This PDF file contains the editorial “Reviewers” for OE Vol. 53 Issue 09

The concept of employing a central air hole in the core is exploited to obtain an ultralarge negative dispersion photonic crystal fiber (PCF) over the wavelength range of 1350 to 1650 nm. The results show that the fiber may exhibit an average dispersion well over −500  ps/nm-km with a flattened dispersion profile. It is also found that the fiber shows a high birefringence in the order of 10⁻² over the entire wavelength bands of interest. The endlessly single-mode behavior of PCFs is utilized to ensure the single modedness of the proposed fiber. Also, the technique of liquid crystal infiltration is exploited to suppress one of the two orthogonal modes of the fundamental mode. Along with the single-polarization behavior, the fiber shows an even more negative dispersion profile with less dispersion variation.

This PDF file contains the editorial “Special Section Guest Editorial: Optical Fabrication, Testing, and Metrology” for OE Vol. 53 Issue 09

Finishing of optics for different applications is the most important as well as difficult step to meet the specification of optics. Conventional grinding or other polishing processes are not able to reduce surface roughness beyond a certain limit due to high forces acting on the workpiece, embedded abrasive particles, limited control over process, etc. Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) process provides a new, efficient, and innovative way to finish optical materials as well many metals to their desired level of accuracy. This paper provides an overview of MRF process for different applications, important process parameters, requirement of magnetorheological fluid with respect to workpiece material, and some areas that need to be explored for extending the application of MRF process.

An automatic technique to provide interpolation and continuity in the object surface modeling via Bezier networks is presented. This technique generates the surface model via Bezier networks based on surface points, which are retrieved via laser line scanning. In this model, a Bezier function is added in the surface edge to provide continuity G¹ and interpolation. Preserving these surface properties via network, the model accuracy and object representation are improved. Also, the surface model reduces operations and memory size to generate the object surface. This is because the model is implemented with fewer mathematical terms than the traditional models. The surface model is defined by means of network weights and the control points. The surface measurement is carried out by a Bezier network via line position to avoid external measurement errors. Thus, the computational model generates the object shape with high accuracy. This is because the network interpolates all points of the physical object. The contribution of the proposed technique is corroborated by an evaluation based on interpolation, continuity, memory size, and speed of the traditional models. The evaluation shows evidences of the viability of the proposed network.

An iterative algorithm has been successfully used to process data from the three-flat test. On the basis of the iterative algorithm proposed by Vannoni, which is much faster and more effective than the Zernike polynomial fitting method, an improved algorithm is presented. By optimizing the iterative steps and removing the scaling factors, the surface shape can be easily computed in a few iterations. The validity of the method is proved by computer simulation, and the interpolation error and principle error are analyzed.

Diamond turning assisted by fast tool servo is of high efficiency for the fabrication of freeform optics. This paper describes a long-stroke fast tool servo to obtain a large-amplitude tool motion. It has the advantage of low cost and higher stiffness and natural frequency than other flexure-based long-stroke fast tool servo systems. The fast tool servo is actuated by a voice coil motor and guided by a flexure-hinge structure. Open-loop and close-loop control tests are conducted on the testing platform. While fast tool servo system is an additional motion axis for a diamond turning machine, a tool center adjustment method is described to confirm tool center position in the machine tool coordinate system when the fast tool servo system is fixed on the diamond turning machine. Last, a sinusoidal surface is machined and the results demonstrate that the tool adjustment method is efficient and precise for a flexure-based fast tool servo system, and the fast tool servo system works well on the fabrication of freeform optics.

Some experimental qualitative results are presented with a setup that uses a knife edge for producing partial interferograms, in order to obtain the quality of a lens under test. However, the same method can be extended to test an optical surface. The knife edge is located near the focal point of the lens, covering almost half of the incident laser light beam. The different observed interferograms correspond to the orientation of the knife edge with respect to the optical axis, and its distance to the focus of the lens.

Many advanced dimensional measurements exist that incorporate two-dimensional images of the object to be measured, such as structured-light measurements and photogrammetry. The measurements are quite complex and often suitable calibration artifacts are not available; consequently, a traceable uncertainty analysis is difficult. Advanced optical simulation packages can be used to assess important aspects of the uncertainty. These packages can simulate a virtual object to be measured, simulate a virtual camera, and trace rays as they leave a light source, scatter from the object, propagate through the camera, and arrive at the camera image plane. The result is a virtual image of the object whose dimensions are known. The virtual image(s) can then be processed as part of a dimensional measurement and the results compared to the known dimensions of the object. This allows different uncertainty aspects to be isolated and explored. It can be used to validate and understand the current methods of estimating measurement uncertainty, explore optimal measurement conditions, and/or test data analysis algorithms. These types of measurements involve a camera calibration process and the technique can also be used to check this step. This paper demonstrates the approach as applied to a photogrammetry measurement of a box.

A reflection type white light diffraction phase microscope for full field surface profiling of opaque samples is proposed. The system can extract surface profile from one recorded interferogram without any mechanical movement and the use of white light makes it free from speckle noise. We validated the performance of our system by measuring a known step sample and a high-quality plane sample. The step height of the step sample is found to be 88.5 nm with a standard deviation of 1.4 nm, and the surface peak to valley value of the plane sample is found to be 28.6 nm with a standard deviation of 3 nm.

Current industrial demand for optical nondestructive testing includes the displacement analysis of large object areas. This paper reports on the use of a digital holographic interferometer to measure displacements over an area of 1.14  m² . The object under study is a framed working table covered with a Formica layer fixed to a granite bench, and it is observed and illuminated employing a high speed and high resolution camera and a continuous wave high output power laser, respectively. A stabilization procedure needs to be established as long illumination distances are required in order to retrieve the entire surface optical phase during a series of continuous deformations. As a proof of principle, two different tests are presented: the first involves a slow continuous loading process and the second a vibration condition. The wrapped phase and displacement maps are both displayed.

We investigate the capacity of magnetorheological finishing (MRF) process to remove surface and subsurface defects of fused silica optics. Polished samples with engineered surface and subsurface defects were manufactured and characterized. Uniform material removals were performed with a QED Q22-XE machine using different MRF process parameters in order to remove these defects. We provide evidence that whatever the MRF process parameters are, MRF is able to remove surface and subsurface defects. Moreover, we show that MRF induces a pollution of the glass interface similar to conventional polishing processes.

The aim of this work was an investigation of surface microroughness and shape accuracy achieved on an aspheric lens by subaperture computer numeric control (CNC) polishing. Different optical substrates were polished (OHARA S-LAH 58, SF4, ZERODUR) using a POLITEX™ polishing pad, synthetic pitch, and the natural optical pitch. Surface roughness was measured by light interferometer. The best results were achieved on the S-LAH58 glass and the ZERODUR™ using the natural optical pitch. In the case of SF4 glass, the natural optical pitch showed a tendency to scratch the surface. Experiments also indicated a problem in surface form deterioration when using the natural optical pitch, regardless of the type of optical material.

Angle-resolved scattering techniques are currently used to extract the second-order statistical moments (roughness spectra or autocorrelation function) of surface topography, but have not allowed the recovery of the surface topography itself. We show how we could solve this point with an original setup based on spatially resolved measurements. Hence, the technique provides a breakthrough in light-scattering characterization.

The continuous development of optical technologies and the accompanying requirements on the manufacturing process place challenging demands on metrology. In addition to highly sensitive and robust measurement techniques, the inspection tools should be fast and capable of characterizing large and complex-shaped surfaces. These aspects can be addressed by light-scattering-based characterization techniques, which also enable a large flexibility for the measurement conditions because of the noncontact data acquisition and are, thus, suited not only for ex situ but also in situ characterization scenarios. Application examples ranging from the roughness characterization of magneto-rheological finished substrates to polished extreme ultraviolet mirror substrates with diameters of more than 600 mm by compact as well as laboratory-based instruments are presented.

Rolling shutter effect commonly exists in a video camera or a mobile phone equipped with a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensor, caused by a row-by-row exposure mechanism. As video resolution in both spatial and temporal domains increases dramatically, removing rolling shutter effect fast and effectively becomes a challenging problem, especially for devices with limited hardware resources. We propose a fast method to compensate rolling shutter effect, which uses a piecewise quadratic function to approximate a camera trajectory. The duration of a quadratic function in each segment is equal to one frame (or half-frame), and each quadratic function is described by an initial velocity and a constant acceleration. The velocity and acceleration of each segment are estimated using only a few global (or semiglobal) motion vectors, which can be simply predicted from fast motion estimation algorithms. Then geometric image distortion at each scanline is inferred from the predicted camera trajectory for compensation. Experimental results on mobile phones with full-HD video demonstrate that our method can not only be implemented in real time, but also achieve satisfactory visual quality.

We demonstrated two ballistic imaging for an object hidden behind turbid media using the optical Kerr gate (OKG) and spatial filtering (SF), respectively. The influence of the scattering parameters of the turbid media on the image contrast was investigated. The experimental results showed that the image contrast of the SF imaging decreased significantly with increasing optical density and scattering particle size of the turbid media. Compared to the SF imaging, the OKG imaging showed a higher and more stable image contrast as scattering photons in the optical gated imaging case were more effectively eliminated.

We present an improved directional weighted interpolation method for single-sensor camera imaging. By observing the fact that the conventional directional weighted interpolation methods are based on unreliable assumptions using spectral correlation, a contribution of this work is made using an antialiasing finite impulse response filter to improve the interpolation accuracy by exploiting robust spectral correlation. We also make a contribution toward refining the interpolation result by using the gradient inverse weighted filtering method. An experimental analysis of images revealed that our proposed algorithm provided superior performance in terms of both objective and subjective image quality compared to conventional directional weighted demosaicking algorithms. Our implementation has very low complexity and is, therefore, well suited for real-time applications.

Two color image coding schemes based on single bit map block truncation coding are proposed in this paper. The first scheme employs the optimal rule for single bit map generation. In addition, the quantization level recomputation process is designed. By using these two techniques, a fixed bit rate image coding scheme is introduced. To further cut down the required bit rates of the first scheme, the similar block prediction technique and the bit map omission technique are employed in the second scheme. According to the experimental results, the first scheme proposed significantly improves the image qualities of the compressed images compared to the traditional single bit map block truncation coding scheme. In addition, good image qualities of the compressed images are achieved by the second scheme while keeping bit rates low.

This paper reports transient response characteristics of active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) displays for mobile applications. This work reports that the rising responses look like saw-tooth waveform and are not always faster than those of liquid crystal displays. Thus, a driving technology is proposed to improve the rising transient responses of AMOLED based on the overdrive (OD) technology. We modified the OD technology by combining it with a dithering method because the conventional OD method cannot successfully enhance all the rising responses. Our method can improve all the transitions of AMOLED without modifying the conventional gamma architecture of drivers. A new artifact is found when OD is applied to certain transitions. We propose an optimum OD selection method to mitigate the artifact. The implementation results show the proposed technology can successfully improve motion quality of scrolling texts as well as moving pictures in AMOLED displays.

A mobile incoherent Doppler lidar was developed at the University of Science and Technology of China. The lidar consists of three subsystems. All subsystems are designed based on the well-proven double-edge technique, operate at 354.7 nm, and use Fabry–Perot etalons as frequency discriminators. The whole system is designed for wind measurement from 15- to 60-km height. In order to make the lidar receiver more compact and stable and to reduce interference between optical paths inside the receiver box, fiber splitters are introduced into the lidar receivers as a substitute for normally used discrete components. According to the stability of the splitter, the wind error dominated by the splitting ratio would be <0.49  m/s. To reduce luminance heterogeneity’s influence on the splitter performance, an integrating sphere is used in the system. Multiple measurements of transmission curves have a maximum mean squared error of 9.674E−5. A typical result of wind profile is also given to help demonstrate the reliability of the lidar and the fiber-based receiver.

An approach that addresses defect detection in textured surfaces based on the wavelet-domain hidden Markov tree (HMT) model is proposed. The proposed scheme includes two successive stages, i.e., training and inspection. During the training process, an HMT for the wavelet transform (WT) of an a priori acquired defect-free template image is modeled using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. With the trained HMT, a log-likelihood map (LLM) that consists of the likelihood of each coefficient can be efficiently constructed. This LLM provides a good classifier for discriminating defects from regular textures. By comparing the LLM of any defective sample under inspection with that of the template, a thresholding process can typically set the coefficients corresponding to the regular texture background to zero, while preserving those corresponding to defective regions. Therefore, in a reconstructed image obtained by the inverse two-dimensional WT of the modified coefficients, the texture patterns will be significantly eliminated, whereas the defective regions will be distinctly highlighted. The performance of the proposed method has been extensively evaluated by a variety of samples with different defect types, shapes, sizes, and texture backgrounds. Experimental results in comparison with other methods demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method on defect detection in textured surfaces.

Three-dimensional (3-D) video brings people strong visual perspective experience, but also introduces large data and complexity processing problems. The depth estimation algorithm is especially complex and it is an obstacle for real-time system implementation. Meanwhile, high-resolution depth maps are necessary to provide a good image quality on autostereoscopic displays which deliver stereo content without the need for 3-D glasses. This paper presents a hardware implementation of a full high-definition (HD) depth estimation system that is capable of processing full HD resolution images with a maximum processing speed of 125 fps and a disparity search range of 240 pixels. The proposed field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based architecture implements a fusion strategy matching algorithm for efficiency design. The system performs with high efficiency and stability by using a full pipeline design, multiresolution processing, synchronizers which avoid clock domain crossing problems, efficient memory management, etc. The implementation can be included in the video systems for live 3-D television applications and can be used as an independent hardware module in low-power integrated applications.

Utilizing an implicit nonparametric learning framework, a neighbor-embedding-based method is proposed to solve the remote-sensing pan-sharpening problem. First, the original high-resolution (HR) and downsampled panchromatic (Pan) images are used to train the high/low-resolution (LR) patch pair dictionaries. Based on the perspective of locally linear embedding, patches in LR and HR images form manifolds with similar local intrinsic structure in the corresponding feature space. Every patch in each multispectral (MS) image band is modeled by its K nearest neighbors in the patch set generated from the LR Pan image, and this model can be generalized to the HR condition. Then, the desired HR MS patch is reconstructed from the corresponding neighbors in the HR Pan patch set. Finally, HR MS images are recovered by stitching these patches together. Recognizing that the K nearest neighbors should have local geometric structures similar to the input query patch based on clustering, we employ a dominant orientation algorithm to perform such clustering. The K nearest neighbors of each input LR MS patch are adaptively chosen from the associate subdictionary. Four datasets of images acquired by QuickBird and IKONOS satellites are used to test the performance of the proposed method. Experimental results show that the proposed method performs well in preserving spectral information as well as spatial details.

A concise band selection method employing multispectral signatures of stealth aircraft whose infrared radiation was remarkably reduced was proposed for precise target detection. The key step was to select two or more optimal bands which could clearly signify the radiation difference between the target and its background. The principle of preliminary selection was based on the differences of radiation characteristics for the two main constituents of the aircraft’s plume gas, i.e., CO₂ and H₂O . Two narrow bands of 2.86 to 3.3 and 4.17 to 4.55  μm were finally selected after detailed analyses on contrast characteristics between the target and background. Also, the stability of the selected bands was tested under varying environments. Further simulations and calculations demonstrated that the multispectral detection method utilizing the two selected narrow bands could markedly improve the essential performances of target detection systems and increase their achievable detection distance. The stability of the aircraft’s multispectral signatures enabled this target detection method to achieve excellent results.

Fringe projection profilometry (FPP) using a digital video projector is widely used for three-dimensional shape measurement. However, the gamma nonlinearity, system vibration, and noise cause the captured fringe patterns to be nonsinusoidal waveforms and have a grayscale deflection from their true value. This leads to an additional phase measurement error for a general phase-shifting algorithm. Based on the theoretical analysis, we propose a method to eliminate the phase error considering two factors. In this method, four-step phase-shifting is done four times with an initial phase offset of 22.5 deg and the average of these four phase maps precisely results in the real phase. As a result, phase error caused by gamma nonlinearity can be effectively suppressed. In addition, every image in phase shifting is replaced by the average of 20 fringe images continuously captured at the same state to avoid the phase error caused by system vibration and noise. Experimental results show that this method is effective in eliminating the phase error in practical phase-shifting FPP. In general, more than 90% of the phase error can be reduced.

Ion beam figuring (IBF) provides a nanometer/subnanometer precision fabrication technology for optical components, where the surface materials on highlands are gradually removed by the physical sputtering effect. In this deterministic method, the figuring process is usually divided into several iterations and the sum of the removed material in each iteration is expected to approach the ideally removed material as nearly as possible. However, we find that the material removal programming in each iteration would influence the surface error convergence of the figuring process. The influence of material removal programming on the surface error evolution is investigated through the comparative study of the contour removal method (CRM) and the geometric proportion removal method (PRM). The research results indicate that the PRM can maintenance the smoothness of the surface topography during the whole figuring process, which would benefit the stable operation of the machine tool and avoid the production of mid-to-high spatial frequency surface errors. Additionally, the CRM only has the corrective effect on the area above the contour line in each iteration, which would result in the nonuniform convergence of the surface errors in various areas. All these advantages distinguish PRM as an appropriate material removal method for ultraprecision optical surfaces.

This paper presents a semirigid (SR) bonnet tool which has the advantages of high efficiency and determinacy for material removal on optical elements and also has the potential to be used on aspheric optics. It consists of three layers: a metal sheet, a rubber membrane, and a polishing pad, from inside to outside. It inherits the flexibility of a normal bonnet but has a higher stiffness. Finite element analysis was performed to determine that the stainless steel is the best-suited material for use as the metal sheet. An SR bonnet with a stainless-steel metal sheet was fabricated and tested. Its tool influence function (TIF) is Gaussian-like, and the TIF stability is more than 90%. The peak-to-valley of its uniform removal area is less than 0.1λ . Tool ripples are highly depressed and the surface profile is well preserved in the prepolishing test. In 12 min, ∼36  mm³ of material is removed.

Conventional strapdown gyrocompass alignment methods are based on the assumption that the fiber-optic-gyro inertial navigation system has a small azimuth misalignment angle. A large azimuth misalignment angle would lead to an extension of the alignment duration. A time-varying gyrocompass alignment method to solve this problem is provided. An appropriate parameter setting is given for the gyrocompass alignment with a large misalignment angle. Also, a proper protocol for a parametric switch is derived. Simulation and trail results show that the proposed method has better alignment performance than conventional ones, as the system has large misalignment angles.

We report on the focusing performance of reflective two-dimensionally varying high contrast grating lenses based on silicon. The combination of their subwavelength nature and their high refractive index contrast makes it possible to create highly tolerant and planar microlenses. We used a rigorous mathematical code to design the lenses and verified their performance with finite element simulations. We also investigated the effects of grating thickness, angle, and wavelength of incidence in these simulations. Experimentally, we show the evolution of the beam profile along the optical axis for a lens with a high (0.37) numerical aperture. We have explored a wide range of numerical apertures (0.1–0.93) and show that the lenses behave as expected across the full range. Our analyses demonstrate the large design flexibility with which these lenses can be made along with ease of fabrication and potential for a number of applications in micro-optics.

An emerging airborne laser (ABL) threat to commercial and scientific space telescopes is described. Techniques for hardening commercial satellites against ABLs and ground-based lasers are presented.

An optical approach to generating chirped microwave signal using a photonic microwave delay-line filter (PMDLF) with a quadratic phase response is proposed and demonstrated. In this scheme, a narrow band Gaussian pulse is used as the original signal. In order to eliminate the need for a wideband original microwave chirped-free signal, a mixer and a radio frequency signal are used to up-convert the spectrum of the original signal and the dispersion curve is tuned to minimize the attenuation caused by the fiber dispersion. Then the required frequency response can be reconstructed by a nonuniformly spaced PMDLF. Since the majority of the power of the original signal can bypass the filter, the power of the generated chirped microwave signal will be increased. A reconstruction example of a desired frequency response with a central frequency of 10 GHz is provided, and the generation of the corresponding chirped microwave signal is demonstrated by numerical simulations.

An optically magnifying device for viewing a distant object is proposed. Since this device can be made in the form of a thin plate and can also have a large viewing area, a flat-plate magnifier is realized. The flat-plate magnifier mounted onto an eyeglass frame as a substitute for each lens provides a light-weight, hands-free magnifier. The flat-plate magnifier is made as a 3 to 4-mm-thick plastic plate and can be made up to 30 to 40 mm in diameter. The flat-plate magnifier is a two-dimensional array of magnifying modules and each magnifying module consists of a micromagnifier and a ray angle adjuster. The micromagnifier comprises a concave mirror and a convex mirror and magnifies the view. The ray angle adjuster is a transparent wedge and expands the viewing area. The flat-plate magnifier is designed so that the achromatic condition is satisfied by cancelling the angular dispersion produced by the micromagnifier with that of the ray angle adjuster. A prototype of the flat-plate magnifier with a diameter of 9 mm and a magnification power of 3 was demonstrated.

In this paper, we focus on the M-k-B addition of the form M+B₁+B₂+…+B_k based on an optical approach, where M is a modified signed-digit number and B_i’s are the binary numbers. We present three transforms C, P, and R and an algorithm of carry-free parallel addition of M and B. Based on these transforms, the accumulation computing M-k-B is proposed which indicates that it requires only 2k steps to complete the addition in parallel. Then, the optical structures for C, P, and R transforms as well as the adder realizing M+B are designed. Moreover, a photoelectric implementation of the ternary optical adder to realize M-1-B structure using the reconfiguration method is presented. Additionally, an optical experiment for 2-bit M-2-B ternary adder is carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of M-k-B adder. The work indicates that the parallel carry-free addition in form M₀+B₁+B₂+…+B_k is easily completed.

Space-division multiplexing allows an increase of link capacity by using either multicore or single-core few-mode (FM) optical fibers. In the case of FM systems, each mode carries its own data stream and long-haul transmission can be hampered by the use of conventional erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), since because of distinct field profile configurations, each mode experiences a different value of optical gain. The role of the FM-EDFA designer, usually done by solving rate and propagation equations, is to define both the fiber cross-section and the pumping configuration to provide the best possible mode equalization of optical gain and noise figure. An optimization method is proposed here based on the definition of a figure of merit related to the equalization of the pump-mode signal overlap integral, significantly reducing computation time and allowing a multiobjective optimization approach. The results obtained were validated against the solution provided by the full set of rate and propagation equations and we conducted an FM-EDFA optimization case study. Our double-ring Er doping profile design requires a single 180-mW LP₁₁ pump to provide a mean gain of 21.3 dB, within 0.6 dB of equalization for each of the four modes considered.

Results from tests and analyses of multimode optical fibers for an avionic optical network under a variety of stress conditions are presented. Experiments revealed vibrational and temperature changes of distinct multimode fibers. Results lead to the discussion of influenced insertion losses and especially reduced bandwidth corresponding to modal distribution changes. It was determined that these crucial parameters could affect system reliability when an airplane network intersects thermal and vibrational variable environments.

A reflective beam shaper is designed for the purpose of compensation of the low-order aberrations in high-power slab lasers. A proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control algorithm is used to control the optical parameters of a beam shaper for active compensation of low-order aberrations. Simulations of the PID algorithm show that different combinations of defocus, 0-deg astigmatism, and 45-deg astigmatism, which are the main contributors of beam aberrations in slab lasers, can be well compensated by variation of distance and rotation angle of mirrors. For a beam with large wave aberrations [peak-to-valley (PtV)=87.7λ , root-mean-square (RMS)=19λ ], the adjustment of distance between mirrors is less than 100 mm, and the rotation angle about the z-axis is <3.2  deg , and the wavefront distortion is reduced to a level (PtV=0.50λ , RMS=0.09λ ) that can be further corrected with one deformable mirror. The effectiveness and performance of low-order aberration compensation with the reflective beam shaper are also verified by experiments.

The question concerning stability of a fundamental Bessel beam propagated in a turbulent atmosphere is considered. In this study, features of the spatial structure of distribution of the mean intensity of a fundamental Bessel beam in a randomly inhomogeneous medium are analyzed in detail. Features of the propagation of an optical Bessel beam in a turbulent atmosphere are studied on the basis of the second-order mutual coherence function of the field of an optical beam by using the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle. A condition has been derived for the mean intensity of a Bessel beam, which is a quantitative criterion for the formation of a beam along a long path in a turbulent atmosphere.

We propose an enhanced 16 Spiral quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) (16 E-Spiral QAM) scheme to overcome the laser phase noise in a coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) system. Considering both additive white Gaussian noise and large phase noise, 16 E-Spiral QAM schemes have a better transmission performance compared to conventional 16 QAM CO-OFDM systems. The simulated results show that the required optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of the proposed 16 QAM is, respectively, 0.8 and 2.3 dB less than 16 Spiral and conventional 16 QAM at a bit error rate (BER) of 10⁻³ in a back-to-back case. After 800-km transmission over a single-mode fiber, the tolerance for the laser linewidth of the 16 E-Spiral QAM can improve about 30 kHz with an OSNR of 18 dB compared to that of a conventional 16 QAM.

A real-time base-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transceiver with symbol synchronization, channel equalization, sampling clock frequency synchronization, and adaptive modulation technique is successfully implemented by field programmable gate arrays and a 2.5-GSps digital-to-analog converter and analog-to-digital converter. The real-time optical OFDM signal at a raw bit rate of 5.156 Gbps within about 1.1-GHz bandwidth transmission over 100-km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) is experimentally investigated in a simple intensity-modulation and direct-detection system. The experimental results show that the real-time system has a good bit error rate (BER) performance by using an adaptive modulation technique according to the conditions on the subchannels. After 100-km SSMF transmission, at a BER of 1×10⁻³, the power penalty is <1  dB. Moreover, there is a negligible penalty between the off-line and real-time digital signal processing results.

A high-performance and compact binary blazed subwavelength grating coupler was designed, which consists of the upper grating coupler and the lower layer grating reflector. A large part of light transmitted out to the substrate due to the existence of gratings can be efficiently reflected with normal incidence. Then, the propagating light is augmented and the coupling efficiency obtains its maximum value. By the appropriate choice of grating parameters, including thicknesses, periods, height, and filling factor, a coupling efficiency of beyond 80% at wavelengths from 1.535 to 1.555  μm is calculated. Finally, the device layout is simple, feasible, and compatible with standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology processing.

The presence of vestigial-sideband optical filter, dispersion and chirp of modulator increases subcarrier to subcarrier intermixing interference (SSII), which significantly restricts transmission performance. For the first time, the iterative interference cancellation method is introduced to calculate and eliminate SSII. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrate a 40-Gbps, 16-QAM, dual drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM)-based system transmission through 100-km uncompensated standard single-mode fiber. The impact of chirp on iterative algorithm is also experimentally evaluated by setting different optical phase modulation amplitudes on the two arms of the dual drive MZM.

An improved eighth-order statistics (EOS) blind phase recovery method is proposed for high-order coherent modulation formats. The method uses a multistage feed-forward carrier phase recovery algorithm by combining an EOS blind phase estimate with a maximum-likelihood carrier phase estimate. Experimental results show that the proposed new algorithm can reduce the required computational effort by more than a factor of 3 for a 16-QAM system.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate the superior performance of a 40-Gbps 16-quadrature amplitude modulation virtual single sideband (VSSB) direct detection optical frequency division multiplexing system with symbol predistortion to mitigate subcarriers-to-subcarriers beating interference. The VSSB signal is generated in the electronic domain by combining the baseband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signals and sinusoidal waves without a frequency gap to maximize the electrical and optical spectral efficiencies. The results show that 5-dB optical signal to noise ratio sensitivity improvement is obtained by using symbol predistortion.

A method is proposed to minimize the effect of temperature on a long-period fiber grating (LPG), enabling its effective use for the interrogation of wavelength-modulated fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. The temperature dependence of LPG is compensated by means of creating the opposite effect from the temperature-induced strain, attributed by appropriately encapsulating in a specially designed Teflon tube. The encapsulated LPG has achieved six times stabilization over the bare LPG response for the temperature range of 20°C to 50°C. Application of the athermalized LPG for interrogation of an FBG-based temperature sensor is experimentally demonstrated.

This work describes efficient and polarization insensitive, all-incoherent four-wave mixing wavelength conversion achieved within a short length of highly nonlinear fiber medium, created by using both spectrally sliced pump and probe channels from a single-amplified spontaneous emission source coupled to two narrowband Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) filters. This simple and cost-effective scheme is capable of generating a down-converted probe channel across a 17.2-nm wavelength span, while still maintaining a high conversion efficiency of around −22  dB and an optical-signal-to-noise ratio of ∼21  dB. The effects of pump power, FBG detuning, and polarization are also reported.

We propose a one-point to multipoint distributed time transfer through passive optical networks using a time division multiple access (TDMA) based two-way time transfer. The clock at each clock user node is, in turn, compared with the high-precision reference clock at a master node by a two-way time transfer during assigned subperiods. The corresponding TDMA control protocol and time transfer units for the proposed scheme are designed and implemented. A 1×8 experimental system with a 20 km single-mode fiber in each subpath is demonstrated. The results show that a standard deviation of <60  ps can be reached in each comparison subperiod.

We experimentally demonstrate the superior performance of a 40-Gbps 16-QAM half-cycle Nyquist subcarrier modulation (SCM) transmission over a 100-km uncompensated standard single-mode fiber using dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator-based vestigial sideband intensity modulation and direct detection. The impact of modulator chirp on the system performance is experimentally evaluated. This Nyquist-SCM technique is compared with optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing in both back-to-back and 100-km transmission experiments, and the results show that the Nyquist system has a better performance.

Direct write digital holography technique (DWDH) using a single 440-nm pulsed laser exposure has been proposed to record master holograms on commercially available positive-tone photoresist systems based on a mixture of diazonaphthoquinone and novolac resin (DNQ-novolac) of different thicknesses. The DNQ-novolac nanocomposite doped with copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) films was also used. The method for numerical evaluation of hologram quality based on reflected beam diffraction intensity measurements was proposed and verified. It was found that all investigated photoresist nanocomposites were sensitive enough to record holographic structures at low single pulse laser exposures (from 3.3 to 18.0  mJ/cm²). Moreover, doping DNQ-novolac nanocomposite with CuNPs s increases its sensitivity to pulsed laser exposure by more than 30%. The potential of single pulsed laser exposures to record high quality master holograms on commercially available and metal nanoparticles doped photoresists with at least five times lower exposures values as compared to the continuous-wave laser exposures usually used to expose photoresist materials in holographic applications, opens the possibility to use pulsed lasers for quick master-originals origination for embossed holograms applying a DWDH technique or analog methods.

Ice structures provide load-bearing capability for energy exploitation and transportation in cold regions. Meanwhile, staff and facilities take a risk due to large amounts of distributed macrocracks in ice roads, ice bridges, and ice platforms. It is critical to monitor macrocracks for detecting and understanding the fracture process under such a harsh environment. Aiming to obtain real-time, long-term, and quantitative crack opening information for ice structures, this paper presents a feasibility study on monitoring macrocracks with a low modulus polymer packaged optical fiber sensor. Brillouin optical time-domain analysis-based sensing technology is utilized for the distributed strain measurement. According to in situ monitoring requirements, a type of silicone rubber material with appropriate mechanical properties is selected to fabricate the sensor. On this basis, a strain transfer analysis on the packaged and embedded sensor is carried out to derive the relation between the optical measurement and the increment of the crack width. The prototypes have been evaluated by demonstration tests on a tensile device and an ice road model. The experimental results show the sensor can survive in a cold environment and under the large strain resulting from the macrocrack opening. These measured data agree well with the linear calibration. The macrocracks opening in large-scale ice structures can be characterized based on the optical sensor.

One attractive option to achieve real-time terahertz (THz) imaging is a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) bimaterial sensor with embedded metamaterial absorbers. We have demonstrated that metamaterial films can be designed using standard MEMS materials such as silicon oxide (SiO_x), silicon oxinitrate (SiO_xN_y), and aluminum (Al) to achieve nearly 100% resonant absorption matched to the illumination source, providing structural support, desired thermomechanical properties and access to external optical readout. The metamaterial structure absorbs the incident THz radiation and transfers the heat to bimaterial microcantilevers that are connected to the substrate, which acts as a heat sink via thermal insulating legs, allowing the overall structure to deform proportionally to the absorbed power. The amount of deformation can be probed by measuring the displacement of a laser beam reflected from the sensor’s metallic ground plane. Several sensor configurations have been designed, fabricated, and characterized to optimize responsivity and speed of operation and to minimize structural residual stress. Measured responsivity values as high as 1.2  deg/μW and time constants as low as 20 ms with detectable power on the order of 10 nW were obtained, indicating that the THz MEMS sensors have a great potential for real-time imaging.

Modulation bandwidth and frequency chirping of the optical injection-locked (OIL) microring laser (MRL) in the cascaded configuration are investigated. The unidirectional operation of the MRL under strong injection allows simple and cost-saving monolithic integration of the OIL system on one chip as it does not need the use of isolators between the master and slave lasers. Two cascading schemes are discussed in detail by focusing on the tailorable modulation response. The chip-to-power ratio of the cascaded optical injection-locked configuration has decreased by up to two orders of magnitude, compared with the single optical injection-locked configuration.

We report on waveguide lasers at 1064.5 nm in femtosecond laser-written double-cladding waveguides in Nd:GdVO₄ crystals. The cladding waveguides guide both transverse electric (TE)- and transverse magnetic (TM)-polarized modes with considerably symmetric single-modal profiles and show good transmission properties (propagation loss as low as 1.0  dB/cm). The detailed structure of the single and double claddings has been imaged by means of μ-Raman analysis, and the observed slight fabrication asymmetries with respect to an ideal circular cladding are in well agreement with the observed differences in TE/TM propagation losses. Importantly, the Raman imaging shows the complete absence of lattice defect at the laser active volume. Under the optical pumping at 808 nm, a maximum output power up to 0.43 W of the continuous wave waveguide laser with a slope efficiency of 52.3% has been achieved in the double-cladding waveguide, which is 21.6% and 23% higher than that from a single-inner cladding waveguide. Furthermore, the maximum output power of the waveguide laser is 72% higher than that of the double-line waveguide due to the double-cladding design.

An efficient and high-performance binary blazed grating coupler was designed based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) used for silicon-based hybrid photodetector integration in an arrayed waveguide grating demodulation integrated microsystem. A relatively high coupling efficiency was obtained to optimize mode matching by the finite-difference time-domain method by choosing appropriate grating parameters, including period, etching depth, and fill factor. Coupling efficiency output at 1550 nm for the TE mode reached 68%. This value was <60% in the wavelength range of 1450 to 1600 nm, specifically 71.4% around 1478 nm. An InP/InGaAs photodetector and SOI wafer were integrated by using benzocyclobutene (BCB) bonding. When the thickness of the BCB bonding layer was 440 nm, power absorption efficiency at 1550 nm for the TE mode reached 78.5%, whereas efficiency reached ∼81.8% around 1475 nm.

An overview of recent advances in biosensors and bioactuators based on biocomputing systems is presented. Biosensors digitally process multiple biochemical signals through Boolean logic networks of coupled biomolecular reactions and produce an output in the form of a YES/NO response. Compared to traditional single-analyte sensing devices, the biocomputing approach enables high-fidelity multianalyte biosensing, which is particularly beneficial for biomedical applications. Multisignal digital biosensors thus promise advances in rapid diagnosis and treatment of diseases by processing complex patterns of physiological biomarkers. Specifically, they can provide timely detection and alert medical personnel of medical emergencies together with immediate therapeutic intervention. Application of the biocomputing concept has been successfully demonstrated for systems performing logic analysis of biomarkers corresponding to different injuries, particularly as exemplified for liver injury. Wide-ranging applications of multianalyte digital biosensors in medicine, environmental monitoring, and homeland security are anticipated. “Smart” bioactuators, for signal-triggered drug release, for example, were designed by interfacing switchable electrodes with biocomputing systems. Integration of biosensing and bioactuating systems with biomolecular information processing systems advances the potential for further scientific innovations and various practical applications.

We propose a different type of asymmetric photonic crystal waveguide to achieve slow light with improved normalized delay-bandwidth product and low group velocity dispersion. The lateral symmetry of the proposed waveguide is broken by periodically shifting the two rows of air holes adjacent to the line defect. Under two simple different procedures of shifting air holes, the group indices of 41, 50, 68, and 114 with bandwidths over 14.9, 11, 7.8, and 4.7 nm, and the group indices of 43, 54, 73, and 124 with bandwidths over 13.9, 10.4, 7.1, and 4.3 nm around 1550 nm are obtained, respectively. Low-dispersion slow light propagation is confirmed by studying the relative temporal pulse-width spreading with the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method.

We demonstrate that under continuous single-beam excitation, one can generate an abnormal anti-Stokes Raman emission (AASRE) whose properties are similar to a coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering. The effect has been observed in mesoscopic materials, which possess intrinsically nonlinear properties [lithium niobate (LiNbO₃), bismuth germanium oxide (Bi₁₂GeO₂₀; BGO), bismuth silicon oxide (Bi₁₂GeO₂₀; BSO)], which have a nonzero electric susceptibility of the third order, χ⁽³⁾≠0. Corroborated Raman and coherent backscattering studies demonstrate that the occurrence of both effects is conditioned by the existence of a mesoscopic morphology of the sample, which is able to ensure efficient transport of the light inside the sample through a multiple light scattering mechanism. In this context, both AASRE and coherent backscattering effects are because of the Anderson localization of the light.

The corresponding author for this article [Opt. Eng.. 53, (9 ), 092004 (2014)] has been changed from Bo Gao to Liqun Chai. The paper was corrected online on 4 June 2014.