Dispersion measurement of liquids with a fiber optic probe based on a bi-functional lensed photonic crystal fiber

We report a fiber optic probe suitable for measuring the wavelength dispersion of liquids. The measuring probe is made from an extrinsic fiber-optic cavity formed by a lensed photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and a micro-mirror. The custom-designed lensed PCF plays a dual role of collimator to help realize a long cavity length of the order of millimeters and as an efficient reflector to form the reference beam. The length of the cavity used in the experiment is about 1620 μm. In this article, we present the analytical method of obtaining dispersion of the liquid sample from the spectral interferogram of a single-arm or common path interferometer. Sodium chloride salt solutions with varied concentrations are used as an example to demonstrate the efficacy of the instrument. The index change with concentration is found to be linear at low concentrations and deviates from linearity as it approaches saturation.     

Diffraction errors in micromirror-array based wavefront generation

Using Laser-based Speckle-Interferometers, the shape of optically rough surfaces can be measured precisely and contactlessly from variable measuring distances even in regions of difficult access. This work is concerned with the integration of a micromirror array (MMA) into an electronic Speckle-Pattern-Interferometer. With the adaptive optics, it is intended to adapt the phasefront of a reference wave to critical surface areas of the measurement object. Yet, due to the topography of the MMA, diffraction effects occur which affect the phase and intensity of the generated wavefront. We demonstrate how these diffraction effects can be efficiently modelled by a Fraunhofer diffraction method. We compare the results of this model to theoretical data obtained by a numerical Fresnel diffraction model and to measurement data obtained from a measurement setup incorporating a multi mirror array.     

Sixth moment optimization of multi-channel Bragg filters

The design of multichannel optical filter is studied theoretically. New efficient two-step method based on combination of 6-th moment minimization and straightforward numerical minimization is developed. It is applied to find a fiber Bragg grating profile with minimal refractive index variation for 5 ÷ 32 channels. Obtained results are closer to the theoretical limit than previously reported.     

Electronic and optical properties of high pressure stable phases of ZnS: Comparison of FPLAPW and PW-PP results

A theoretical study of the structural phase transformation of ZnS under high pressure has been performed using first principle plane wave pseudopotential (PW-PP) and full potential linear augmented plane wave method (FPLAPW) calculation in which Zn-3d states are treated as valence states. In both methods, we have used a generalized gradiant approximation for the study of phase transformation and structural parameters. The calculated difference in lattice constants (Δα₀) by PW-PP and FPLAPW methods for zinc-blende, cinnabar and rocksalt structures is equal to 0.003, 0.01 and 0.001 Å respectively. There is a very good agreement between the results of PW-PP and FPLAPW calculations that shows soundness of our choice of pseudopotential. The calculated transition pressure for zinc-blende → rocksalt is in agreement with available measured data. We present calculations of the optical properties for three phases of ZnS. The band gap of different phases of ZnS decreases in order of zinc-blende → cinnabar → rocksalt mainly due to red shift of Zn-s states in the lowest conduction band. Besides, the optical band gap decreases from 2.84 eV (direct) to 0.188 eV (indirect). The shift of calculated complex dielectric function ε₂(ω) for zinc-blende → cinnabar → rocksalt is also discussed in details of optical transition that occurred in different phases.     

Optical and fluorescence spectroscopy of Eu2O3-doped P2O5-K2O-KF-MO-Al2O3 (M = Mg, Sr and Ba) glasses

Fluorophosphate glasses of composition, P₂O₅ + K₂O + KF + MO + Al₂O₃ + xEu₂O₃ (M = Mg, Sr and Ba; x = 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0 mol%) were prepared and characterized their optical properties. Crystal-field (CF) analysis revealed a relatively weak CF strength around Eu³⁺ ions in the Ba based fluorophosphate glasses. The Judd-Ofelt parameters have been estimated from the oscillator strengths of ⁷F₀ → ⁵D₂, ⁷F₀ → ⁵D₄ and ⁷F₀ → ⁵L₆ absorption transitions of Eu³⁺ ions and were used to evaluate the radiative properties of the ⁵D₀ → ⁷F_J (J = 0-4) transitions. Considerable variation has been observed in the relative intensity ratio of ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂ to ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₁ transitions of Eu³⁺ ions due to change in the alkaline earth metal ions. The decay of the ⁵D₀ level shows single exponential and less sensitive to Eu³⁺ ions concentration as well as MgO/SrO/BaO modifiers.     

The structural, electronic and optical properties of CdxZn1 − xSe ternary alloys

The structural, electronic, and optical properties of Cd_xZn_1 − xSe alloys are investigated using the first-principles plane-wave pseudopotential method within the LDA approximations. In particular, the lattice constant, bulk modulus, electronic band structures, density of state, and optical properties such as dielectric functions, refractive index, extinction coefficient and energy loss function are calculated and discussed. Our results agree well with the available data in the literature.     

Dual-axes differential confocal microscopy with high axial resolution and long working distance

We discover that the slight transverse offset of a point detector results in a shift of the axial intensity response curve in a dual-axes confocal microscopy (DCM). Based on this, we propose a new dual-axes differential confocal microscopy (DDCM) with high axial resolution and long working distance, in which two point detectors are placed symmetrically about the collection axis. And a signal is obtained through the differential subtraction of two signals received simultaneously by the two point detectors. Theoretical analyses and preliminary experiments indicate that DDCM is feasible and suitable for the high precision tracing measurement of microstructures and surface contours.     

Fabrication and characterization of a micro tunable cat's eye retro-reflector

In this paper, we report on a micro tunable cat's eye retro-reflector. The tunability is obtained through the use of a smart film, a polymer dispersed liquid crystal device (PDLC). The cat's eye device consists of three subassemblies, a front-side focusing unit, the smart film, and a back-side reflecting unit. The characterization of the device, considering possible fabrication inaccuracy such as misalignment, is presented. Such a device can be used in a free-space communication system, or more specifically, an optical identification system.     

Deterministic quantum dense coding with cluster state in optical systems

We propose two optical schemes for implementing the deterministic single-particle and two-particle quantum dense coding using four-qubit cluster states. In the protocols, the photon is neuter particle, so it has longer decoherence time with the environment than other particles. It is easy to implement single-bit gate using the linear optical elements under certain conditions, so the transformations performed on the photons by Alice can be easily achieved. Here the cluster states can be exactly discriminated using the parity detector, PBS and FS-PBS. In addition, the success probabilities of the dense coding are both equal to 1.     

Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-assisted Sagnac switch for designing of all-optical tri-state logic gates

Tri-state logic plays a significant role in carry free arithmetical operation. Design of all-optical scheme of three basic tri-state logical operation (NOT, AND, OR) with the help of polarization encoded semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-assisted Sagnac interferometric switch has been studied and investigated in this present paper. Numerical simulation is also presented, which verifies the theoretical results. Insertion loss, contrast ratio, extinction ratio, amplitude modulation, bit error rate and signal to noise ratio values have also been analyzed.