Intense laser beam guiding in self-induced electron cavitation channel in underdense plasmas

In underdense plasmas, the transverse ponderomotive force of an intense laser beam with Gaussian transverse profile expels electrons radially, and it can lead to an electron cavitation. An improved cavitation model with charge conservation constraint is applied to the determination of the width of the electron cavity. The envelope equation for laser spot size derived by using source-dependent expansion method is extended to including the electron cavity. The condition for self-guiding is given and illuminated by an effective potential for the laser spot size. The effects of the laser power, plasma density and energy dissipation on the self-guiding condition are discussed.

A uniform 290 nm periodic square structure on ZnO fabricated by two-beam femtosecond laser ablation

A uniform submicron periodic square structure was fabricated on the surface of ZnO by a technique of two linearly polarized femtosecond laser beams with orthogonal polarizations ablating material alternately. The formed two-dimensional ordering submicron structure consists of close-packed submicron squares with a spacial periodicity of 290 nm, which arises from the intercrossing of two orthogonal submicron ripple structures induced by the two beams respectively. The result demonstrates a noninterference effect of two-beam ablation based on the alternate technique, which should come from the polarization-dependent enhancement of the subwavelength ripple structure and the large interval of two alternate pulses. This two-beam alternate ablation technique is expected to open up prospects for the submicron fabrication of wide-bandgap materials.

Orientation-controllable self-organized microgratings induced in the bulk SrTiO3 crystal by a single femtosecond laser beam

Self-organized microgratings were induced in the bulk SrTiO3 crystal by readily scanning the laser focus in the direction perpendicular to the laser propagation axis. The groove orientations of those gratings could be controlled by changing the irradiation pulse number per unit scanning length, which could be implemented either through adjusting the scanning velocity at a fixed pulse repetition rate or through varying the pulse repetition rate at a fixed scanning velocity. This high-speed method for fabrication of microgratings will have many potential applications in the integration of micro-optical elements. The possible formation mechanism of the self-organized microgratings is also discussed. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Generation of 5 fs, 0.7 mJ pulses at 1 kHz through cascade filamentation

Two-cycle optical pulses with duration of 5 fs and energy of 0.7 mJ have been generated at 1 kHz by compressing the 38 fs laser pulses from a carrier-envelope phase (CEP) controlled Ti:sapphire laser system through a cascade filamentation compression technique. A simple and effective method is developed to suppress multiple filament formation and stabilize a single filament by inserting a soft aperture with an appropriate diameter into the driving laser beam prior to focusing, resulting in an excellent compressed beam quality. The good beam quality and potentially higher peak power make this ultrashort laser pulse source a significant tool for high-field physics applications. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Multistaged acceleration of ions by circularly polarized laser pulse: Monoenergetic ion beam generation

A multiple-staged ion acceleration mechanism in the interaction of a circularly polarized laser pulse with a solid target is studied by one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. The ions are accelerated from rest to several MeV monoenergetically at the front surface of the target. After all the plasma ions are accelerated, the acceleration process is repeated on the resulting monoenergetic ions. Under suitable conditions multiple repetitions can be realized and a high-energy quasi-monoenergetic ion beam can be obtained.

Generation of a high-quality partially coherent dark hollow beam with a multimode fiber

We report the experimental generation of a high-quality partially coherent dark hollow beam (DHB) by coupling a partially coherent beam into a multimode fiber (MMF) with a suitable incidence angle. The interference experiment of the generated partially coherent DHB passing through double slits is demonstrated. It is found that the coupling efficiency of the MMF, the quality, and the coherence of the generated partially coherent DHB are closely controlled by the coherence of the input beam. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Ultra-slow atomic beam generation by velocity selective resonance

We describe a method to generate an ultra-slow atomic beam by velocity selective resonance (VSR). A VSR experiment on a metastable helium beam in a magnetic field is presented and the results show that the transverse velocity of the defected beam can be cooled and precisely controlled to less than the recoil velocity, depending on the magnitude of the magnetic field. We extend this idea to a cold atomic cloud to produce an ultra-slow Rb-87 beam that can be used as a source of an atomic fountain clock or a space clock.

合成孔径激光成像雷达(Ⅲ):双向环路发射接收望远镜

提出了一种用于合成孔径激光成像雷达的双向环路结构的发射接收望远镜,双向环路包括发射4-f转像系统、接收4-f转像系统和独立的望远镜。发射通道中设置离焦和相位调制平板偏置,接收通道中设置离焦和相位平板偏置。控制发射离焦量,发射相位调制函数,接收离焦量,接收相位调制函数,用同一个望远镜可以同时实现空间二次项相位附加偏置的激光发射和消除目标点散射回波接收波面像差的离焦光学接收,并产生雷达运动方向上合适的和可控制的相位二次项历程,从而实现孔径合成成像。详细介绍了系统设计,给出了从发射到光电外差接收的全过程传输方程。

自由空间激光远距离传输的地面模拟研究

根据透镜的傅里叶变换性质，提出了采用光学傅里叶变换加级联光学成像放大并结合有限口径接收的方法来实现自由空间激光光束远距离传输的实验室模拟。由此原理设计了自由空间激光远距离传输模拟装置，该装置主要由大口径、长焦距的傅里叶变换平行光管和三级成像放大镜所组成，最大等效传输距离达2.4×10^5km，可用于星间激光通信终端综合通信性能的评估，在设定的误码率下测量终端可能的通信距离，或者在设定的作用通信距离下检测通信的误码率。

Relay lens-free birefringence-customized stackable beam-steering modules for optical interconnects

A previously suggested birefringence-customized modular optical interconnect technique is extended for lens-free relay operation. Various lens-free relay imaging models are developed. We claim that the lens-free relay system is important in simplifying an optical interconnect system whenever the imaging conditions permit. To verify the validity of various proposed concepts, we experimentally implemented some 8 x 8 optical permutation modules. High-power efficiency and low channel cross talk were experimentally observed. In general, the larger the channel spacing, the less the cross talk. A quantitative cross-talk measurement of the lens-free relay system shows that, for a fixed channel width of 0.5 mm and channel spacings of 0.5, 1, and 2 mm, a less than -20-dB cross-talk performance can be guaranteed for lens-free relay distances of 40, 280, and 430 mm, respectively. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.

Large-aperture automatic focimeter for the measurement of optical power and other optical characteristics of ophthalmic lenses

We propose an optical apparatus enabling the measurement of spherical power, cylindrical power, and optical center coordinates of ophthalmic lenses. The main advantage of this new focimeter is to provide a full bidimensional mapping of the characteristics of ophthalmic glasses. This is made possible thanks to the use of a large-area and high-resolution position-sensitive detector. We describe the measurement principle and present some typical mappings, particularly for progressive lenses. We then discuss the advantages in terms of speed and versatility of such a focimeter for the measurement of complex lens mappings. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.