Full-width At Half-maximum Beam Research Articles

Spintronic emitters for super-resolution in THz-spectral imaging

We investigate local THz field generation using spintronic THz emitters to enhance the resolution for micrometer-sized imaging. Far-field imaging with wavelengths above 100 μm limits the resolution to this order of magnitude. By using optical laser pulses as a pump, THz field generation can be confined to the area of laser beam focusing. The divergence of the generated THz beam due to laser beam focusing requires the imaged object to be close to the generation spot at a distance below the THz field wavelength. We generate THz-radiation by fs-laser pulses in CoFeB/Pt heterostructures, based on spin currents, and detect them by commercial low-temperature grown-GaAs (LT-GaAs) Auston switches. The spatial resolution of THz radiation is determined by applying a 2D scanning technique with motorized stages allowing step sizes in the sub-micrometer range. Within the near-field limit, we achieve spatial resolution in the dimensions of the laser spot size on the micrometer scale. For this purpose, a gold test pattern is evaporated on the spintronic emitter separated by a 300 nm SiO2 spacer layer. Moving these structures with respect to the femtosecond laser spot, which generates THz radiation, allows for resolution determination. The knife-edge method yields a full-width half-maximum beam diameter of 4.9±0.4 μm at 1 THz. The possibility to deposit spintronic emitter heterostructures on simple glass substrates makes them attractive candidates for near-field imaging in many imaging applications.

Electrically Injected GaN-Based Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers with TiO2 High-Index-Contrast Grating Reflectors

We demonstrate the first electrically injected GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a TiO2 high-index-contrast grating (HCG) as the top mirror. Replacing the top distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) with an HCG offers substantial thickness reduction, polarization-pinning, and setting of the resonance wavelength by the grating parameters. Conventional HCGs are usually suspended in the low refractive index material, such as air, in order to create the largest refractive index contrast. However, the mechanical stability of such structures can be questioned and creating free-hanging GaN-membrane on top of GaN is problematic. We have therefore fabricated TiO2–HCGs resting directly on GaN without an air-gap. No DBR layers are used below the HCG to boost the reflectivity. A VCSEL with an aperture diameter of 10 μm shows a threshold current of 25 mA under pulsed operation at room temperature. The lasing modes locate around 400 nm and are transversely electrically -polarized with a line width of 0.5 nm. The full-width half-maximum beam divergence is 10°. This demonstration of a TiO2–HCG VCSEL offers a new route to achieve polarization pinning and could also allow additional benefits such as postgrowth setting of the resonance wavelength.

Three-Dimensional Planar Metallic Lenses Based on Concentric Rings with Modulated Subwavelength Width

A kind of Subwavelength Planar Metallic Lenses (SPMLs) is proposed to realize far-field optical focusing in the visible range based on concentric rings with modulated width in a silver film. The width of each metallic ring is mutative so that the radiation fields of surface plasmon polaritons can be controlled and the relevant phase retardations can be modulated to make a beam focus at the desired position. For comparison, the Subwavelength Planar Dielectric Lenses (SPDLs) structured on silica glass with the same concentric ring shapes as SPMLs are analyzed, although without opaque metal coating on SPDLs, the computational results show that SPMLs can support higher intensity focal spot, narrower full-width half-maximum beam width, and longer depth of focus at the focal region under certain lens thickness due to the coupling of surface plasomon polaritons, diffracted evanescent waves and propagated electromagnetic waves.

Visible light focusing demonstrated by plasmonic lenses based on nano-slits in an aluminum film

We experimentally demonstrate plasmonic lenses working in the visible range with well controlled focal lengths using nano-slits in an aluminum film. The fabricated lenses were characterized using confocal scanning optical microscopy. Two lenses with a design focal length 3 microm and 6 microm at 633 nm were investigated in detail. The full-width half-maximum beam width at the focal point was found to be 470 nm and 490 nm, and the extension of the light spot was 1.3 mum and 2.3 mum respectively. Lens performance compared extremely well with the expected behaviour from finite-difference time-domain modeling. The focal length from experiment and simulation agreed to within 3.5%. The lens manufacture was found to be insensitive to deviations from the optimum process parameters indicating that lens components can be reliably designed and produced.

Two-dimensional subwavelength-focused imaging using a near-field probe at a λ/4 working distance

Two-dimensional (2D) subwavelength imaging using a near-field antenna array probe is demonstrated experimentally at a probe-to-object separation distance of λ/4. Field perturbations caused by the presence of small objects are detected by monitoring the input reflection coefficient as the probe is scanned. The probe is designed to produce a subwavelength focal spot with a 0.217λ full-width half-maximum beam width. Propagating components are suppressed through destructive interference, enhancing the evanescent field enough to resolve objects spaced by 0.259λ. The poor resolving capability of a conventional single-element probe at this working distance is also addressed; it is shown that even objects spaced over a wavelength apart are inaccurately detected. A full 2D imaging experiment is carried out using eight scattered objects. The single element probe is unable to resolve any of the objects, while all but the two most closely spaced pairs are resolved by the array probe.

Two-Dimensional Subwavelength Focusing Using a Slotted Meta-Screen

A transmission screen with subwavelength slots is described which can focus electromagnetic radiation to a 2-D subwavelength spot. Unlike negative-refractive-index focusing implementations, this ldquometa-screenrdquo does not suffer from image degradation when losses are introduced and is easily scalable from microwave to Terahertz frequencies and beyond. The slotted geometry is designed using a theory of shifted beams to determine the necessary weighting factors for each slot element, which are then converted to appropriate slot dimensions. The screen was designed using a pair of rotated orthogonal focusing axes to produce a spot on a focal plane located 0.25 lambda away. Full-wave simulations are corroborated by experimental measurements at 10 GHz reporting a full-width half-maximum beam width of 0.27 lambda along the <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</i> -axis and 0.38 lambda along the <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">z</i> -axis.

A Limit on the Polarized Anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background at Subdegree Angular Scales

A ground-based polarimeter, PIQUE, operating at 90 GHz has set a new limit on the magnitude of any polarized anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background. The combination of the scan strategy and full width half-maximum beam of 024 gives broad window functions with ⟨lE⟩ = 211 and ⟨lB⟩ = 212 for the E- and B-mode window functions, respectively. A joint likelihood analysis yields simultaneous 95% confidence level flat band power limits of 14 and 13 μK on the amplitudes of the E- and B-mode angular power spectra, respectively. Assuming no B-modes, a 95% confidence limit of 10 μK is placed on the amplitude of the E-mode angular power spectrum alone.

High-power low-divergence semiconductor lasers for GaAs-based 980-nm and InP-based 1550-nm applications

High-power diode lasers with low-vertical divergence and high-fiber coupling efficiency were developed for GaAs-based 980-nm pump lasers and InP-based 1550-nm Fabry-Perot and distributed-feedback (DFB) lasers. Narrow divergence at 980 nm was made possible by a large optical-mode waveguide design, with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) far-field angles of 11.7/spl deg//spl times/17.8/spl deg/ and coupling efficiency of 80% into a cleaved single-mode fiber (SMF). A vertical taper processing technique was developed for InP-based laser structures. Fabry-Perot lasers produced over 90-mW output power, 17/spl deg//spl times/16/spl deg/ FWHM beam divergence angles, and 63% coupling efficiency into a lensed SMF. The vertical taper was successfully integrated in 1550-nm DFB lasers, and over 80 mW single-mode output power with beam divergence angles of 12/spl deg//spl times/14/spl deg/ was obtained.

Degree-scale anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background: SP94 results

We present results from two observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) performed from the South Pole during the 1993-1994 austral summer. Each observation employed a 3 deg peak-to-peak sinusoidal, single-difference chop and consisted of a 20 deg x 1 deg strip on the sky. The first observation used a receiver which operates in three channels between 38 and 45 GHz (Q-band) with a full width half maximum (FWHM) beam which varies from 1 deg to 1.15 deg. The second observation overlapped the first observation and used a receiver which operates in four channels between 26 and 36 GHz (Ka-band) with a FWHM beam which varies from 1.5 deg to 1.7 deg. Significant correlated structure is observed in all channels for each observation. The spectrum of the structure is consistent with a CMB spectrum and is formally inconsistent with diffuse synchrotron and free-free emission at the 5 sigma level. The amplitude of the structure is inconsistent with 20 K interstellar dust; however, the data do not discriminate against flat or inverted spectrum point sources. The root mean square amplitude (+/- 1 sigma) of the combined (Ka + Q) data is Delta T(sub rms) = 41.2(sup +15.5, sub -6.7) micro-K for an average window function which has a peak value of 0.97 at l = 68 and drops to e(exp -0.5) of the peak value at l = 36 and l = 106. A band power estimate of the CMB power spectrum, C(sub l), gives average value of (C(sub l)l(l + 1)/(2 pi))(sub B) = 1.77(sup +1.58, sub -0.54) x 10(exp -10).