Optical Polarization State Research Articles

Robust Carbon‐Dot Optical Disks for Orthogonal Amplitude‐Polarization Encryption Storage

AbstractHigh‐capacity steganography is crucial for the secure exchange of massive information. Exploring orthogonally optical recording can significantly improve encryption levels. However, due to the lack of robust media, the hidden data are easy to be cracked or destructed. Herein, carbon dots have the switchable memory function between optical transmittance and polarization state after receiving excitation power adjustment is discovered. A large‐area carbon‐based disk is further constructed which is measured to resist the high‐temperature damage at 423 K for more than 405 h and is estimated to remain stable at room‐temperature (301 K) beyond 2341 years. With the alternated arrangement of the dual functional carbon dots at one region of the disk, only by using an amplitude‐type holographic diffraction key can the polarized pattern be correctly read out. The ultra‐high secure encryption strategy also puts a bright way to the applications of 3D image hiding, permanent data preservation, and anti‐counterfeiting labels.

Emergence of Optical Anisotropy in Moiré Superlattice via Heterointerface Engineering.

The interaction between light and moiré superlattices presents a platform for exploring unique light-matter phenomena. Tailoring these optical properties holds immense potential for advancing the utilization of moiré superlattices in photonics, optoelectronics, and valleytronics. However, the control of the optical polarization state in moiré superlattices, particularly in the presence of moiré effects, remains elusive. Here, we unveil the emergence of optical anisotropy in moiré superlattices by constructing twisted WSe2/WSe2/SiP heterostructures. We report a linear polarization degree of ∼70% for moiré excitons, attributed to the spatially nonuniform charge distribution, corroborated by first-principles calculations. Furthermore, we demonstrate the modulation of this linear polarization state via the application of a magnetic field, resulting in polarization angle rotation and a magnetic-field-dependent linear polarization degree, influenced by valley coherence and moiré potential effects. Our findings demonstrate an efficient strategy for tuning the optical polarization state of moiré superlattices using heterointerface engineering.

Formation and propagation characteristics of pseudo-wavefronts of optical polarization states signal inside OPGW under lightning strikes

Lightning strikes on Optical Fiber Composite Overhead Ground Wires (OPGW) result in a phenomenon where the current traveling wave along the OPGW’s outer stranding propagates faster than the optical signals inside the fiber. This leads to the emergence of pseudo-wavefronts ahead of the optical polarization state signal after lightning strikes OPGW, introducing errors in lightning point localization based on the optical polarization state. This paper investigates the formation and propagation characteristics of pseudo-wavefronts. The study employs theoretical analysis and simulation to examine the process of optical polarization state formation during OPGW lightning strikes. Additionally, it conducts comparative analyses between laboratory-simulated OPGW lightning strikes and field measurements obtained from OPGW lightning monitoring systems. The results affirm the existence of the proposed pseudo-wavefront phenomenon, which substantially impacts the precision of lightning point localization. Notably, the duration of pseudo-wavefront effects increases with greater distance from the lightning point and higher lightning current amplitudes. These findings raise questions regarding the suitability of traditional wavefront calibration methods based on the traveling wave approach. This research contributes valuable insights for the practical implementation of lightning point localization methodologies relying on OPGW self-sensing technology.

Method for lightning flashover types identification on transmission lines utilizing OPGW optical polarization state signal characteristics

The Optical Fiber Composite Overhead Ground Wire (OPGW) has undergone rapid development and has been extensively applied in the realm of intelligent power system status monitoring. This article conducts research on lightning signal waveform in optical fibers within the context of lightning fault location using the OPGW optical polarization state method. A transmission line model is simulated employing ATP-EMTP to capture electrical characteristics when lightning strikes the OPGW. Subsequently, by employing the Faraday magneto-optical effect principle, electrical signals are transformed into optical polarization states within the internal fibers of OPGW. Using such data, the optical signal propagation characteristics when lightning strikes OPGW are deduced. Finally, a method for discerning between induced lightning and direct lightning strikes through the analysis of time-frequency domain characteristics in OPGW. This method addresses the limitation of traditional OPGW lightning monitoring, which is unable to deduce electrical signals, thus achieving precise identification of lightning-induced transient faults in transmission lines.

Analysis of the effect of optical thickness on polarization in a sea fog stratified environment.

Since there are usually multiple layers present in a real-world sea fog environment, and because previous studies have tended to analyze sea fog as a single layer rather than as refined layered sea fog, this paper splits sea fog into two categories: water fog and salt fog double-layer environments. By adjusting the optical thickness of the two layers of media, we may investigate the issue of the law governing the transmission of polarized light. In this paper, the analysis is mainly carried out through a simulation and experimental tests. The simulation portion is based mostly on the improved layered Monte Carlo approach, which builds a simulation model more appropriate for multilayer non-spherical media by using the accumulation principle to determine the scattering and transmission properties between layers. The tests are conducted by altering the double-layer medium's optical thickness, incoming wavelength, and polarization state, and then getting the polarization information of visible light after transmission through the complicated environment. The findings demonstrate that the optical thickness of the sea fog double-layer media affects polarized light transmission in a non-negligible way. Longer wavelength polarized light may keep polarization information better as the optical thickness increases, and circularly polarized light has polarization-preserving properties that are superior to linearly polarized light. By contrasting the simulation findings with the experimental data, the consistency of the two conclusions is confirmed, and the study offers a helpful resource for the transmission of polarized light in the sea fog environment.

A Broadband Optical Fiber Coupler Based on Dual-Hollow Core Fiber

Hollow fiber has become a research hotspot in the field of special fibers for its excellent characteristics, such as low loss, low delay, low dispersion, and low nonlinear coefficient. Due to the lack of fiber coupler matching hollow core fiber, the application development of hollow core fiber in the all-fiber integrated system is greatly hindered. Dual-core fiber is widely used in the development of fiber couplers because it can choose optical power, wavelength, and polarization state by the coupling between the two cores. For the urgent need for hollow core fiber coupler, the design and research of wideband fiber coupler based on dual-hollow core fiber are carried out in this paper. Based on the coupled mode theory, the theoretical correlation between the structural parameters and the coupling length in the dual-hollow core anti-resonant fiber was analyzed by using the COMSOL simulation software system. On this basis, a 50:50 wideband fiber coupler was designed by adjusting the structural parameters to reduce the coupling length and introducing the sleeve into the cladding pipe to reduce the loss. The bandwidth of the coupler is up to 150 nm and the transmission loss is on the order of 10−2 dB/m.

A study on angular distribution of THz radiation driven by two-colour laser-induced microplasma

We present an analytical method to study the angular distribution of THz radiation driven by two-colour laser-induced microplasma in nitrogen gas. Directionally dependent temporal waveforms of the radiated THz pulse is calculated. To do so, we have extended the photo-current model to calculate three-dimensional distribution of the photo-induced current from which the far-field THz radiation is computed. We have also studied the effect of optical polarization state and phase difference on the angular distribution of radiation. Our study shows that for two orthogonally-polarized colours, not only THz polarization state, but also the angular distribution of THz radiation is mostly influenced by the second optical harmonic. The possibility of rotating the angular radiation pattern around the axis of the laser propagation is illustrated for circularly-polarized laser drivers by changing the optical phase difference.

2-D beamforming system based on photonic lantern and few-mode fiber Bragg grating

In this paper, a 2-D beamforming system based on the photonic lantern (PL) and few-mode fiber Bragg grating (FM-FBG) with a 3 × 3 antenna array is proposed. The FM-FBG is produced by the femtosecond laser point-by-point method, which is flexible and simple; moreover, the 2-D time delay regulation can be realized with different positions of FM-FBG by a single wavelength and single-stage optical true time delay (OTTD) modules to complete the 2-D beam scanning, which reduces the system cost, complexity and simplifies the system structure. The effects of different types of PLs on the system are investigated with the results that the channel amplitude dither of the 2-D beamforming system using non-mode-selective PLs is less than 1.5 dB, and the main lobe beamwidth and sidelobe level are smaller than those of the mode-selective PL system. In addition, the effect of the polarization state of optical on the gain of the system is studied, and the experiment results show that the overall gain of the system is improved by 2.27 dB when we adjust the optical polarization state to the optimum. Under this best-adjusted polarization state, we construct a 2-D beamforming system based on the non-mode-selective PL with time delay steps of (12 ps, 10 ps), and the elevation and azimuth angles are achieved by switching the operating state of the optical switch for the scan ranges of 0°–60° and 0°–35°, respectively.

A Novel Distributed Vibration Sensor Based on Fading Noise Reduction in Multi-Mode Fiber.

Multi-mode fiber (MMF) is used in a polarization-sensitive optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) for vibration event location and spectrum analysis. The vibration events acting on MMF are considered to be the optical polarization state and phase diversifying process for fading noise reduction. In addition, data averaging with continuous positions and the fast Fourier transform (FFT) method is proposed to extract the spectrum of the vibration events. In the experiment, the vibration events are loaded at the positions of 5.167 and 10.145 km, respectively, along MMF. The experimental results demonstrate that the vibration event can effectively diversify the optical polarization state and phase of the Rayleigh scattering light to make the averaged OTDR trace behind the vibration position converge rapidly, which helps to locate corresponding vibration events and extract the vibration spectrum. It is inferred that the new distributed vibration sensor shall have a lower false alarm rate, as it can greatly reduce the errors caused by randomness of the sensing light signals. Additionally, it also saves time in comparison with the method that analyzes the vibration spectra for all the positions along the fiber under test.

Active Tuning of Plasmon Damping via Light Induced Magnetism.

Circularly polarized optical excitation of plasmonic nanostructures causes coherent circulating motion of their electrons, which in turn gives rise to strong optically induced magnetization, a phenomenon known as the inverse Faraday effect (IFE). In this study we report how the IFE also significantly decreases plasmon damping. By modulating the optical polarization state incident on achiral plasmonic nanostructures from linear to circular, we observe reversible increases of reflectance by up to 8% and simultaneous increases of optical field concentration by 35.7% under 109 W/m2 continuous wave (CW) optical excitation. These signatures of decreased plasmon damping were also monitored in the presence of an external magnetic field (0.2 T). We rationalize the observed decreases in plasmon damping in terms of the Lorentz forces acting on the circulating electron trajectories. Our results outline strategies for actively modulating intrinsic losses in the metal via optomagnetic effects encoded in the polarization state of incident light.

Influence of optical mode polarization state on the Brillouin gain spectrum in optical microfibers

During the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) process, when the two H E 11 modes in the pump light and scattered light have different polarization states, between which is an angle θ , the Brillouin gain spectrum characteristics in a microfiber are studied in detail. The difference of θ directly changes the generated optical force distribution. When 0 ≤ θ ≤ π / 2 , for the T R 0 n acoustic mode in forward SBS and the L 0 n acoustic mode in backward SBS, the corresponding Brillouin gain values have a clear cosine-like functional relationship with θ . Considering the change of optical force, the T R 0 n and L 0 n acoustic modes with symmetrical displacement distributions of center circles are the key features to realize the change of gain with θ . The characteristics of gain value with θ may provide interesting theoretical enlightenment for Brillouin applications involving angles, such as Brillouin sensors and acousto-optic modulators.

All-dielectric metasurface for fully resolving arbitrary beams on a higher-order Poincaré sphere

Characterizing the amplitude, phase profile, and polarization of optical beams is critical in modern optics. With a series of cascaded optical components, one can accurately resolve the optical singularity and polarization state in traditional polarimetry systems. However, complicated optical setups and bulky configurations inevitably hinder future applications for integration. Here, we demonstrate a metadevice that fully resolves arbitrary beams on a higher-order Poincaré sphere (HOPS) via a single-layer all-silicon metasurface. The device is compact and capable of detecting optical singularities and higher-order Stokes parameters simultaneously through a single intensity measurement. To verify the validity of the proposed metadevice, different beams on HOPS 0 , 0 and HOPS 1 , − 1 are illuminated on the metadevices. The beams are fully resolved, and the reconstructed higher-order Stokes parameters show good agreement with the original ones. Taking the signal-to-noise ratio into account, the numerical simulations indicate that the design strategy can be extended to fully resolve arbitrary beams on HOPS with order up to 4. Because of the advantages of compact configuration and compatibility with current semiconductor technology, the metadevice will facilitate potential applications in information processing and optical communications.

Passively Q-switched 0.24 mJ ring laser based on anisotropic tapered fiber

We report on a passively high-power Q-switched ring laser based on the active polarization-maintaining double-clad tapered Yb3+-doped fiber (APM-T-DCF) as gain media. It generates 0.24 mJ pulse trains which consist of Q-switched pulses each with the energy of about 48 µJ and up to 385 W of peak power. Q-switched regime was achieved by tuning the optical feedback polarization state and band pass filtering. For the best of our knowledge, for the first time, we demonstrate Q-switched fiber ring laser based on APM-T-DCF.

Nano polarimetry: enhanced AFM-NSOM triple-mode polarimeter tip

A novel application of a combined and enhanced NSOM-AFM tip-photodetector system resulted in a nanoscale Polarimeter, generated by four different holes, each sharing a different shape, and enabling that the four photonic readouts forming the tip will be the four Stokes coefficients, this in order to place the polarization state in the Poincare sphere. The new system has been built on standard Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) cantilever, in order to serve as a triple-mode scanning system, sharing complementary scanning topography, optical data analysis and polarization states. This new device, which has been designed and simulated using Comsol Multi-Physics software package, consists in a Platinum-Silicon drilled conical photodetector, sharing subwavelength apertures, and has been processed using advanced nanotechnology tools on a commercial silicon cantilever. After a comparison study of drilled versus filled tips advantages, and of several optics phenomena such as interferences, the article presents the added value of multiple-apertures scanning tip for nano-polarimetry.

Integrated electro-optic platform using ferroelectric crystals with the point symmetry of orthorhombic mm2

We theoretically and numerically investigate the modulation efficiencies of integrated electro-optic (EO) modulators based on ferroelectric crystals with the point symmetry of orthorhombic mm2. An analytical expression describing the index-ellipsoid under the EO effect is derived, where all 5 non-zero linear EO coefficients of mm2-crystals are considered. As practical candidates for integrated EO platform, three mm2-crystals (KNbO3, KTiOPO4, and Ba2NaNb5O15) that are well-established and commercially available are chosen for numerical simulations. The refractive-index (RI) changes caused by an external electric field applied to each crystal with an arbitrary direction are analyzed in detail for the given optical polarization states of input light wave. For each crystal, the modulation efficiency is evaluated in terms of the half-wave voltage required for a π-phase shift of input wave, which is compared with the established counterpart based on LiNbO3. The results indicate that higher modulation efficiencies are achievable in the two schemes using KNbO3 and Ba2NaNb5O15 than those for other cases, meaning that either lower power-consuming or larger beam-window integrated EO devices are feasible.

Attenuated internal reflection at an interface with a phase change material

Interaction between light and a phase change material is studied in the context of attenuated internal reflection. While the critical angle remains unchanged when an optically thin layer of phase change material is placed at the interface, optical phase shifts, reflectance and polarization states of light are significantly altered during the phase transition. Using vanadium dioxide as a case study, we show possible applications extending from the infrared to the visible spectrum.

Polarization dependence of a graphene-optical fiber hybrid Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

Graphene exhibits a particular optical polarization dependence property, which is that supporting optical polarization states of graphene can be readily altered through tuning the polarity of the imaginary part of its conductivity. The in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) possesses extremely high sensitivity to the surrounding refractive index through cladding modes. Combining graphene and the in-fiber interferometer, a graphene-optical fiber hybrid MZI is constructed. Depending on the graphene polarization dependence property, the interference wavelength of the graphene-optical fiber hybrid MZI expresses periodic drift with the in-fiber light linear polarization angle adjusting within 180°. Meanwhile, drift periods corresponding to different interference wavelengths are slightly different, which is primarily due to the superposition of the polarization dependence behaviors of different cladding modes. For different light polarization states, with the in-fiber optical power increasing, the interference wavelengths and contrast intensities of the hybrid MZI transmission spectrum show a polarization independent linear blue shift and a nonlinear decrease, respectively.

Large and Tunable Chiro-Optical Response with All Dielectric Helical Nanomaterials

Controlling the state of optical polarization is a major focus of modern nanophotonics, which can be achieved quite effectively with plasmonic chiral nanomaterials, such as to obtain intense polarization sensitive optical response. Unfortunately, ohmic losses associated with light absorbed in metallic nanostructures can be a major limiting factor, which has triggered interest in alternate low-loss elements. Here, we describe an all dielectric chiral metamaterial comprising helical core–shell nanostructures, with large refractive index contrast between the core (SiO2) and the shell (Si or Ge). The system exhibits very strong chiro-optical activity (differential transmittance ∼20%) whose spectral characteristics can be tuned by simply controlling the thickness of the shell, thereby covering the entire range from visible to near IR. The numerical calculations match well with the experimental results and suggest the chiro-optical response to originate in magnetic fields that were strongly confined within the ...

Electro-optically induced topological reactions of optical indicatrix orientation and polarization state defects.

We have studied the behavior of topological defects (TDs) of the optical indicatrix orientation and polarization state, which appear when a divergent optical beam propagates through LiNbO3 crystals under an external electric field. We have found that the topological reaction of the splitting of a central TD of optical indicatrix orientation, which occurs under the electric field EX, proceeds according to a scheme 1=1/2+1/2. This reaction splits a doubly charged optical vortex into two singly charged vortices. An increase in the electric field strength leads to angular displacement of the optical vortices, thus making it possible to operate spatial positions of the optical vortices via a Pockels effect. We have found that the lateral TDs with the strengths ±½ represent the defects of the polarization state and are not caused by defects of optical indicatrix orientation. They form topological dipoles and generate optical vortices. These topological dipoles undergo no topological reactions in the external electric field.

Differentiation of soot particulates in air using polarized light scattering method.

Soot is the main light-absorbing particle in the visible range. Light scattering and absorption by air particulates can change their optical polarization state, and the information upon polarization can reflect the nature of particles. In this paper, a polarization scattering method has been developed for the feasibility study concerning differentiating soot from other typical air particulates. Simulation results indicate that S2/S0 at the scattering angle of 115° can identify the soot particles specifically. Single component experiments and double composition experiments are carried out, which confirm the validity of differentiating soot by a polarization indicator. These preliminary simulations, experiments, and field tests also imply the potential of polarization characterization applied in air pollutants analysis.