Complex Electric Field Research Articles

Nanostrip-Induced High Tunability Multipolar Fano Resonances in a Au Ring-Strip Nanosystem.

Surface plasmon resonances of a Au ring-strip nanosystem with tunable multipolar Fano resonances have been investigated based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Abundant plasmon properties of a Au ring-strip nanosystem can be obtained on the basis of the unique electronic properties of different geometry parameters. In our research models, these multipolar Fano resonances are induced and can be tuned independently by changing the geometry parameters of the Au ring-strip nanosystem. Complex electric field distributions excited by the Au ring-strip nanosystem provide possibility to form dark plasmonic modes. Multipolar Fano resonances display strong light extinction in the Au ring-strip nanosystem, which can offer a new approach for an optical tunable filter, optical switching, and advanced biosensing.

Numerical Study of Particle-Fluid Flow Under AC Electrokinetics in Electrode-Multilayered Microfluidic Device.

A particle-fluid flow under alternating current (ac) electrokinetics was numerically simulated to investigate the three-dimensional (3-D) particle motion in a complex electric field of a high conductivity medium generated by an electrode-multilayered microfluidic device. The simulation model coupling thermal-fluid-electrical and dispersed particle problems incorporates three ac electrokinetics (ACEK) phenomena, namely, the ac electrothermal effect (ACET), thermal buoyancy (TB), and dielectrophoresis (DEP). The electrode-multilayered microfluidic device was fabricated with 40 electrodes exposed at the flow channel sidewalls in five cross sections. The governing equations of the simulation model are solved by the Eulerian-Lagrangian method with finite volume discretization. Fluid flow simulations in three cases with or without consideration of ACET and TB are performed to clarify the contributions of these phenomena. The fluid flow is found to be composed of short-range vortices due to ACET and long-range circulation due to TB based on the features of the electrode-multilayered microfluidic device. The 3-D particle trajectory influenced by the fluid flow is compared with four values of the real part of the Clausius-Mossotti (CM) factor to evaluate the DEP phenomenon. The simulation model is validated by experiments using a cell suspension. The pattern of cell trajectories in the upper part of the flow channel measured by particle tracking velocimetry agrees with the simulated pattern. By comparison of the simulation and experiment, it is found that the cells moving straight away from the electrode on the focal plane are decelerated within the region of 60μm from the electrode by positive-DEP with [Formula: see text]. Furthermore, the 3-D DEP-effective region and the ACET and TB dominant regions for the cells are predicted by evaluating the particle-fluid relative velocity due to DEP force with [Formula: see text]. Consequently, the flow mechanism and dominant region of each ACEK phenomenon in the device are clarified from the 3-D simulation validated by the experiments.

Experimental validation of joint phase and amplitude wave-front sensing with coronagraphic phase diversity for high-contrast imaging

Context. The next generation of space-borne instruments dedicated to the direct detection of exoplanets requires unprecedented levels of wavefront control precision. Coronagraphic wavefront sensing techniques for these instruments must measure both the phase and amplitude of the optical aberrations using the scientific camera as a wavefront sensor. Aims. In this paper, we develop an extension of coronagraphic phase diversity to the estimation of the complex electric field, that is, the joint estimation of phase and amplitude. Methods. We introduced the formalism for complex coronagraphic phase diversity. We have demonstrated experimentally on the Très Haute Dynamique testbed at the Observatoire de Paris that it is possible to reconstruct phase and amplitude aberrations with a subnanometric precision using coronagraphic phase diversity. Finally, we have performed the first comparison between the complex wavefront estimated using coronagraphic phase diversity (which relies on time-modulation of the speckle pattern) and the one reconstructed by the self-coherent camera (which relies on the spatial modulation of the speckle pattern). Results. We demonstrate that coronagraphic phase diversity retrieves complex wavefront with subnanometric precision with a good agreement with the reconstruction performed using the self-coherent camera. Conclusions. This result paves the way to coronagraphic phase diversity as a coronagraphic wave-front sensor candidate for very high contrast space missions.

Dual Doppler Effect in Wedge-Type Photonic Crystals

The dual Doppler effect, in the simultaneous occurrence of both normal and inverse Doppler effect in one moving two-dimensional wedge-type photonic crystal, is proposed. An improved finite-different time-domain algorithm is used to verify this phenomenon. The spatial Fourier Transformation has been applied to complex electrical field data to reveal the mechanism. The harmonics with negative spatial frequencies show a lagging phase evolution, while those with positive spatial frequencies show a front phase evolution. Different wedge-type photonic crystals are designed to filter out the required harmonics based on the systematic study of spatial Fourier Transformation and wave vector diagram. Our work paves a new way for Doppler cooling of atomic gases, radar deception, invisibility cloaks, microstructure dual frequency interferometer and so on.

Study on the RF inductively coupled plasma spheroidization of refractory W and W-Ta alloy powders

Spherical powders with good flowability and high stacking density are mandatory for powder bed additive manufacturing. Nevertheless, the preparation of spherical refractory tungsten and tungsten alloy powders is a formidable task. In this paper, spherical refractory metal powders processed by high-energy stir ball milling and RF inductively coupled plasma were investigated. By utilizing the technical route, pure spherical tungsten powders were prepared successfully, the flowability increased from 10.7 s/50 g to 5.5 s/50 g and apparent density increased from 6.916 g cm−3 to 11.041 g cm−3. Alloying element tantalum can reduce the tendency to micro-crack during tungsten laser melting and rapid solidification process. Spherical W-6Ta (%wt) powders were prepared in this way, homogeneous dispersion of tantalum in a tungsten matrix occurred but a small amount of flake-like shape particles appeared after high-energy stir ball milling. The flake-like shape particles can hardly be spheroidized in subsequent RF inductively coupled plasma process, might result from the unique suspended state of flaky particles under complex electric and magnetic fields as well as plasma-particle heat exchange was different under various turbulence models. As a result, the flake-like shape particles cannot pass through the high-temperature area of thermal plasma torch and cannot be spheroidized properly.

Third-harmonic interferometric frequency-resolved optical gating

The ability to generate third-harmonic light with a broad phase-matching bandwidth at any dielectric interface offers a promising tool for the characterization of ultrafast laser pulses. Third-harmonic, interferometric frequency-resolved optical gating (TH-iFROG) exploits this nonlinearity. The TH-iFROG traces contain an abundance of information, but their complicated analytical form poses a problem for standard FROG algorithms. Here we solve the pulse retrieval problem with an evolutionary algorithm known as differential evolution. The algorithm processes a TH-iFROG trace, extracting three novel types of FROG traces that are subsequently used for pulse retrieval. The analytical forms of these FROG traces are also presented. Built-in error correction mechanisms and the large amount of redundant data make the pulse retrieval robust against measurement noise and systematic errors. The technique is demonstrated via the characterization of unamplified few-cycle pulses using a simple fused silica window as the nonlinear medium. Comparison to a reference measurement made with a commercial pulse characterization device shows excellent agreement between the measured complex electric fields.

Real-Time Experimental Measurement of Swept Source VCSEL Properties Relevant to OCT Imaging

A real-time study of the dynamic properties of a frequency swept vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is presented. Such tunable laser sources have previously been shown to provide long coherence lengths and improved performance in metrology and imaging applications. Single-shot interferometric reconstruction of both the phase and intensity of the swept source allows for experimental measurement of the full complex electric field over multiple sweep periods. Access to the electric field enables direct measurement of laser properties that can be related to the imaging performance of the laser when used in a swept source optical coherence tomography application. Both inter-sweep and intra-sweep characterization is possible, including determination of the instantaneous spectral shape, sweep rate, linewidth, coherence roll-off, and point spread function.

Pulse retrieval algorithm for interferometric frequency-resolved optical gating based on differential evolution

A novel algorithm for the ultrashort laser pulse characterization method of interferometric frequency-resolved optical gating (iFROG) is presented. Based on a genetic method, namely, differential evolution, the algorithm can exploit all available information of an iFROG measurement to retrieve the complex electric field of a pulse. The retrieval is subjected to a series of numerical tests to prove the robustness of the algorithm against experimental artifacts and noise. These tests show that the integrated error-correction mechanisms of the iFROG method can be successfully used to remove the effect from timing errors and spectrally varying efficiency in the detection. Moreover, the accuracy and noise resilience of the new algorithm are shown to outperform retrieval based on the generalized projections algorithm, which is widely used as the standard method in FROG retrieval. The differential evolution algorithm is further validated with experimental data, measured with unamplified three-cycle pulses from a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. Additionally introducing group delay dispersion in the beam path, the retrieval results show excellent agreement with independent measurements with a commercial pulse measurement device based on spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field retrieval. Further experimental tests with strongly attenuated pulses indicate resilience of differential-evolution-based retrieval against massive measurement noise.

Space charge oscillations in semiinsulating CdZnTe

Our work focuses on a detailed analysis of non-trivial temporal evolution of the electric field measured by the Pockels effect in a CdZnTe planar sample after biasing. The electric field varies, and in a couple of seconds, it reaches a steady state. We have observed an undershoot of the electric field evolution close to the cathode which is a sign of a local oscillation of the space charge density. An advanced deep level analysis based on thermal emission results in a single hole trap with energy Ev + 0.87 eV responsible for complex electric field behavior. Moreover, we simulated an influence of a deep level concentration Nt on the local electric field oscillations: with a higher Nt the undershoots turn to the oscillations, while with a lower Nt, the undershoots turn to the monotonous temporal evolution of the electric field.

Chaotic He-Ne laser

A He-Ne laser is an example of a class A laser, which can be described by a single nonlinear differential equation of the complex electric field. This laser system has only one degree of freedom and is thus inherently stable. A He-Ne laser can be driven to the chaotic condition when a large fraction of the output beam is injected back to the laser. In practice, this can be done simply by adding an external mirror. In this situation, the laser system has infinite degrees of freedom and therefore it can have a chaotic attractor. We show the fundamental laser equations and perform elementary stability analysis. In experiments, the laser intensity variations are measured by a simple photodiode circuit. The laser output intensity time series is studied using nonlinear analysis tools which can be found freely on the internet. The results show that the laser system with feedback has an attractor of a reasonably high dimension and that the maximal Lyapunov exponent is positive, which is clear evidence of chaotic behaviour. The experimental setup and analysis steps are so simple that the studies can even be implemented in the undergraduate physics laboratory.

Sensitive volume effects on Monte Carlo calculated ion chamber response in magnetic fields.

The development of magnetic resonance-guided radiation therapy (MRgRT) necessitates accurate Monte Carlo (MC) models of ion chambers for computing ion chamber corrections to compensate for the presence of the magnetic field. This study evaluates the sensitivity of the ion chamber dose response in a magnetic field on the collection volume used in the MC simulation. The EGSnrc system's egs_chamber application is used with a recently developed and validated magnetic field transport code. The calculated dose to the sensitive volume of the chamber per unit incident photon fluence, normalized to that at 0T, is evaluated as a function of magnetic field for the PTW 30013, PTW 31006, PTW 31010, Exradin A12S, and Exradin A1SL chambers. The sensitive region is varied by excluding the volume corresponding to either 0, 0.5, or 1mm of distance away from the stem. The photon field, magnetic field, and ion chamber are all oriented perpendicular to each other as in the majority of published experimental works. The calculations for a Co-60 source demonstrate that variations from the 0mm simulations are on the order of several percent with a maximum deviation, occurring at 0.5T, of 1.75±0.03% and 3.39±0.06% for the 0.5mm or 1mm simulations, respectively, for a 0.057cm3 A1SL chamber. Larger volume chambers showed smaller, but still non-negligible, variations. Simulations of the A1SL chamber with a 7MV photon source, corresponding to the Elekta MR-linac machine, demonstrate that the effect is slightly reduced but still persists with a maximum deviation of 1.97±0.08% for the 1mm reduction. Usually, the geometric sensitive volume of the ion chamber is used in MC calculation as a substitute for the potentially unknown, smaller, true collection volume (governed by the complex electric field distribution inside the chamber). The calculations in this study demonstrate that even a small variation in simulated volume can lead to fairly large variations in the MC calculated ion chamber response in a magnetic field. This is an important effect that must be addressed to ensure proper calibration of MRgRT machines using MC ion chamber correction factors. This effect may play a role, even where there is no magnetic field, in small-field dosimetry when volume averaging effect are important.

Chaotic motion of single ions in a toroidal ion trap mass analyzer

Although widely used in mass spectrometry, radiofrequency ion traps involve complex electric field shape and correspondingly complex ion motion. In addition, numerous variations of electrode geometry have been developed to address or benefit from different aspects of ion motion and the resulting effects on performance as a mass analyzer. We report on SIMION simulations that show classical chaotic behavior of ions in the toroidal ion trap. The chaotic motion is a result of the non-linear components of the electric fields as established by the trap electrodes, and not by Coulombic interaction from other ions. The chaotic behavior was observed specifically in the ejection direction of ions located in non-linear resonance bands within and adjacent to the region of stable trapping. The non-linear bands crossing through the stability regions correspond to hexapole resonance conditions, while the chaotic ejection observed at the boundary of the stable trapping region represents a “fuzzy” ejection boundary. Fractal-like patterns were obtained in a series of zoomed-in regions of the stability diagram.

Multiscale directed self-assembly of composite microgels in complex electric fields.

This study explored the application of localized electric fields for reversible directed self-assembly of colloidal particles in 3 dimensions. Electric field microgradients, arising from the use of micro-patterned electrodes, were utilized to direct the localization and self-assembly of polarizable (charged) particles resulting from a combination of dielectrophoretic and multipolar forces. Deionized dispersions of spherical and ellipsoidal core-shell microgels were employed for investigating their assembly under an external alternating electric field. We demonstrated that the frequency of the field allowed for an exquisite control over the localization of the particles and their self-assembled structures near the electrodes. We extended this approach to concentrated binary dispersions consisting of polarizable and less polarizable composite microgels. Furthermore, we utilized the thermosensitivity of the microgels to adjust the effective volume fraction and the dynamics of the system, which provided the possibility to dynamically "solidify" the assembly of the field-responsive particles by a temperature quench from their initial fluid state into an arrested crystalline state. Reversible solidification enables us to re-write/reconstruct various 3 dimensional assemblies by varying the applied field frequency.

Ultrathin Complementary Metasurface for Orbital Angular Momentum Generation at Microwave Frequencies

Electromagnetic (EM) waves with helical wavefront carry orbital angular momentum (OAM), which is associated with the azimuthal phase of the complex electric field. OAM is a new degree of freedom in EM waves and is promising for channel multiplexing in communication system. Although the OAM-carrying EM wave attracts more and more attention, the method of OAM generation at microwave frequencies still faces challenges, such as efficiency and simulation time. In this work, by using the circuit theory and equivalence principle, we build two simplified models, one for a single scatter and one for the whole metasurface to predict their EM responses. Both of the models significantly simplify the design procedure and reduce the simulation time. In this paper, we propose an ultrathin complementary metasurface that converts a left-handed (right-handed) circularly polarized plane wave without OAM to a right-handed (left-handed) circularly polarized wave with OAM of arbitrary orders and a high transmission efficiency can be achieved.

Full vectorial mapping of the complex electric near-fields of THz resonators

Using micro-structured photo-conducting probes, we demonstrate full vectorial mapping of the complex electric fields in the near-field region of a resonant structure at THz frequencies. The investigated structure represents the simplest case of a resonator: a metallic rod. We show field amplitude as well as phase maps for the three field components at the half wavelength (λ/2) resonance of the rod. The field as well as the phase distributions are in excellent agreement with our physical understanding of local electric-field distributions in the vicinity of λ/2 resonant structures and are validated by numerical simulations. These measurements can be a platform for performance optimization of the emerging field of THz photonic and plasmonic devices with complex sub-wavelength structures.

Single-shot laser pulse reconstruction based on self-phase modulated spectra measurements.

We report a method for ultrashort pulse reconstruction based only on the pulse spectrum and two self-phase modulated (SPM) spectra measured after pulse propagation through thin media with a Kerr nonlinearity. The advantage of this method is that it is a simple and very effective tool for characterization of complex signals. We have developed a new retrieval algorithm that was verified by reconstructing numerically generated fields, such as a complex electric field of double pulses and few-cycle pulses with noises, pedestals and dips down to zero spectral intensity, which is challenging for commonly used techniques. We have also demonstrated a single-shot implementation of the technique for the reconstruction of experimentally obtained pulses. This method can be used for high power laser systems operating in a single-shot mode in the optical, near- and mid-IR spectral ranges. The method is robust, low cost, stable to noise, does not require a priori information, and has no ambiguity related to time direction.

Time-domain ptychography of over-octave-spanning laser pulses in the single-cycle regime.

We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first application of time-domain ptychography for the characterization of few-cycle laser pulses. Our method enables zero-additional phase measurements of over-octave-spanning laser pulses in the single cycle regime. The spectral phase is recovered using a robust ptychography algorithm that requires no input apart from the measured data trace. In addition to numerical tests, we validate our new device experimentally by reconstructing the complex electric field of a 1.5 cycle laser pulse with a bandwidth spanning 490 to 1060nm. We further check the accuracy of our device by comparing the measured phases of octave-spanning chirped pulses to the known dispersion of fused silica glass.

Optical Polarization Möbius Strips and Points of Purely Transverse Spin Density.

Tightly focused light beams can exhibit complex and versatile structured electric field distributions. The local field may spin around any axis including a transverse axis perpendicular to the beams' propagation direction. At certain focal positions, the corresponding local polarization ellipse can even degenerate into a perfect circle, representing a point of circular polarization or C point. We consider the most fundamental case of a linearly polarized Gaussian beam, where-upon tight focusing-those C points created by transversely spinning fields can form the center of 3D optical polarization topologies when choosing the plane of observation appropriately. Because of the high symmetry of the focal field, these polarization topologies exhibit nontrivial structures similar to Möbius strips. We use a direct physical measure to find C points with an arbitrarily oriented spinning axis of the electric field and experimentally investigate the fully three-dimensional polarization topologies surrounding these C points by exploiting an amplitude and phase reconstruction technique.

Investigation of InGaAsN for laser diode application

The knowledge of influence of nitrogen on optical transition energies in InGaAsN Quantum Wells (QWs) or Quantum Dots (QDs) structures is very important due to the possibility of adjustment of the optical transition energies to the telecommunication wavelength range when the system GaAsN is submitted to further indium elements giving rise to the quaternary alloys (In)GaAsN. We add a computational method in quantum mechanics to study the Schrodinger equation for one and many quantum wells configurations. The photoluminescence PL measurement obtained by simulated technique is used to predict the different lines and energy levels of our compound. The simulated results are followed by solving the coupled nonlinear rate equations describing the complex electric field and the carrier density in a simple model of the GaNxAs1-x or (In)GaAsN semiconductor laser.

Integrated Optics Modules Based Proposal for Quantum Information Processing, Teleportation, QKD, and Quantum Error Correction Employing Photon Angular Momentum

To address key challenges for both quantum communication and quantum computing applications in a simultaneous manner, we propose to employ the photon angular momentum approach by invoking the well-known fact that photons carry both the spin angular momentum (SAM) and the orbital angular momentum (OAM). SAM is associated with polarization, while OAM is associated with azimuthal phase dependence of the complex electric field. Given that OAM eigenstates are mutually orthogonal, in principle, an arbitrary number of bits per single photon can be transmitted. The ability to generate/analyze states with different photon angular momentum, by using either holographic or interferometric methods, allows the realization of quantum states in multidimensional Hilbert space. Because OAM states provide an infinite basis state, while SAM states are 2-D only, the OAM can also be used to increase the security for quantum key distribution (QKD) applications and improve computational power for quantum computing applications. The goal of this paper is to describe photon angular momentum based deterministic universal quantum qudit gates, namely, {generalized-X, generalized-Z, generalized-CNOT} qudit gates, and different quantum modules of importance for various applications, including (fault-tolerant) quantum computing, teleportation, QKD, and quantum error correction. For instance, the basic quantum modules for quantum teleportation applications include the generalized-Bell-state generation module and the QFT-module. The basic quantum module for quantum error correction and fault-tolerant computing is the nonbinary syndrome calculator module. The basic module for entanglement assisted QKD is either the generalized-Bell-state generation module or the Weyloperator-module. The possibility of implementing all these modules in integrated optics is discussed as well. Finally, we provide security analysis of entanglement assisted multidimensional QKD protocols, employing the proposed qudit modules, by taking into account the imperfect generation of OAM modes.