A visible light communication (VLC)-based high-accuracy indoor positioning system is proposed and demonstrated. In this system, the light-emitting diode identification (LED-ID) indicating the position information of the LED can be transmitted to the receiver by the illumination LED through VLC. In the meantime, with the aid of a camera and angular sensors of the mobile device, a coordinate transform can be employed to calculate the relative position between the receiver and the reference LED so that the position of the receiver can be determined. Finally, the experimental results show that 2-cm positioning accuracy can be achieved and the simulation results indicate that the positioning error can be limited within 4.7 cm when the accuracy of angular sensors is 1 deg.

We present the first optoelectronic integrated bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) receiver chip with an avalanche photodiode (APD). A large 200-μm-diameter APD connected to a high-speed transimpedance amplifier designed for a 2-Gbps optical wireless communication system is proposed. The complete chip was realized in a 0.35-μm silicon BiCMOS technology. Due to the thick intrinsic zone and multiplication gain, the responsivity of the APD reaches a value of up to 120  A/W for a wavelength of 675 nm. Furthermore, the capacitance of the APD is <500  fF for reverse bias voltages above 18 V. The receiver has a supply voltage of 3.3 V with a current consumption of 76 mA. The delivered 50-Ω single-ended output swing is 550  mV_pp and the overall transimpedance is 260  kΩ with 1.02-GHz bandwidth. The achieved data rate is 2 Gbps with a sensitivity of −30.3  dBm at a bit error rate <10⁻⁹.

Phase unwrapping is the final step in phase extraction methods, which consists of recovering the correct phase from the wrapped phase by removing 2π discontinuities. The difference between the correct phase and the wrapped phase is the phase wrapping map. A new method for phase unwrapping is presented by identifying the phase wrapping map as a sequence of binary valued intermediate wrapping maps and iteratively removing them producing the correct phase by phase-wrapped unfolding. A path-following algorithm is presented to exemplify the phase wrapped unfolding method.

This PDF file contains the editorial “Special Section Guest Editorial: Complex Light” for OE Vol. 54 Issue 11

We propose a simple method of realizing an accurate position detection of phase singularities in an optical vortex (OV) beam using a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor (SH-WFS). The method calculates circulations which are the discrete contour integrals of phase slope vectors measured by the SH-WFS and then determines the accurate positions of the singular points by calculating the centers-of-gravity with a fixed window size around the local peak of the circulation distribution. We use closed paths that connect the centers of eight-connected, instead of 2×2-neighboring lenslet apertures for calculating the circulations. Both the numerical analysis and proof-of-principle experiment were performed to confirm the measurement accuracy. In experiments, the positions of singular points in OV beams generated by a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator were measured. The root-mean-square error of the position measurement was approximately 0.09 in units of the lens size of the lenslet array used in the SH-WFS. We also estimated the topological charges of the singular points being detected based on the peak circulations, and the results agreed well with theoretical ones. The method achieves both rapid implementation and sublens-size spatial resolution detection and is suitable for applications that require real-time control of OV beams.

The trajectory of all nonparaxial accelerating two-dimensional (2-D) light beams known to date cannot bend higher than a semicircle. A recent paper by Alonso and Bandres suggested the use of an additional mirror to generate an accelerating beam’s path that would be curved greater than a semicircle but less than an entire circle. We, for the first time, show how to generate a 2-D light field with its power flux circulating about a ring. Also, we consider accelerating nonparaxial asymmetric 2-D Bessel beams, which are obtained from a conventional 2-D Bessel beam by shifting its center to the complex plane. We show numerically that with increasing asymmetry parameter of the Bessel beam, its curved path becomes shorter, whereas the side-lobes are suppressed with respect to the central peak.

Monolithic microchip lasers consist of a thin slice of laser crystal where the cavity mirrors are deposited directly onto the end faces. While this property makes such lasers very compact and robust, it prohibits the use of intracavity laser beam shaping techniques to produce complex light fields. We overcome this limitation and demonstrate the selection of complex light fields in the form of vector-vortex beams directly from a monolithic microchip laser. We employ pump reshaping and a thermal gradient across the crystal surface to control both the intensity and polarization profile of the output mode. In particular, we show laser oscillation on a superposition of Laguerre–Gaussian modes of zero radial and nonzero azimuthal index in both the scalar and vector regimes. Such complex light fields created directly from the source could find applications in fiber injection, materials processing and in simulating quantum processes.

We present a same-path polarization interferometer that uses two spatial light modulators to encode the most general type of Poincaré beam. We demonstrate this design by presenting new results on the encoding of symmetric C-point polarization singularities using spatial modes with high-order topological charges. We also present new results on composite C-points. These are cases where there are multiple C-points in a single beam obtained by combining two modes with composite optical vortices in orthogonal states of polarization. The measurements show good agreement with the simulations.

This work presents propagation dynamics of structured light (complex light) containing optical vortices after it has undergone multiple reflections in a spiral phase plate (SPP) device having a nonzero surface reflection. In the calculations, the thick-plate approximation is assumed as it is expected to give a more accurate representation of the standard geometry of an SPP device from a low-surface reflection to a high-surface reflection. Calculations showing the propagation of counter-rotating optical vortices are presented, and the effect of the statistical nature of photons on the observation of the angular intensity modulation of the beam is discussed.

A design of spiral phase plates for the generation of multiring beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) is presented. Besides the usual helical profile, these phase plates present radial π-discontinuities in correspondence of the zeros of the associated Laguerre polynomials. Samples were fabricated by electron beam lithography over glass substrates coated with a polymethylmethacrylate resist layer. The optical response was analyzed and the purity of the generated beams was investigated in terms of Laguerre-Gaussian modes contributions. The far-field intensity pattern was compared with theoretical models and numerical simulations, while the expected phase features were confirmed by interferometric analysis with a Mach-Zehnder setup. The high quality of the output beams confirms the applicability of these phase plates for the generation of high-order OAM beams with nonzero radial index. An application consisting of the design of computer-generated holograms encoding information for light beams carrying phase singularities is presented and described. A numerical code based on an iterative Fourier transform algorithm has been developed for the computation of phase-only diffractive optical element for illumination under OAM beams. Numerical analysis and preliminary experimental results confirm the applicability of these devices as high-security optical elements for anticounterfeiting applications.

We have previously demonstrated on-demand dynamic coupling to optically manipulated microtools coined as wave-guided optical waveguides using diffractive techniques on a “point and shoot” approach. These microtools are extended microstructures fabricated using two-photon photopolymerization and function as free-floating optically trapped waveguides. Dynamic coupling of focused light via these structures being moved in three-dimensional space is done holographically. However, calculating the necessary holograms is not straightforward when using counter-propagating trapping geometry. The generation of the coupling spots is done in real time following the position of each microtool with the aid of an object tracking routine. This approach allows continuous coupling of light through the microtools which can be useful in a variety of biophotonics applications. To complement the targeted-light delivery capability of the microtools, the applied spatial light modulator has been illuminated with a properly matched input beam cross section based on the generalized phase contrast method. Our results show a significant gain in the output at the tip of each microtool as measured from the fluorescence signal of the trapping medium. The ability to switch from on-demand to continuous addressing with efficient illumination leverages our microtools for potential applications in stimulation and near-field-based biophotonics on cellular scales.

Propagation-invariant structured laser beams possess several unique properties and play an important role in various photonics applications. The majority of propagation invariant beams are produced in the form of laser modes emanating from stable laser cavities. Therefore, their spatial structure is limited by the intracavity mode formation. We show that several types of anamorphic optical systems (AOSs) can be effectively employed to shape laser beams into a variety of propagation invariant structured fields with different shapes and phase distributions. We present a propagation matrix approach for designing AOSs and defining mode-matching conditions required for preserving propagation invariance of the output shaped fields. The propagation matrix approach was selected, as it provides a more straightforward approach in designing AOSs for shaping propagation-invariant laser beams than the alternative technique based on the Gouy phase evolution, especially in the case of multielement AOSs. Several practical configurations of optical systems that are suitable for shaping input laser beams into a diverse variety of structured propagation invariant laser beams are also presented. The laser beam shaping approach was applied by modeling propagation characteristics of several input laser beam types, including Hermite–Gaussian, Laguerre–Gaussian, and Ince–Gaussian structured field distributions. The influence of the Ince–Gaussian beam semifocal separation parameter and the azimuthal orientation between the input laser beams and the AOSs onto the resulting shape of the propagation invariant laser beams is presented as well.

Binary composite diffractive optical elements with the functions of a spiral phase plate (SPP), an axicon, and a Fresnel zone lens (FZL) were designed with different topological charges. The element was designed in two steps. In the first step, the function of an SPP was combined with that of an axicon by spiraling the periods of the axicon with respect to the phase of the SPP followed by a modulo-2π phase addition with the phase of an FZL in the second step. The higher-order Bessel beams generated by the binary phase spiral axicon are superposed at the FZL’s focal plane. Although location of the focal plane is wavelength dependent, the radius of the flower-like beams generated by the element was found to be independent of wavelength. The element was fabricated using electron-beam direct writing. The evaluation results matched well with the simulation results, generating flower-like beams at the focal plane of the FZL.

The quality inspection process is usually carried out after first processing of the raw materials such as cutting and milling. This is because the parts of the materials to be used are unidentified until they have been trimmed. If the quality of the material is assessed before the laser process, then the energy and efforts wasted on defected materials can be saved. We proposed a new production scheme that can achieve quantitative quality inspection prior to primitive laser cutting by means of three-dimensional (3-D) vision measurement. First, the 3-D model of the object is reconstructed by the stereo cameras, from which the spatial cutting path is derived. Second, collaborating with another rear camera, the 3-D cutting path is reprojected to both the frontal and rear views of the object and thus generates the regions-of-interest (ROIs) for surface defect analysis. An accurate visual guided laser process and reprojection-based ROI segmentation are enabled by a global-optimization–based trinocular calibration method. The prototype system was built and tested with the processing of raw duck feathers for high-quality badminton shuttle manufacture. Incorporating with a two-dimensional wavelet-decomposition–based defect analysis algorithm, both the geometrical and appearance features of the raw feathers are quantified before they are cut into small patches, which result in fully automatic feather cutting and sorting.

This paper addresses the problem of finding small and low-contrast moving targets in infrared (IR) video sequences produced by sensors with inconsistent parameters, such as intensity offset and gain as well as bad pixels. This sensor variability makes it difficult to apply methods based on frame registration using simple pixel differences. Our proposed algorithm uses regression to normalize the variations of intensity offset and gain between compared registered frames. A statistical criterion is used to calculate the threshold for the difference between normalized intensities of two frames. The algorithm for finding the differences between frames is also used to create a bad pixel mask either on- or offline. This mask is essential for the reduction of false detection rates. Our experiments show that this approach produces good results and can be used for detection of small, low-contrast targets in high dynamic range IR data. The proposed algorithm also produces good results for detecting moving targets in cases when objects are occluded by sparse vegetation.

A distribution detecting method to recover the distribution of transparent objects from their diffraction intensities is proposed. First, on the basis of the Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm, a wavefront function involving the phase change of the object is retrieved from the incident light intensity and the diffraction intensity, then the phase change of the object is calculated from the retrieved wavefront function by using a gradient field-based phase estimation algorithm, which circumvents the common phase wrapping problem. Finally, a linear model between the distribution of the object and the phase change is set up, and the distribution of the object can be calculated from the obtained phase change. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified with simulations and experiments.

In phase measuring profilometry (PMP), the object must be static for point-to-point reconstruction with the captured deformed patterns. While the object is rectilinearly moving online, the size and pixel position differences of the object in different captured deformed patterns do not meet the point-to-point requirement. We propose an online PMP based on image correction to measure the three-dimensional shape of the rectilinear moving object. In the proposed method, the deformed patterns captured by a charge-coupled diode camera are reprojected from the oblique view to an aerial view first and then translated based on the feature points of the object. This method makes the object appear stationary in the deformed patterns. Experimental results show the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method.

Atmospheric turbulence-induced wavefront deformation can be only partially corrected by adaptive optics (AO) techniques in astronomical or artificial space object imaging; an accurate estimation of the residual-wavefront phase is still needed to approach the diffraction-limited resolution. The discrete phase gradients measured by Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors (SHWFS) can help with the estimation. In this study, we build a dynamic average slopes measurement model for SHWFS in short-exposure AO images postprocessing; the proposed model is based on a zonal representation of the wavefront phase using Bernstein basis polynomials instead of the traditional Zernike modal expansion. Further, the turbulence’s frozen flow hypothesis is adopted to update the initial model using multiframe SHWFS measurement data to achieve a more accurate reconstruction. Numerical experiments show the reconstruction errors significantly decrease even in poor seeing conditions, and show that our method is less sensitive to different SHWFS measurement noise levels.

A method for identifying a dot-matrix hologram composed of grating dots with different fringe orientations is proposed. Two neighboring grating dots, Dot 1 and Dot 2, are selected. The intersection angle between the two sets of fringes of the two grating dots must be smaller than a threshold angle, e.g., 50 deg. The overlapping region of Dot 1 and Dot 2 can show a moiré pattern composed of many stripes. Some of the stripes contain the same fringe orientation as that of Dot 1, some of the stripes contain the same fringe orientation as that of Dot 2, and some of the stripes contain special fringe orientations different from those of Dot 1 and Dot 2. The stripes which contain special fringe orientations are called transition stripes here, and the number of transition stripes (transition stripe number) is used to identify Dot 1 and Dot 2. Because the transition stripe number for a dot pair is sensitively affected by the distance between the dot pair and the grating brightness distributions of the two dots, it is difficult to correctly reproduce the transition stripe numbers for the grating dot pairs on a dot-matrix hologram, i.e., counterfeiting the hologram is not easy.

Background suppression is an important problem in infrared small target detection. The two-dimensional least mean square (TDLMS) filter is a widely used method, but its performance will decline when targets are embedded in a complex cluttered background. To fill the gap, variable step-size TDLMS, the neighborhood analysis technique, and the edge-directional TDLMS filter are developed but still cannot achieve a satisfying performance. Here, an adaptive method for background suppression is proposed. According to different characteristics of the pixels in homogeneous/target regions and inhomogeneous regions, two basic filters are first designed. Then a fuzzy edge estimation factor is introduced to combine them into a uniform framework, in which the two basic filters can be switched automatically to fit different kinds of pixels. Finally, a new mechanism to update and propagate the coefficients of the prediction window is constructed. It makes sure that the adaptive method works smoothly and reveals a potential to be implemented in parallel. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves significant improvement in background suppression and detection performance.

We propose an in-orbit modulation transfer function (MTF) statistical estimation algorithm based on natural scene, called SeMTF. The algorithm can estimate the in-orbit MTF of a sensor from an image without specialized targets. First, the power spectrum of a satellite image is analyzed, then a two-dimensional (2-D) fractal Brownian motion model is adopted to represent the natural scene. The in-orbit MTF is modeled by a parametric exponential function. Subsequently, the statistical model of satellite imaging is established. Second, the model is solved by the improved profile-likelihood function method. In order to handle the nuisance parameter in the profile-likelihood function, we divided the estimation problem into two minimization problems for the parameters of the MTF model and nuisance parameters, respectively. By alternating the two iterative minimizations, the result will converge to the optimal MTF parameters. Then the SeMTF algorithm is proposed. Finally, the algorithm is tested using real satellite images. Experimental results indicate that the estimation of MTF is highly accurate.

Time of flight (ToF) range cameras illuminate the scene with an amplitude-modulated continuous wave light source and measure the returning modulation envelopes: phase and amplitude. The phase change of the modulation envelope encodes the distance travelled. This technology suffers from measurement errors caused by multiple propagation paths from the light source to the receiving pixel. The multiple paths can be represented as the summation of a direct return, which is the return from the shortest path length, and a global return, which includes all other returns. We develop the use of a sinusoidal pattern from which a closed form solution for the direct and global returns can be computed in nine frames with the constraint that the global return is a spatially lower frequency than the illuminated pattern. In a demonstration on a scene constructed to have strong multipath interference, we find the direct return is not significantly different from the ground truth in 33/136  pixels tested; where for the full-field measurement, it is significantly different for every pixel tested. The variance in the estimated direct phase and amplitude increases by a factor of eight compared with the standard time of flight range camera technique.

A histogram-based denoising algorithm was developed to effectively reduce ghost artifact noise and enhance the quality of an optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging system used to guide surgical instruments. The noise signal is iteratively detected by comparing the histogram of the ensemble average of all A-scans, and the ghost artifacts included in the noisy signal are removed separately from the raw signals using the polynomial curve fitting method. The devised algorithm was simulated with various noisy OCT images, and <87% of the ghost artifact noise was removed despite different locations. Our results show the feasibility of selectively and effectively removing ghost artifact noise.

High-efficiency imaging through highly scattering media is urgently desired for various applications. Imaging speed and imaging quality, which determine the imaging efficiency, are two inevitable indices for any optical imaging area. Based on random walk analysis in statistical optics, the elements in a transmission matrix (TM) actually obey Gaussian distribution. Instead of dealing with large amounts of data contained in TM and speckle pattern, imaging can be achieved with only a small number of the data via sparse representation. We make a detailed mathematical analysis of the elements-distribution of the TM of a scattering imaging system and study the imaging method of sparse image reconstruction (SIR). More specifically, we focus on analyzing the optimum sampling rates for the imaging of different structures of targets, which significantly influences both imaging speed and imaging quality. Results show that the optimum sampling rate exists in any noise-level environment if a target can be sparsely represented, and by searching for the optimum sampling rate, it can effectively balance the imaging quality and the imaging speed, which can maximize the imaging efficiency. This work is helpful for practical applications of imaging through highly scattering media with the SIR method.

An interferometric method for quantitative evaluation of the magnitude and direction of birefringence of an arbitrarily oriented birefringent sample is developed and presented. The analysis shows that full-field analysis of a spatially varying birefringence is possible by suitably combining several interferogram frames obtained by varying the polarization parameters involved. The preliminary experimental result for a uniformly birefringent sample with a known direction of birefringence is presented.

Spatial heterodyne Raman spectroscopy (SHRS) is a type of method for the detection of Raman spectra and can achieve a very high spectral resolution. SHRS has no moving parts and can be built with rugged, compact packages, making it extremely suitable for planetary exploration. However, if a high spectral resolution is needed, a traditional one-dimensional spatial heterodyne spectrometer cannot achieve a broad bandpass because it is limited by the number of pixels of the detector. In order to solve this, two-dimensional (2-D) SHRS can be used to broaden the bandpass. A breadboard of 2-D SHRS has been designed and built, and some artificial and natural targets have been tested to learn about the detection ability of 2-D SHRS. The results show that 2-D SHRS can be used to detect Raman signals scattered from liquid and solid targets. When the Raman scattered signal is strong, it can even detect targets in containers. The detection of anti-Stokes Raman shift for sulfur and carbon tetrachloride has also been tried, and the results show that 2-D SHRS has the ability to detect anti-Stokes Raman shift below 500  cm⁻¹. The research may have a general implication in chemical analysis and planetary exploration.

Chaotic pulse position modulation (CPPM) has been successfully used in robust digital communication for years. We propose to adapt CPPM for laser detection of remote targets to address the issue of noise. Specified in a time-of-flight (TOF) consecutive laser ranging application scenario, the feasibility of laser detection applying CPPM for laser detection is experimentally investigated. The scheme including the adaptive design for laser detection and parameter settings with validation is introduced. Lab-based electrical experiment and a proof-of-concept outdoor TOF experiment are further conducted to verify the feasibility of laser ranging and detection using CPPM through comparison with traditional Lidar detection and other pulse interval patterns. According to experiments and the following analysis, laser ranging using CPPM is feasible and more robust than traditional laser ranging.

We provide a new method to simulate the process of tracking the noncooperative object that moves beyond visual range with a photon-counting laser ranging system. Based on fundamentals of photon-counting laser ranging techniques and parameters of the experimental prototype, we generate echo events according to their probability. Then, we accumulate the echo data in a certain period of time and accurately extract the object’s trajectory with mean-shift and random sample consensus algorithms. Depending on the trajectory during the accumulation period, we predict the relative movement of the object in succeeding cycles by using self-tuning α−β filtering and carefully pick out photon echo signals and apply the polynomial fitting to them to compute the trajectory of the object. The simulation shows that the error between the theoretical trajectory and the extracted trajectory is decreasing all the time, which suggests that we can track the object precisely as the time goes by. The simulation in this paper provides a new way for applications like satellite orientation, identification, troubleshooting, etc.

Free space optical communications (FSOC) systems are a promising complement to existing wireless communications technologies. FSOC systems have many significant advantages over traditional radio frequency links, including high bandwidth, no spectrum licensing requirements, low-power consumption, small payloads, low probability of intercept, and greater immunity from interference or jamming. However, atmospheric turbulence (scintillation) imparts significant phase noise onto the laser beam, resulting in intensity fluctuations at the receiver. In order to develop scintillation mitigation strategies, it is necessary to monitor scintillation in parallel to the communications channel. We report on the development and implementation of a robust angle of arrival (AoA) turbulence measurement instrument that is suitable for this task. Several key data acquisition and processing techniques were designed to enhance the reliability and robustness of the scintillation measurement.

Biosecurity and biosafety are key concerns of modern society. Although nanomaterials are improving the capacities of point detectors, standoff detection still appears to be an open issue. Laser-induced fluorescence of biological agents (BAs) has proved to be one of the most promising optical techniques to achieve early standoff detection, but its strengths and weaknesses are still to be fully investigated. In particular, different BAs tend to have similar fluorescence spectra due to the ubiquity of biological endogenous fluorophores producing a signal in the UV range, making data analysis extremely challenging. The Universal Multi Event Locator (UMEL), a general method based on support vector regression, is commonly used to identify characteristic structures in arrays of data. In the first part of this work, we investigate fluorescence emission spectra of different simulants of BAs and apply UMEL for their automatic classification. In the second part of this work, we elaborate a strategy for the application of UMEL to the discrimination of different BAs’ simulants spectra. Through this strategy, it has been possible to discriminate between these BAs’ simulants despite the high similarity of their fluorescence spectra. These preliminary results support the use of SVR methods to classify BAs’ spectral signatures.

An electronic target technology based on a nondiffracting beam for spatial attitude determination is proposed. Automatic orientation of shield tunnel equipment is achieved by a spatial-coordinates measurement system consisting of an electronic target and a total station. During the measurement, a ranging laser beam is sent from the total station. It is transformed into a nondiffracting beam by an axicon, and the beam spot images are captured by a charged-coupled device image sensor. Since the center of the nondiffracting beam has a one-to-one mapping to the incident direction of the laser, the spatial orientation of the laser beam can be obtained via center fitting of the nondiffracting images. When this system is combined with a two-dimensional electronic inclinometer, the attitude parameters can be determined from the relationship of different spatial angles. Experimental results demonstrate that the attitude measurement system has a precision of ±0.5  mrad. Further, the engineering applications also show that the system has high operational quality and environmental adaptability.

We propose an equivalent circuit modeling for a chip-on-carrier and for two encapsulated semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). The models include main parasitic leaks and were used in reflection and transmission simulations, showing good agreement with experimental data. The model for each SOA is validated, comparing the simulated results with experimental data from SOAs operating as high-speed electro-optical switches, reaching rise times below 200 ps.

Convex aspheric surface is tested by a circular amplitude computer-generated hologram (CGH) fabricated with our equipment and techniques, and much research work has been done simultaneously. However, the analysis of the detailed characters of the CGH used in the test system has not been systematically given in detail, including the correct phase, amplitude, and filter condition of the CGH. The calculation equation of the proper duty circle and the phase of the CGH are deduced, the frequency filter condition of the different diffracted orders of the CGH is demonstrated, and the deduction results are validated by the related experiment. The conclusion can help us to determine the radius ratio of the uncontrolled area over the full aperture of the aspheric surface during the process of optical system design, and it also points out that the radius ratio can be reduced by adjusting the radius of curvature of the reference surface and the distance between the reference surface and the convex aspheric surface. The work can assist us in designing the test system efficiently and correctly with CGH.

To suppress the stray light caused by the diffraction and scattered light of a digital micromirror device (DMD) in a DMD-based spectrometer, a new concentrator system with a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) is presented, which has the advantage that all stray light beyond the acceptance angle can be rejected with the most compact device available. The diffraction of DMD is explored to determine the acceptance angle, and the parameters of the concentrator system are analyzed to determine the geometric concentration ratio. The simulation results show that the spectrum concentration efficiency of the CPC is 98.7%, that the stray light concentration efficiency from the DMD is 36.3%, and that the stray light concentration efficiency beyond the acceptance angle is 0.00%. Finally, according to the discussion about tolerance on the CPC, a conclusion can be drawn that the new DMD-based spectrometer with CPC is feasible and significant in suppressing the stray light.

Design approaches to carry out broadband absorption in laterally assembled hexagonal silicon nanowire (NW) solar cells are investigated. Two different methods are proposed to improve the current density of silicon NW solar cells. It is observed that the key to the broadband absorption is disorder and irregularity. The first approach to reach the broadband absorption is using multiple NWs with different geometries. Nevertheless, the maximum enhancement is obtained by introducing irregular NWs. They can support more cavity modes, while scattering by NWs leads to broadening of the absorption spectra. An array of optimized irregular NWs also has preferable features compared to other broadband structures. Using irregular NW arrays, it is possible to improve the absorption enhancement of solar cells without introducing more absorbing material.

We proposed a radially symmetrical conjugate phase mask (PM) pair to yield an invariant imaging property for extending depth-of-field imaging. This conjugate PM pair is a two-radially symmetrical phase function with opposite orientation of the phase modulation. Compared with a single-radially symmetrical PM, the proposed conjugate PM pair shows a symmetrically imaging property on both sides of the focal plane and high magnitude of modulation transfer function (MTF). The quartic phase mask (QPM) with optimized phase parameters is employed to demonstrate our concept. Several evaluation approaches, including point-spread function, MTF, and image simulation, are used to realize the performance comparison among a traditional imaging system, an original QPM system, and a conjugate QPM. The results are proof that the proposed conjugate PM has a superior performance in extending depth of field imaging.

To suppress the medium-high spatial frequency, error on optical surfaces is still a challenging work to date, and the tool path ripple (TPR) error is the main reason for these errors. With this in view, the effect of the tool influence function (TIF) shape of the semirigid (SR) bonnet to the TPR error is analyzed. The SR bonnet is a recently developed bonnet tool for high efficiency polishing. This tool can generate three kinds of TIF including Gaussian-like shape, trapezoidal shape, and “M” shape. Experimental studies have been conducted to analyze their effect to the root mean square/peak-to-valley value of the TPR error, and discussions have been made on those results. It is found that different shapes of TIF can be implemented through controlling its inflated pressure. The Gaussian-like shape has the highest probability to generate lower TPR error than the trapezoidal shape and “M” shape TIFs, which have been proven by the verification experiments.

We present a model based on refractive index difference analysis for optimization of material selection for multilayer diffractive optical elements (MLDOEs). From the proposed model, two important relationships are derived: the relationship between material selection and the maximum polychromatic integral diffraction efficiency of MLDOEs, and between material selection and the surface relief heights of MLDOEs. The new relationships are more comprehensive and reliable than those discussed in previous papers. A theoretical expression of the optimal surface relief heights of MLDOEs is also presented, and its correctness is demonstrated through a comparison with the results of enumeration optimization.

The purpose of this study was to seek the optimal design for light-emitting diode (LED) arrays and pre-equality circuits in indoor visible lighting illumination combined with communication. The optical and communicational properties of illumination distribution and signal transmission were investigated. These illumination distributions of array sources were derivate and simulated and actually can be used in free-space communication. Simulated results show the total flux size was rectangle<radial<circlearray, and real measurements also showed the total flux was rectangle<radial<circlearray. The simulated and measured results have a similarity of over 98% by normalized cross correlation. In addition, when the distance of the installed lamp from the wall was 1 m, the rectangular array had the best illumination uniformity of 77.24%, and the size of uniformity was the rectangle<radial≈circle array. Finally, the gain and constant-current pre-equality circuits were used in free-space communication with a carrier frequency from 1 KHz to 1 MHz at a distance of 1.8 m. Both the received signal intensity and divergence angle were rectangle<radial<circle array. The constant-current pre-equality circuit could add the divergence angle from ±18.6  deg to ±36.68  deg in the rectangle array at a carrier frequency of 1 MHz.

Photolithographic processes of multilevel features in microfluidics can be complex and expensive. This paper demonstrates a quick method for manufacturing multilevel patterns, which is based on liquid crystal display masking during a standard lithography process for master mold fabrication for the polydimethysiloxane replica process. An active mask, based on a liquid crystal display, can simplify the process due to the ability to quickly modify designs and reduce the overhead for alignment between mask levels. The possibility of multilevel patterning, with the help of active masking, creates new opportunities for optical lithography processes. We have developed the process for a standard, mercury lamp exposure mask aligner system. The patterning characteristics were evaluated with a step pattern fabricated as an example of three-dimensional patterning for multilevel structuring. The application of a liquid crystal mask for resist contrast measurements was demonstrated.

This study reports on the development and testing of a cost- and time-effective means to optimize a double-sided hemispherical patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) for highly efficient flip-chip GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). A simulation is conducted to study how light extraction efficiency (LEE) changed as a function of alteration in the parameters of the unit hemisphere for LEDs that are fabricated on a hemispherical PSS. Results show that the LEE of LED flip chip could be enhanced with the optimized hemispherical PSS by over 0.508 and is ∼115.3% higher than that of flip-chip LEDs with non-PSS. This study confirms the high efficiency and excellent capability of the optimized hemispherical PSS pattern to improve LED efficacy.

In this study, a multispectral spaceborne Cassegrain telescope was developed. The telescope was equipped with a primary mirror with a 450-mm clear aperture composed of Zerodur and lightweighted at a ratio of approximately 50% to meet both thermal and mass requirements. Reducing the astigmatism was critical for this mirror. The astigmatism is caused by gravity effects, the bonding process, and deformation from mounting the main structure of the telescope (main plate). This article presents the primary mirror alignment, mechanical ground-supported equipment (MGSE), assembly process, and optical performance test used to assemble the primary mirror. A mechanical compensated shim is used as the interface between the bipod flexure and main plate. The shim was used to compensate for manufacturer errors found in components and differences between local coplanarity errors to prevent stress while the bipod flexure was screwed to the main plate. After primary mirror assembly, an optical performance test method called a bench test with an algorithm was used to analyze the astigmatism caused by the gravity effect and deformation from the mounting or supporter. The tolerance conditions for the primary mirror assembly require the astigmatism caused by gravity and mounting force deformation to be less than P−V0.02 λ at 632.8 nm. The results demonstrated that the designed MGSE used in the alignment and assembly processes met the critical requirements for the primary mirror assembly of the telescope.

A freeform progressive addition lens (PAL) provides a good solution to correct presbyopia and prevent juvenile myopia by distributing pupils’ optical powers of distance zone, near zone, and intermediate zone and is more widely adopted in the present optometric study. However, there is still a lack of a single-optical-axis system for the design of a PAL. This paper focuses on the research for an approach for designing a freeform PAL. A multioptical-axis system based on real viewing conditions using the eyes is employed for the representation of the freeform surface. We filled small pupils in the intermediate zone as a progressive corridor and the distance- and near-vision portions were defined as the standard spherical surfaces delimited by quadratic curves. Three freeform PALs with a spherical surface as the front side and a freeform surface as the backside were designed. We demonstrate the fabrication and measurement technologies for the PAL surface using computer numerical control machine tools from Schneider Smart and a Visionix VM-2000 Lens Power Mapper. Surface power and astigmatic values were obtained. Preliminary results showed that the approach for the design and fabrication is helpful to advance the design procedure optimization and mass production of PALs in optometry.

We report the generation of a collimated hollow beam using a single axicon mirror. The focusing of this hollow beam has been studied using different focusing elements—axicon lens and spherical lens. The results show that if parameters of the focusing lenses are chosen suitably, nearly identical intensity patterns of Bessel beams in the focal region of the lenses can be obtained with two different types of focusing lenses.

We present a general design method for a type of transmission freeforms without rotational symmetry and achieve the null testing by putting a well-designed Fermat reflector on the transmitting optical path. The design principle of the reflector is given, and an eccentric spherical surface with 1-mm deviation is used as an example of testing freeform. We fabricated the reflector and the freeform with the single-point diamond turning machine. Both conventional interference inspection and our approach give consistent results. The design error is less than 10⁶  mm, and the measurement accuracy is nearly completely determined by the fabrication precision. This approach can also be applied to the inspections of reflecting freeforms with low costs.

It is shown by a prototype experiment that the deformation of a support structure leads to relative deflection of the optical axes of a multiwaveband imaging system and then inconsistency of the fields of view of the subsystems. To solve this issue, a topology optimization method with the objective of minimizing the deflection angles of the optical axes is proposed. The method consists of the establishment of a deflection angle equation, the construction of an objective function, and the achievement of optimization using commercial software. Then, a new optimization structure is extracted from the topology optimization model. The comparative analysis between the original structure and the optimization structure shows that the deflection angles of the optical axes after topology optimization decrease greatly, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In order to solve for the mode intensity distributions in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) cross section and the propagation constant for the design of fiber bandpass filters, we numerically analyze the modal distributions of the fundamental core mode and different cladding modes. Based on the simulation results, we also experimentally demonstrate a simple fabrication of bandpass filters inscribed on the PCF by inserting a π-phase shift in a 12-period long-period grating (LPG). Two rejection bands with greater than 18 dB isolation and an ultra-wide band of 85.3 nm are achieved. The phase-shifted PCF-LPGs are fabricated using a CO₂ laser with point-by-point focused pulses. The proposed fiber bandpass filter is compact and is not influenced by temperature effects.

We propose a technique for the generation of optical frequency comb from a single source, which reduces the costs of optical access networks. Two Mach-Zehnder modulators are cascaded with one phase modulator driven by radiofrequency signals. With 10-GHz frequency spacing, the generated 40 optical multicarriers have good tone-to-noise ratio with least excursions in their comb lines. The laser array at the optical line terminal of the conventional wavelength division multiplexed passive optical network (WDM-PON) system has been replaced with optical frequency comb generator (OFCG), which may result in cost-effective optical line terminal (OLT) supporting a large-capacity WDM-PON system. Of 40 carriers generated, each carrier carries 10 Gbps data based on differential phase-shift keying. Four hundred Gbps multiplexed data from all channels are successfully transmitted through a fiber span of 25 km with negligible power penalties. Part of the downlink signal is used in uplink transmission at optical network unit where intensity-modulated on-off keying is deployed for remodulation. Theoretical analysis of the proposed WDM-PON system based on OFCG are in good agreement with simulation results. The metrics considered for the analysis of the proposed OFCG in a WDM-PON system are power penalties of the full-duplex transmission, eye diagrams, and bit error rate.

We propose a method of digital signal processing for a burst-mode coherent receiver, which can recover the burst data rapidly aided by a control signal. The feasibility and effectiveness of our proposed method are demonstrated in a 128 Gbps polarization division multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying modulation experiment, and the results show that the proposed method can reduce the 70% convergence time on average compared with the traditional digital signal processing without any training overhead or additional computing complexity.

We investigate the utilization of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) and quantum-dot laser-based Raman amplifiers in high-capacity dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) 1310-nm transmission systems. Performed simulations showed that in a 10×40  Gbit/s system, the utilization of a single Raman amplifier in a back-propagation scheme can extend the maximum error-free (bit error rate <10 ⁻⁹ ) transmission distance by approximately 25 km in comparison with the same system utilizing only an SOA used as a preamplifier. We successfully applied a Raman amplifier in an 8×2×40  Gbit/s 1310-nm polarization multiplexed (PolMux) DWDM transmission over 25 km. Conducted experiments showed that the utilization of a Raman amplifier in this system leads to 4-dB improvement of the average channel sensitivity in comparison to the same system utilizing SOAs. This sensitivity improvement can be translated into a higher power budget. Moreover, lower input optical power in a system utilizing a Raman amplifier reduces the four-wave mixing interactions. The obtained results prove that Raman amplification can be successfully applied in 1310-nm high-capacity transmission systems, e.g., to extend the reach of 400G and 1T Ethernet systems.

Heat conduction, temperature distribution, thermal stress, and thermally induced refractive index of a diode-pumped active-mirror grad-doped Yb:YAG ceramic laser are analyzed and compared to a uniform-doped Yb:YAG ceramic laser. It is found that a rationally designed grad-doped Yb:YAG ceramic has a smaller temperature gradient than a uniform-doped Yb:YAG ceramic with the same absorption pump power, which results in higher output energy in the grad-doped Yb:YAG ceramic laser.

An optical frequency comb generator using a modified single-sideband recirculating frequency shifter scheme adopting a linear IQ modulator as the kernel device (SSB-RFS-LIQM) is proposed. The optical comb lines generated by the proposed scheme possess good features such as extreme flatness and high optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR), compared to the quality we can obtain when we use a conventional IQ modulator in the SSB-RFS structure (called SSB-RFS-CIQM scheme). The mechanism of how the SSB-RFS-LIQM works is carefully analyzed with analytical and numerical methods. With the capability of strong suppression of high-order crosstalk and less demand of the gain of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (and hence less amplified spontaneous noise induced) in the loop, 5.5 dB OSNR improvement can be achieved when 100 extreme flat comb lines are generated using the SSB-RFS-LIQM scheme compared to using the SSB-RFS-CIQM scheme.

The modulation frequency characteristics of the Q-switched envelope in a doubly Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:GGG laser with an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) and Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber are given. At a fixed incident pump power, the repetition rates of the Q-switched envelope and the related laser characteristics versus the modulation frequency of AOM for different small signal transmissions of Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorbers have been measured. The experimental results show that the repetition rates of the Q-switched envelope, the average output power, the average peak power, and the pulse widths of the Q-switched envelopes are subharmonics of the modulation frequency at a fixed incident pump power. Furthermore, the mechanism for these behaviors is discussed.

Inverse analysis of transmission spectra for triarylamine dye in acetone is presented. This analysis employed a parametric model of transmission through a sample of finite thickness, where the permittivity function was represented parametrically by a linear combination of Lorentzian functions. The results of this analysis provided estimates of the permittivity function for triarylamine dye, which can be adopted as input data to other types of models, such as those for prediction of transmission and reflectivity spectra for composites containing mixtures of dyes and other materials. In addition, this analysis demonstrated that the absorption coefficients for a dye, which were obtained by inverse analysis of transmission spectra for that dye in solution, can be validated as reasonable estimates of the absorption coefficients for that dye in fabric.

We present a theoretical sensitivity analysis of silicon-on-insulator quadruple Vernier racetrack resonators based on varying, one at a time, various fabrication-dependent parameters. These parameters include the waveguide widths, heights, and propagation losses. We show that it should be possible to design a device that meets typical commercial specifications while being tolerant to changes in these parameters.

A modified low-cost unimorph deformable mirror (DM) driven only by positive voltages for atmospheric turbulence compensation is presented. The 214 patterned inner actuators generate convex deformations for aberration correction, while one outer ring actuator generates an overall concave bias. To evaluate the aberration correction capability of the proposed DM, the iterative reconstruction of Zernike aberrations and correction were performed in an adaptive optics test system. The experimental results indicate that the fabricated DM has an excellent aberration correction capability, particularly matching the first 20 term Zernike aberrations with the normalized residual root-mean-square (RMS) error <5%. Furthermore, the random atmospheric turbulence aberrations were simulated based on Karhunen–Loève coefficients and reconstructed using the fabricated DM. The simulative and experimental results show that the atmospheric turbulence aberrations can be steadily compensated with λ/40 (λ=2.2  μm) RMS residual error, indicating the prospect for atmospheric applications.

The influence of various types of aberrations (spherical, coma, and astigmatic) of recording and readout beams on the readout signal in a microholographic recording was investigated through a numerical simulation. The simulation conditions were that the wavelength of the laser was 405 nm and the numerical aperture of the objective lenses was 0.85. The tolerance of the root-mean-square (RMS) wavefront aberrations was defined as the aberration when the normalized signal level decreased to 0.8. Among the three types of aberrations, the influence of the spherical aberration was the most significant. When both the recording and readout beams were aberrated and the signs of the aberrations were in the worst case, the tolerance of the RMS wavefront aberrations was less than half of the Maréchal’s criterion. Moreover, when the RMS wavefront aberrations of the recording and readout beams were within the above tolerance, the bit intervals of 0.13 and 0.65  μm in the inplane and vertical directions, respectively, which correspond to the recording density of 91  bit/μm3 (recording capacity of 16 TB for a 120-mm-diameter optical disk having a 300-μm-thick recording layer), were shown to be feasible for confocal detection with an allowable signal-to-noise ratio.

A narrowband tunable transmission filter suitable for wavelength division multiplexing is designed. The basic structure is a one-dimensional Fabry–Perot structure formed by layers of dielectric magnesium fluoride and electro-optic lithium niobate, which act as low and high refractive index material layers, respectively. A narrowband phase shifted transmission peak occurs within the stopband of the reflectance spectra of the structure by introducing the defect of a low-index material at a suitable position in the structure. The bandwidth of the peak depends on the number of bilayers and also on the operating wavelength. The phase shift of the transmission peak is linearly related to the wavelength under consideration. By adjusting the defect layer width, this shift of the transmission peak from the operating wavelength can be avoided. The device dimensions are so chosen that such a structure can be fabricated and used with presently available technology. A linear transmission peak tunability of 4  nm/10  V is achieved for this device by varying the refractive index of the electro-optic lithium niobate layer with externally applied voltage along its z axis. All the simulations have been carried out using the finite difference time domain method in a MATLAB® environment.

Cerium-doped terbium–yttrium aluminum garnet phosphors were synthesized using the solid-state reaction method. The crystalline phase, morphology, and photoluminescence properties were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and fluorescence spectrophotometer, respectively. The XRD results indicate that with an increase of the amount of x (Tb³⁺), all of the samples have a pure garnet crystal structure without secondary phases. The SEM images reveal that the samples are composed of sphere-like crystallites, which exhibit different degrees of agglomeration. The luminescent properties of Ce³⁺ ions in (Tb_xY_1−x)_2.9Al₅O₁₂∶Ce0.1 have been studied, and it was found that the emission band shifted toward a longer wavelength. The redshift is attributed to the lowering of the 5d energy level centroid of Ce³⁺, which can be explained by the nephelauxetic effect and compression effect. These phosphors were coated on blue light-emitting diode (LED) chips to fabricate white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs), and their color-rendering indices, color temperatures, and luminous efficiencies were measured. As a consequence of the addition of Tb³⁺, the blue LED pumped (Tb_0.4Y_0.6)_2.9Al₅O₁₂∶Ce0.1 phosphors WLEDs showed good optical properties.

It is shown that glass fibers doped with luminescent molecular clusters of silver, cadmium and lead chalcogenides, or copper (I) can be used for the efficient radiation conversion of ultraviolet (UV) radiation to the visible spectral region. The advantages of radiation trapping in fibers by the luminescent centers and of spectral conversion are discussed. The excitation and luminescence spectra of luminescent fibers are presented. Analysis of application areas of the luminescent glasses and fibers is performed. The construction of the sensitive element for sensor models for electrical spark and UV radiation detection is described. The characteristics of the models of sensors for electrical spark and UV radiation detection are presented.