Manipulation Of Optical Fields Research Articles

Microscopic origin of the chiroptical response of optical media.

The potential for enhancing the optical activity of natural chiral media using engineered nanophotonic components has been central in the quest toward developing next-generation circular-dichroism spectroscopic techniques. Through confinement and manipulation of optical fields at the nanoscale, ultrathin optical elements have enabled a path toward achieving order-of-magnitude enhancements in the chiroptical response. Here, we develop a model framework to describe the underlying physics governing the origin of the chiroptical response in optical media. The model identifies optical activity to originate from electromagnetic coupling to the hybridized eigenstates of a coupled electron-oscillator system, whereas differential absorption of opposite handedness light, though resulting in a far-field chiroptical response, is shown to have incorrectly been identified as optical activity. We validate the model predictions using experimental measurements and show them to also be consistent with observations in the literature. The work provides a generalized framework for the design and study of chiroptical systems.

Electrical plasmon injection in double-layer graphene heterostructures

It is by now well established that high-quality graphene enables a gate-tunable low-loss plasmonic platform for the efficient confinement, enhancement, and manipulation of optical fields spanning a broad range of frequencies, from the mid infrared to the Terahertz domain. While all-electrical detection of graphene plasmons has been demonstrated, electrical plasmon injection (EPI), which is crucial to operate nanoplasmonic devices without the encumbrance of a far-field optical apparatus, remains elusive. In this work, we present a theory of EPI in double-layer graphene, where a vertical tunnel current excites acoustic and optical plasmon modes. We first calculate the power delivered by the applied inter-layer voltage bias into these collective modes. We then show that this system works also as a spectrally-resolved molecular sensor.

Single ultra-high-definition spatial light modulator enabling highly efficient generation of fully structured vector beams.

Ultra-high-definition (UHD) spatial light modulators (SLMs) enhance the degree of freedom in the versatile engineering of optical field. Among efforts to explore the capability of SLMs, enhancing the efficiency of light utilization is an everlasting quest to find SLM-based applications. We propose a new method to efficiently generate arbitrary vector beams with a phase-only UHD-SLM. By enabling the UHD-SLM with a rectangle window to work in an in-line and split-screen manner with the help of a polarizing beam splitter, the total conversion efficiency as high as 49% of light beams is realized. Several complex beams, including cylindrical vector beams and higher-order Poincaré sphere beams, are experimentally demonstrated. Our method can facilitate application of SLM in optical field manipulation.

基于傅里叶分析的超表面多维光场调控

基于傅里叶分析的超表面多维光场调控

Plasmonic Cube Tetramers over Substrates: Reversal of Binding Force as the Effect of Fano Resonance and Light Polarization

Near-field optical binding force is an emerging new topic in the field of optical manipulation and plasmonics. However, so far, all the studies of near-field binding force and its counterintuitive ...

Unveiling and Imaging Degenerate States in Plasmonic Nanoparticles with Nanometer Resolution.

Metal nanoparticles host localized plasmon excitations that allow the manipulation of optical fields at the nanoscale. Despite the availability of several techniques for imaging plasmons, direct access into the symmetries of these excitations remains elusive, thus hindering progress in the development of applications. Here, we present a combination of angle-, polarization-, and space-resolved cathodoluminescence spectroscopy methods to selectively access the symmetry and degeneracy of plasmonic states in lithographically fabricated gold nanoprisms. We experimentally reveal and spatially map degenerate states of multipole plasmon modes with nanometer spatial resolution and further provide recipes for resolving optically dark and out-of-plane modes. Full-wave simulations in conjunction with a simple tight-binding model explain the complex plasmon structure in these particles and reveal intriguing mode-symmetry phenomena. Our approach introduces systematics for a comprehensive symmetry characterization of plasmonic states in high-symmetry nanostructures.

Optical field manipulation by dual magnetic resonances of a silicon metasurface.

In this Letter, we study the influence of magnetic mode dispersion on the performance of a metasurface cylindrical vector beam (CVB) generator. An optical field after a metasurface CVB generator can be manipulated by polarization-dependent transmittance arising from dual magnetic resonance of silicon nanopillars. A perfect CVB is only generated when the transmittances are equal for two orthogonal polarization. Two magnetic resonant wavelengths can be spatially separated because of the coherent superposition between the residual incident light and the generating CVB, which is potentially useful for a compact multiplex color router.

Coherent Optical Field Manipulation and Optical Information Processing Based on Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency Effect in Pr3+:Y2SiO5 Crystal

We reviewed the recent progress in coherent manipulation on light fields based on the electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) effect in Pr3+-doped Y2SiO5 crystal. The results show that, on one hand, the atomic coherence grating, formed when the light pulse is stored in Pr3+:Y2SiO5 crystal under the EIT condition has similar properties to the traditional holographic grating. On the other hand, the atomic coherence grating has its own unique characteristics that are different from those of traditional holographic grating. The EIT-induced nonlinearity and atomic coherence gratings can be used to manipulate the amplitude, the phase and the polarization state of light fields; therefore, they are of important applications for optical signal processing, quantum information processing and imaging processing.

Discrete Optical Field Manipulation by Ag-Al Bilayer Gratings for Broadband Absorption Enhancement in Thin-Film Solar Cells

Plasmonic gratings have been widely used for light harvesting in thin-film solar cells (TFSCs). However, the detrimental parasitic metal absorption loss limits the actual light absorption in the active layer and reduces the power conversion efficiency. In this paper, it is found that the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) used to increase long-wavelength light absorption has significant field concentration around the bottom corners of metal gratings, but the field distribution for the short-wavelength absorption band localizes around the top corners of gratings. Due to the differences between the spatial field distributions and the related mechanisms of metal loss, discrete optical field manipulation is proposed to suppress the ohmic loss mainly associated with LSPR and the interband transition loss associated with metal materials by using Ag-Al bilayer gratings, where Ag has a small absorption coefficient and Al has a high plasmon frequency. Fifteen to forty percent improvements of photocurrents in TFSCs with Ag-Al bilayer gratings are observed in simulation compared to the ones with single-layer metal gratings. This combined metal nanostructure scheme suppresses the loss issue of metal and extends the application potential of plasmonic light-harvesting techniques.

Order-Controllable Cylindrical Vector Vortex Beam Generation by Using Spatial Light Modulator and Cascaded Metasurfaces

Cylindrical vector vortex (CVV) beam, which possesses both helical phase front and spatially inhomogeneous polarization, is a promising structured light for its various applications ranging from optical communication to optical field manipulation and optical microscopy. However, approaches to generate CVV beams with switchable and tunable polarization order and topological charge are still immature, which hinders the wide application of CVV beams. In this paper, we have experimentally demonstrated that order-controllable CVV beams can be produced by using spatial light modulator (SLM) and equivalent <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">q</i> -plate system at wavelength of 1550.8 nm. It is shown that the topological charge of the CVV beam can be switched by directly programming the SLM. We have also demonstrated that the polarization order of the CVV beam can be tuned to as high as eight by employing an equivalent <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">q</i> -plate system, which consists of two cascaded metasurfaces and a half-wave plate. To further verify the helical phase of the CVV beam, we have proposed a novel measurement method based on first removing the vector property and then interfering the remaining helical phase with plane wave or spherical wave.

Switchable phase and polarization singular beams generation using dielectric metasurfaces

Singular beams which possess helical phase wavefront or spatially inhomogeneous polarization provide new freedom for optical field manipulation. However, conventional schemes to produce the singular beams have difficulty in realizing the flexible switch between different singular beams. In this work, we have experimentally demonstrated the capability of dielectric metasurfaces to generate three types of singular beams and switch between them at working wavelength of 1550 nm. We have shown vortex beam and cylindrical vector beam generation with single metasurface and cylindrical vector vortex beam generation with two cascaded metasurfaces. Moreover, experimental demonstration on switching cylindrical vector beam into vortex beam has also been done by combining one quarter-wave plate and a Glan laser polarizer. The experimental results match well with the analysis from the Jones matrix calculations. The average conversion efficiency of cylindrical vector beam to vortex beam was estimated to be 47.7%, which was about 2.3% lower than the theoretical prediction.

Fabrication of Pattern Poled Lithium Niobate Film and its Nonlinear Optical Applications

We develop an approach to fabricate arbitrary ferroelectric domain patterns on lithium niobate film (30-50 μm thick) by applying a structured external field at room temperature. The fabricating method can be operated easily to reach 1 μm linewidth resolution. The ferroelectric domain inversion is stable and uniform. Nonlinear diffraction is generated when the fundamental wave pumps to film. Various nonlinear wavefronts are obtained such as the frequency converted optical vortex beam. A nonlinear holographic concept is proposed to explain the physical phenomena and guide the corresponding domain design. The applications in optical field manipulation and novel photonic states generation are discussed.

Berry Phase of Light under Bragg Reflection by Chiral Liquid-Crystal Media.

A Berry phase is revealed for circularly polarized light when it is Bragg reflected by a chiral liquid-crystal medium of the same handedness. By using a chiral nematic layer we demonstrate that if the input plane of the layer is rotated with respect to a fixed reference frame, a geometric phase effect occurs for the circularly polarized light reflected by the periodic helical structure of the medium. Theory and numerical simulations are supported by an experimental observation, disclosing novel applications in the field of optical manipulation and fundamental optical phenomena.

Optics and photonics at nanoscale: Principles and perspectives

Nanophotonics is a multidisciplinary frontier of science that merges nanoscience and nanotechnology with conventional optics and photonics. We focus on two principal issues of nanophotonics: manipulation of optical field and light-matter interaction via various optical nanostructures. These two issues are behind all the efforts to explore, design, and build nanophotonic devices to accomplish the fundamental cause of large-scale optical integration for information processing, interconnection, and computing. We discuss various mechanisms of light-matter interaction enhancement to realize bright fluorescence, Raman, and nonlinear optical radiation, and explore methodologies and various devices for highly sensitive optical sensing and detecting, ultrahigh spatial resolution imaging, and high-efficiency energy conversion between light and electricity, heat, and other forms. All these concepts, insights, methodologies, and technologies in nanophotonics will set a solid platform to explore and achieve better future information and energy technologies that use light as powerful information and energy carriers and as prominent media to probe and manipulate the intrinsic properties of matters via light-matter interaction.

Focusing surface plasmon polaritons in archimedes' spiral nanostructure

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are a hybrid mode of a light field and metallic collective electrons oscillated resonantly and excited at the metal/dielectric interface. Recently extensive research has been carried out due to its technological potential in nano-optics. The SPPs coupling, focusing, waveguiding and resonance enhancement are hot spots in this field. In particular, to find a simple method that can focus SPPs into a highly confined spot with the size beyond the diffraction limit is still a big challenge. In this work, we have fabricated the Archimedes' spiral structures with different structural parameters on an Au film by using focused ion beam etching technique. Through changing the chiralities of the incident circularly polarized light and the spiral structure, we have studied theoretically and experimentally the focusing properties of the Archimedes spiral structures with different parameters. We find that besides the chiralities of the incident light and the spiral structure, the pitch of screw of the spiral structure and the wavelength of the excited light also affect the surface plasmon field. The resulting surface plasmon fields inside the structure are the zero-order, first-order, and high-order evanescent Bessel beams. By using a phase analysis and a finite-difference time-domain simulation method, we calculate the electric field and phase distribution in different spiral structures. A near-field vortex mode with different spin-dependent topological charges can be obtained in the structures. Furthermore, the results of the scanning near-field optical microscopy measurements verify the theory and simulation results. The method of using an Archimedes' spiral structure to focus SPPs provides a new route to manipulate the SPPs optical field in nanoscale. Based on theoretical calculation and FDTD simulation in this work, we have studied the physical process of the optical field manipulation in spiral structures. The significant and innovated points of this work are: a) We have developed the phase theory, and analyzed the field manipulation process of spiral structures with different parameters and chiralities at different circular polarization and wavelengths. b) A more effective and convenient way is used for SPPs focusing in linearly polarized light and circularly polarized light. c) A near-field vortex surface mode with different spin-dependent topological charges is obtained for the structure. This work can be considered to have applications in SPPs tweezers, highly integrated photonic devices.

Special Section Guest Editorial: Diffractive Optics and Nanophotonics

Manipulation of optical fields by micro- and nanostructured media has undergone millions of years of evolution. The structural color identified in some animals is one example that permits the study of the role of light in ecosystems and its evolution history. To transfer this natural concept of subwavelength-structured optical interfaces to provide state-of-the-art optical systems, diffractive optics’ essential role must be thoroughly understood. Diffractive optics is widely recognized as an important growth area in modern optics. The successful insight into the field of optical engineering and photonics offered by diffractive optics proves tremendous advantages over conventional bulk optics. The increasing demands and desire to improve telecommunication, optical computing, consumer electronics, laser material processing, biomedical sciences, and manipulation of nano-objects through micro-optical systems have driven the advance in diffractive optics, which creates a large number of new avenues in optical research and new directions in nanophotonics research.

Generation of ultrastable microwaves via optical frequency division

There has been increased interest in the use and manipulation of optical fields to address the challenging problems that have traditionally been approached with microwave electronics. Some examples that benefit from the low transmission loss, agile modulation and large bandwidths accessible with coherent optical systems include signal distribution, arbitrary waveform generation and novel imaging1. We extend these advantages to demonstrate a microwave generator based on a high-quality-factor (Q) optical resonator and a frequency comb functioning as an optical-to-microwave divider. This provides a 10 GHz electrical signal with fractional frequency instability of ≤8 × 10−16 at 1 s, a value comparable to that produced by the best microwave oscillators, but without the need for cryogenic temperatures. Such a low-noise source can benefit radar systems2 and improve the bandwidth and resolution of communications and digital sampling systems3, and can also be valuable for large baseline interferometry4, precision spectroscopy and the realization of atomic time5,6,7. Researchers demonstrate a microwave generator based on a high-Q optical resonator and a frequency comb functioning as an optical-to-microwave divider. They generate 10 GHz electrical signals with a fractional frequency instability of ≤8 × 10−16 at 1 s.

Shaping the future of manipulation

Optical forces can be used to manipulate biological and colloidal material in a non-contact manner. This forms the foundation of a wealth of exciting science, particularly in the fields of physics, biology and soft condensed matter. Although the standard Gaussian single-beam trap remains a very powerful tool, shaping the phase and amplitude of a light field provides unusual light patterns that add a major new dimension to research into particle manipulation. This Review summarizes the impact and emerging applications of shaped light in the field of optical manipulation.

Tweezers with a twist

The fact that light carries both linear and angular momentum is well-known to physicists. One application of the linear momentum of light is for optical tweezers, in which the refraction of a laser beam through a particle provides a reaction force that draws the particle towards the centre of the beam. The angular momentum of light can also be transfered to particles, causing them to spin. In fact, the angular momentum of light has two components that act through different mechanisms on various types of particle. This Review covers the creation of such beams and how their unusual intensity, polarization and phase structure has been put to use in the field of optical manipulation.

A Visible Sawtooth

Radio frequency (RF) generators can be programmed to emit many differently shaped oscillatory patterns, from sinusoidal waves associated with single frequencies to square and sawtooth shapes that emerge when frequencies spanning multiple octaves are mixed. Analogous manipulation of optical fields is rather more challenging, because laser sources cannot usually produce many mutually coherent components spaced octaves apart. Chan et al. (p. [1165][1], published online 20 January; see the Perspective by [Yavuz][2] ) have now succeeded in preparing optical sawtooth and square wave pulses by assembling discrete combs of five harmonics, from the blue to the mid-infrared, derived through Raman shifting in a hydrogen cell and demonstrate a method for characterizing such waveforms based on linear cross-correlation. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1198397 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1203018