Abstract
The thermal lens formed in a thermo-optical material as a result of its inhomogeneous heating, is a well-known phenomenon that has found widespread interest in the last decades, especially in the field of laser engineering and photo-thermal spectroscopy. In recent years, growing interest in the application of thermal lensing in different fields of optics and material studies has been observed. This review summarizes the latest efforts made by the scientific community to develop ways of using the phenomenon of thermal lensing. Its applications in spectroscopy, in laser beam formation and in imaging are described. The advantages and disadvantages of the thermal lensing in regard to these areas along with the potential future applications of the phenomenon are discussed.
Highlights
The relation between the temperature distribution and deformation of what we see must have been recognized by our predecessors at the very early stage of the human race evolution
These unique features of the thermal lens microscope (TLM) resulted in the intense development of this technique, that led to patent applications by Kitamori et al [64, 65], including one for a circular dichroism (CD) TLM [66]
It consisted of typical components of a TLM: the function generator that provides the signal to the acousto-optic modulator that modulates the heating laser beam (HL) beam; the microscope objective that focuses the HL beam at the sample; the same objective collects the probe beam light reflected/scattered from the sample; the avalanche photodiode that detects the small reflected/scattered signal; the lock-in-amplifier that denoises the collected signal using as the reference the modulation signal from the function generator
Summary
The relation between the temperature distribution and deformation of what we see must have been recognized by our predecessors at the very early stage of the human race evolution. Similar distortions of the optical image seen through the walls of glass containers filled with water heated from the bottom led to the natural conclusion that the water refractive index n depends on temperature as well, and led to the first thorough thermo-optical (TO) studies of n(T) of water and other liquids [2, 3]. The first observations of thermal lensing were made in the resonators of the just discovered lasers [10,11,12]. As the operation of lasers has been found strongly affected by thermal lensing, these initial studies were quickly followed [15] by many years of investigation, summarized already in many books and reviews
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
