Anisotropic Diffraction Research Articles

Spiraling elliptic solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media without anisotropy

The spatial optical solitons with ellipse-shaped spots have generally been considered to be a result of either linear or nonlinear anisotropy. We investigate a class of spiraling elliptic solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media without both linear and nonlinear anisotropy. The spiraling elliptic solitons carry the orbital angular momentum (OAM), which plays a key role in the formation of such solitons, and are stable for any degree of nonlocality except the local case if the response function is Gaussian. During the propagation of such solitons, the rate of decay of the OAM is extremely low. The formation of such solitons can be attributed to effective anisotropic diffraction (linear anisotropy) resulting from the OAM. Our variational analytical result is confirmed by direct numerical simulation of the nonlocal nonlinear Schr\odinger equation.

Anisotropic acousto-optic diffraction in tellurium in the presence of optical activity

The peculiarities of acousto-optic interaction in tellurium caused by its optical activity have been investigated. Due to the high optical activity, wide-angle geometry is implemented at relatively high ultrasonic frequencies, even when ultrasound is directed orthogonally to the optical axis. Theoretical data are compared with experimental results.

Shape identification of anisotropic diffraction gratings for TM-polarized electromagnetic waves

This paper concerns the shape identification problem of anisotropic periodic structures which are known as diffraction gratings. We study the so-called Factorization method as a tool for reconstructing the anisotropic periodic media from measured spectral data involving scattered electromagnetic waves in TM modes. This sampling method provides a simple criterion to compute a picture of shape of diffraction gratings in a rapid way. We propose a rigorous analysis for the method as well as numerical experiments to examine its performance.

Strain-induced reversible isotropic–anisotropic structural transition of imogolite hydrogels

Robust hydrogels have been developed by addition of imogolite, a perfect rigid polyelectrolyte with a nanotube shape, into polyacrylamide networks. It was revealed that the obtained gel exhibited the distinct isotropic–anisotropic structural transition in response to small tensile strain. The birefringence as large as about 7 × 10−5 due to the anisotropic diffraction appeared/disappeared reversibly upon stretching and releasing the gels in-between of 3 and 0 mm/mm strain.

Spectrally resolved detection of mixed acoustic vibrations by photorefractive interferometry

A two-wave mixing photorefractive interferometry method in an anisotropic diffraction scheme, intended to selectively detect an acoustic vibration component at a specific frequency of interest in the presence of strong vibrations at other frequencies, is presented and validated by simulations and experiments. The achieved narrow-band detection is of particular interest for applications where weak vibration signals generated by nonlinear acoustic effects are to be detected with high sensitivity and without cross-talk from the large vibration components from which the acoustic nonlinearity is originating.

The characteristics of elliptical optical soliton in anisotropic medium

Formation of elliptical optical soliton in rectangular lead glass is theoretically investigated, and an anisotropic diffraction effect is introduced into our theoretical model. Using the variational approach, we obtain an analytic elliptic soliton solution in a strongly nonlocal medium with anisotropy, which demonstrates that anisotropic diffraction effect has a great influence on the formation of the elliptical optical soliton. To confirm the analytic solution, we work out the numerical solution by the Newton iterative method. And the analytic solution accords with the numerical solution very well.

Optical diffractometry of highly anisotropic holographic gratings formed by liquid crystal and polymer phase separation

Optical diffractometry is proposed as a practical method of quantitatively analyzing the microscopic structural origins of a wide range of highly efficient and linearly polarized optical diffraction grating produced from holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal. The structure is organized by a spatially periodical distribution of submicrometer-scale liquid crystal (LC) droplets in a polymer matrix. Six independent Bragg diffraction spectra were obtained at two orthogonal polarization states at temperatures below, at, and above the nematic-to-isotropic phase transition point. These spectra were simultaneously analyzed by employing anisotropic diffraction theory under the restraint of a simple and widely useful structural model constructed on the basis of the previously reported microscopic observations. The refractive indices of spatially periodic LC- and polymer-rich phases were analyzed using Cauchy's equation as a function of optical wavelength. The present diffractometry was demonstrated for a variety of holographic structures, and the structural parameters were discussed such as the filling ratio of LC droplets to polymer matrix, the orientational order in the droplets, and the thermo-optic properties in the LC droplets. Furthermore, the higher order Bragg diffractions were measured and discussed. The proposed method was examined in consistency by comparisons with polarizing optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.

Optical reconfiguration by anisotropic diffraction in holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal memory

Holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (HPDLC) memory is fabricated by a photoinduced phase separation comprised of polymer and liquid crystal (LC) phases using laser light interference exposures. The anisotropic diffraction induced by the alignment of LC in the periodic structure of the HPDLC memory is applied to reconstruct the configuration contexts for the optically reconfigurable gate arrays. Optical reconfiguration for various circuits under parallel programmability is implemented by switching the polarization state of incident light on the HPDLC memory using a spatial light modulator.

Volume integral equations for scattering from anisotropic diffraction gratings

We analyze electromagnetic scattering of transverse magnetic polarized waves from a diffraction grating consisting of a periodic, anisotropic, and possibly negative index dielectric material. Such scattering problems are important for the modelization of, for example, light propagation in nano‐optical components and metamaterials. The periodic scattering problem can be reformulated as a strongly singular volume integral equation, a technique that attracts continuous interest in the engineering community but has rarely received rigorous theoretic treatment. In this paper, we prove new (generalized) Gårding inequalities in weighted and unweighted Sobolev spaces for the strongly singular integral equation. These inequalities also hold for materials for which the real part of the material parameter takes negative values inside the diffraction grating, independently of the value of the imaginary part. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Features of using multi-element converters in anisotropic acousto-optic Bragg cells

The geometry of anisotropic light diffraction in ultrasound waves excited by a multi-element converter in an optically uniaxial negative crystal of lithium niobate is analyzed. An expression for the refractive index of a diffracted wave was found on the basis of a study of the optical indicatrices of the refractive indices of ordinary and extraordinary light waves in the crystal. A method for calculating the angular frequency characteristics of anisotropic acousto-optic Bragg cells with multi-element converters is proposed.

Study on anisotropic diffraction properties of holographic dispersed liquid crystal transmission grating

In this paper, we study the anisotropic diffraction properties of transmission grating based on scaffolding morphology holographic dispersed liquid crystal. Due to the absence of liquid crystal droplet formation within the grating, a simple model is proposed and combined with the anisotropic coupled-wave theory to investigate the diffractive properties. The detailed comparison between experiment and theory indicates that the alignment of liquid crystal molecules in the LC-rich region is along the grating vector.

Anisotropic acousto-optic diffraction as a method to measure and control the angular spectrum of laser radiation

The features of the anisotropic acousto-optic Bragg diffraction in paratellurite related to the measurement and control of the angular spectrum of monochromatic optical radiation are analyzed. We consider the diffraction configuration in which a narrow angular component whose position is determined by the frequency of acoustic wave is deflected from the divergent optical beam. The angular spectrum of optical radiation can be measured using variations in the acoustic frequency. It is demonstrated that such a configuration can be used for the measurement of the angular spectrum of light and for the formation of the desired angular distribution.

Control of light polarization by acousto-optic diffraction from leaky acoustic wave in LiNbO_3

The acousto-optic control of light polarization due to diffraction by leaky acoustic waves in ZX-LiNbO₃ has been demonstrated. The randomly polarized light of 633 nm wavelength is converted by the anisotropic diffraction into two beams with mutually orthogonal polarizations, the relative intensities of which depend on the light incidence angle and acoustic frequency. Variation in acoustic frequency from 108 to 112 MHz rotates the polarization of the output optical beam by 90°. The acousto-optic control is accomplished entirely by electronic means and can be applied for implementation of fast polarization converters.

Acousto-optic interaction in crystals with large acoustic anisotropy

The Bragg diffraction of light from a sinusoidal phase grating induced in an anisotropic medium by an acoustic wave has been studied theoretically for the case of a large acoustic energy walk-off. Based on the modified coupled-wave equations, the frequency and angular characteristics of an anisotropic diffraction in a paratellurite crystal have been calculated. It is shown that the acoustic beam walk-off significantly changes the angular and frequency ranges of acousto-optic interactions.

Assessment of radiation damage behaviour in a large collection of empirically optimized datasets highlights the importance of unmeasured complicating effects.

The radiation damage behaviour in 43 datasets of 34 different proteins collected over a year was examined, in order to gauge the reliability of decay metrics in practical situations, and to assess how these datasets, optimized only empirically for decay, would have benefited from the precise and automatic prediction of decay now possible with the programs RADDOSE [Murray, Garman & Ravelli (2004). J. Appl. Cryst. 37, 513-522] and BEST [Bourenkov & Popov (2010). Acta Cryst. D66, 409-419]. The results indicate that in routine practice the diffraction experiment is not yet characterized well enough to support such precise predictions, as these depend fundamentally on three interrelated variables which cannot yet be determined robustly and practically: the flux density distribution of the beam; the exact crystal volume; the sensitivity of the crystal to dose. The former two are not satisfactorily approximated from typical beamline information such as nominal beam size and transmission, or two-dimensional images of the beam and crystal; the discrepancies are particularly marked when using microfocus beams (<20 µm). Empirically monitoring decay with the dataset scaling B factor (Bourenkov & Popov, 2010) appears more robust but is complicated by anisotropic and/or low-resolution diffraction. These observations serve to delineate the challenges, scientific and logistic, that remain to be addressed if tools for managing radiation damage in practical data collection are to be conveniently robust enough to be useful in real time.

Heterogeneity and Disorder in Ti1−xFeyO2−d Nanocrystal Rutile-Based Flowerlike Aggregates: Detection of Anatase

Here we report results of systematic investigation of heterogeneity and disorder in Ti1−xFeyO2−d nanorod rutile-based flowerlike aggregates. It was found that Ti1−xFeyO2−d aggregates are composed of two crystalline phases: rutile as a dominant and anatase as a minor phase. Flowerlike aggregates were found to grow from an isometric core ca. 5−10 nm in diameter that was built from anatase and rutile nanorods ca. 5 × 100 nm that were grown on the anatase surface having base plane (001) intergrowth with an anatase plane. The direction of rutile nanorods growth, i.e., direction of the nanorod elongation, was [001]. Highly nonisometric rutile crystals produce anisotropic X-ray powder diffraction line broadening and doubling of vibrational bands in Raman spectra. Both these techniques confirmed nonisometric character of rutile crystals and gave a quantitative measure of crystal shape anisotropy in excellent agreement with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements. In addition, from the atomic...

Effects of anisotropic diffractions on holographic polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal gratings

Volume gratings fabricated by interferometric exposure using composite materials composed of nematic liquid crystals (LC) and LC diacrylate monomers are discussed in the effects of diffraction properties on different grating formations, such as varying LC content ratios, film thicknesses, and the surface conditions composed of alignment layers and rubbing directions. Diffraction properties are experimentally investigated in the viewpoints of anisotropic diffraction and LC orientation. The polarization-azimuth dependence of diffraction efficiencies as functions of the incident polarization states shows the controllability of anisotropic diffractions based on the effects of different surface conditions.

Bragg diffraction of light by ultrasonic shear waves in a plane-parallel layer

We have studied anisotropic Bragg diffraction of light by ultrasonic shear waves in an optically isotropic plane-parallel layer. We have established the analytical dependences of the relative intensities and polarization azimuths of reflected and transmitted diffracted waves on the intensity of the ultrasound, the layer thickness, the angle of incidence, and the polarization azimuth of the incident light. We show that rotation of the plane of polarization of the diffracted wave is determined by the different Fresnel reflection of the s and p polarized components of the incident light in the plane-parallel layer. We have determined that in mismatched acousto-optic structures, deep amplitude modulation of transmitted and reflected light is possible which is an order of magnitude greater than the usual modulation in matched structures.

Crystallization of an apo form of human arginase: using all the tools in the toolbox simultaneously.

Arginase (EC 3.5.3.1) is an aminohydrolase that acts on L-arginine to produce urea and ornithine. Two isotypes of the enzyme are found in humans. Type I is predominantly produced in the liver and is a homotrimer of 35 kDa subunits. Human arginase (hArginase) I is seen to be up-regulated in many diseases and is a potential therapeutic target for many diverse indications. Previous reports of crystallization and structure determination of hArginase have always included inhibitors of the enzyme: here, the first case of a true apo crystal form of the enzyme which is suitable for small-molecule soaking is reported. The crystals belonged to space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) and have approximate unit-cell parameters a=53, b=67.5, c=250 Å. The crystals showed slightly anisotropic diffraction to beyond 2.0 Å resolution.

On the interpretation of time-resolved anisotropic diffraction patterns

In this paper, we review existing systematic treatments for the interpretation of anisotropic diffraction patterns from partially aligned symmetric top molecules. Such patterns arise in the context of time-resolved diffraction experiments. We calculate diffraction patterns for ground-state NaI excited with an ultraviolet laser. The results are interpreted with the help of a qualitative analytic model, and general recommendations on the analysis and interpretation of anisotropic diffraction patterns are given.