Reversible electrochromic effect accompanying domain-inversion in LiNbO3 : Ru : Fe crystals

A reversible electrochromic effect during the electrical poling process in LiNbO3:Ru:Fe crystals at room temperature is observed. In electrode area, both electrochromism and domain-inversion occur mutually and electrochromism is reversible during back-switch poling, which are experimentally verified, and a microstructure model to explain the mechanism is proposed. In addition, different from the undoped LiNbO3 crystals, the breakdown field (> 25.0 kV/mm) is higher than the coercive (21.0 kV/mm) measured in LiNbO3:Ru:Fe, which proves a possible new technique to realize domain-inversion by constant electric field rather than pulsed one. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Ridge-shape phase distribution adjacent to 180 degrees domain wall in congruent LiNbO3 crystal

The digital holographic interferometry is used in the dynamic and static measurements of phase variation induced by domain inversion. For the first time, to the authors' knowledge, they observe the existence of ridge-shape phase distribution adjacent to 180 degrees domain wall in congruent LiNbO3 crystal. During the domain wall motion, the phase variations are not uniform but have obvious relaxations. In the static measurement, the ridge elevation can vary linearly with the uniform electric field. The reasonable assumptions are proposed to explain these effects. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Red laser-induced domain inversion in MgO-doped lithium niobate crystals

A laser beam at wavelength 647 nm is focused on a sample of 5 mol% MgO-doped lithium niobate crystal for domain inversion by a conventional external electric field. In this case, a reduction of 36% in the electric field required for domain nucleation (nucleation field) is observed. To the best of our knowledge, it is the longest wavelength reported for laser-induced domain inversion. This extends the spectrum of laser inducing, and the experimental results are helpful to understand the nucleation dynamics under laser illumination. The dependence of nucleation fields on intensities of laser beams is analysed in experiments.

Wavelength dependence of light-induced domain nucleation in MgO-doped congruent LiNbO3 crystal

Within the wavelength range from 351 to 799 nm, the different reductions of nucleation field induced by the focused continuous laser irradiation are achieved in the 5 mol % MgO-doped congruent LiNbO3 crystals. The reduction proportion increases exponentially with decreasing irradiation wavelength and decreases exponentially with increasing irradiation wavelength. At one given wavelength, the reduction proportion increases exponentially with increasing irradiation intensity. An assumption is proposed that the reduction of nucleation field is directly related to the defect structure of crystal lattice generated by the complex coaction of incident irradiation field and external electric field. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Measuring temporal fluctuation on femtosecond scale in a random medium

We report an observation of femtosecond optical fluctuations of transmitted light when a coherent femtosecond pulse propagates through a random medium. They are a result of random interference among scattered waves coming from different trajectories in the time domain. Temporal fluctuations are measured by using cross-correlated frequency optical gating. It is shown that a femtosecond pulse will be broadened and distorted in pulse shape while it is propagating in random medium. The real and imaginary components of transmitted electric field are also distorted severely. The average of the fluctuated transmission pulses yields a smooth profile, probability functions show good agreement with Gaussian distribution. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of coherence on anisotropic electromagnetic Gaussian-Schell model beams on propagation

An analytical formula for the cross-spectral density matrix of the electric field of anisotropic electromagnetic Gaussian-Schell model beams propagating in free space is derived by using a tensor method. The effects of coherence on those beams are studied. It is shown that two anisotropic stochastic electromagnetic beams that propagate from the source plane z = 0 into the half-space z > 0 may have different beam shapes (i.e., spectral density) and states of polarization in the half-space, even though they have the same beam shape and states of polarization in the source plane. This fact is due to a difference in the coherence properties of the field in the source plane. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Generation of double pulses in-line by using reflective Dammann gratings

Doubled femtosecond laser pulses in-line are needed in the collinear pump-probe technique, collinear second harmonic generation frequency-resolved optical gating (SHG FROG) and the spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER), etc. Normally, it is generated by using a Michelson's structure. In this paper, we proposed a novel structure with two-layered reflective Dammann gratings and the reflective mirrors to generate doubled femtosecond laser pulses in line without transmission optical elements. Angular dispersion and spectral spatial walk-off are both compensated. In addition, this structure can also compress the positive chirped pulse, which cannot be realized with a Michelson's structure. By adopting triangular grating and blazed gratings, the efficiency of the system would in principle be increased as the Michelson's scheme. Experiments demonstrated that this method should be an alternative approach for generation of the double compressed pulses of femtosecond laser for practical applications. (c) 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Phase mapping of domain kinetics in lithium niobate by digital holographic interferometry

The phase mapping of domain kinetics under the uniform steady-state electric field is achieved and investigated in the LiNbO3 crystals by digital holographic interferometry. We obtained the sequences of reconstructed three-dimensional and two-dimensional wave-field phase distributions during the electric poling in the congruent and near stoichiometric LiNbO3 crystals. The phase mapping of individual domain nucleation and growth in the two crystals are obtained. It is found that both longitudinal and lateral domain growths are not linear during the electric poling. The phase mapping of domain wall motions in the two crystals is also obtained. Both the phase relaxation and the pinning-depinning mechanism are observed during the domain wall motion. The residual phase distribution is observed after the high-speed domain wall motion. The corresponding analyses and discussions are proposed to explain the phenomena.

数值模拟探针诱导表面等离子体共振耦合纳米光刻

采用有损耗介质和色散介质的二维时域有限差分方法,数值模拟了以光波长514.5 nm的p偏振基模高斯光束为入射光源,激发Kretschmann型表面等离子体共振,并通过探针的局域场增强效应实现纳米光刻的新方法——探针诱导表面等离子体共振耦合纳米光刻.分别就探针与记录层的间距以及探针针尖大小,模拟分析了不同情况下探针的局域场增强效应和记录层表面的相对电场强度振幅分布.结果表明,探针工作在接触模式时,探针的局域场增强效应最明显,记录层表面的相对电场强度振幅的对比度最大;当探针针尖距记录层5 nm时,针尖下方记录层表面的相对电场强度振幅大于光刻临界值的分布宽度与针尖尺寸相近.

Transverse mode formation in longitudinally pumped miniature slab lasers

The formation of transverse modes in longitudinally pumped miniature slab lasers is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The longitudinally non-uniform gain-guiding is studied by expanding the electric field into the Hermite-Gaussian functions that satisfy boundary conditions of the resonator. Non-Gaussian transversal beam profiles in the near field are found and the beam diameter is reduced when the pump spot becomes smaller. The experimental observation agrees with the theoretical calculation.

Beam conditions for radiation generated by an electromagnetic J 0-correlated Schell-model source

Based on the 2 x 2 (electric field) cross-spectral density matrix, a model for an electromagnetic J(0)-correlated Schell-model beam is given that is a generalization of the scalar J(0)-correlated Schell-model beam. The conditions that the matrix for the source to generate an electromagnetic J(0)-correlated Schell-model beam are obtained. The condition for the source to generate a scalar J(0)-correlated Schell-model beam can be considered as a special case. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America

Nano-modification inside transparent materials by femtosecond laser single beam

Periodic nanostructures along the polarization direction of light are observed inside silica glasses and tellurium dioxide single crystal after irradiation by a focused single femtosecond laser beam. Backscattering electron images of the irradiated spot inside silica glass reveal a periodic structure of stripe-like regions of similar to 20 nm width with a low oxygen concentration. In the case of the tellurium dioxide single crystal, secondary electron images within the focal spot show the formation of a periodic structure of voids with 30 nm width. Oxygen defects in a silica glass and voids in a tellurium dioxide single crystal are aligned perpendicular to the laser polarization direction. These are the smallest nanostructures below the diffraction limit of light, which are formed inside transparent materials. The phenomenon is interpreted in terms of interference between the incident light field and the electric field of electron plasma wave generated in the bulk of material.

Structural and optical properties of nonpolar m-plane GaN and GaN-based LEDs on gamma-LiAlO2

We report the structural and optical properties of nonpolar m-plane GaN and GaN-based LEDs grown by MOCVD on a gamma-LiAlO2 (100) substrate. The TMGa, TMIn and NH3 are used as sources of Ga, In and N, respectively. The structural and surface properties of the epilayers are characterized by x-ray diffraction, polarized Raman scattering and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The films have a very smooth surface with rms roughness as low as 2nm for an area of 10 x 10 mu m(2) by AFM scan area. The XRD spectra show that the materials grown on gamma-LiAlO2 (100) have < 1 - 100 > m-plane orientation. The EL spectra of the m-plane InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells LEDs are shown. This demonstrates that our nonpolar LED structure grown on the gamma-LiAlO2 substrate is indeed free of internal electric field. The current voltage characteristics of these LEDs show the rectifying behaviour with a turn on voltage of 1-3 V.

Laser induced damage of multi-layer dielectric used in pulse compressor gratings

Laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of multi-layer dielectric used in pulse compressor gratings (PCG) was investigated. The sample was prepared by e-beam evaporation (EBE). LIDT was detected following ISO standard 11254-1.2. It was found that LIDTs of normal and 51.2 deg. incidence (transverse electric (TE) mode) were 14.14 and 9.31 J/cm2, respectively. A Nomarski microscope was employed to map the damage morphology, and it was found that the damage behavior was pit-concave-plat structure for normal incidence, while it was pit structure for 51.2 deg. incidence with TE mode. The electric field distribution was calculated to illuminate the difference of LIDT between the two incident cases.

基于Berreman矩阵的双折射薄膜光谱响应特性计算

采用Berreman特征矩阵方法，通过数值计算研究了双折射薄膜的反射、透射等光谱响应特性。依据电磁场理论的电场分量、磁场分量的界面连续条件，推导了光波在各向异性双轴薄膜中的Berreman转移矩阵，用以分析含有各向异性介质层的复杂薄膜系统的光学性质。这些矩阵递推关系包含了界面处的多点反射，适用于一般的各向异性的多层膜系统，包括入射媒质或基底为各向异性的情况。在文中给出了各向同性入射媒质双轴各向异性膜层一各向同性基底薄膜系统的计算结果，验证了该计算方法的可行性，以此作为进一步研究各向异性薄膜和相关光学薄膜器