exchange capacity) heated in air at 150, 250, 360 and 420 °C. Mild heating of sorbents (at 150 °C) results in a distinct increase of their sorptive efficacy. Treatment of organoclays at higher temperatures (250 and 360 °C) results in the significant sorbent changes as revealed by a C loss, decrease of a basal spacing and disappearance of symmetric and asymmetric stretching vibrations of CH₂ but has a little impact on the sorptive efficacy (as compared with organoclays treated at 150 °C). Hence, even a significant carbon loss in thermally treated organoclays should not be necessarily linked to the loss of their sorptive potential. Further increase of the treatment temperature results in a decrease of a sorptive efficacy of all sorbents. Mild heating of organoclays in air could be useful for improving their sorptive potential. This improvement is assumed to result from the weakening of water-sorbate competition for sorption sites on a mildly heated sorbent.     

Modeling the evolution of spatial beam parameters in parabolic index fibers

We analyze the evolution of beam quality when propagating through a parabolic index (PI) fiber. The deterioration in beam quality is expressed in terms of the fiber parameters, and a methodology for minimizing the deterioration is presented. The fiber optimization procedure is evaluated numerically for an application where the PI fiber is used to deliver the signal produced by a tapered fiber-bundle beam combiner. It was demonstrated that delivery with no beam quality deterioration can be achieved with proper fiber design.     

"Ideal" optical delay lines based on tailored-coupling and reflecting, coupled-resonator optical waveguides

We present a design of "ideal" optical delay lines (i.e., constant amplitude and constant group delay over the desired bandwidth). They are based on reflection from coupled-resonator optical waveguides (CROWs). The inter-resonator coupling coefficients are tailored and decrease monotonically with the distance from the input to realize all-pass Bessel filters. The tailored coupling coefficients result in a frequency-dependent propagating distance which compensates for the group velocity dispersion of CROWs. We present a simple formalism for deriving the time-domain coupling coefficients and convert these coefficients to field coupling coefficients of ring resonators. The reflecting CROWs possess a delay-bandwidth product of 0.5 per resonator, larger than that of any kind of transmitting CROW. In the presence of uniform gain, the gain enhanced by slow light propagation and the constant group delay result in efficient and dispersion-free amplifiers.