Numerical analysis and comparison of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based photonic crystal fiber (PCF) structures are presented. Full vectorial finite-element method (FEM) is employed to model and compare circular, elliptical, and square air hole-based PCF structures. The key propagation features, such as phase matching, sensitivity, resolution, and confinement loss behaviors of proposed structures, are reported. The effects of geometrical and design parameters are discussed and compared thoroughly. It is found that the sensitivity of circular air hole-based structure can reach up to 4200 nm/RIU, and the sensor resolution is 2.4  ×  10  −  5  RIU.

Reverse saturable absorbers have shown great potential to attenuate laser radiation. Good candidate molecules and various particles have successfully been incorporated into different glass matrices, enabling the creation of self-activated filters against damaging laser radiation. Although the performance of such filters has been impressive, work is still ongoing to improve the performance in a wider range of wavelengths and pulse widths. The purpose of this tutorial is, from an optical engineering perspective, to give an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of this class of smart materials, how relevant photophysical parameters are measured and influence system performance and comment on the pitfalls in experimental evaluation of materials. A numerical population model in combination with simple physical formulas is used to demonstrate system behavior from a performance standpoint. Geometrical reasoning shows the advantage of reverse saturable absorption over nonlinear scattering due to a fraction of scattered light being recollected by imaging system optics. The numerical population model illustrates the importance of the optical power limiting performance during the leading edge of a nanosecond pulse, which is most strongly influenced by changes in the two-photon absorption cross section and the triplet linear absorption cross section for a modeled Pt-acetylide. This tutorial not only targets optical engineers evaluating reverse saturable absorbing materials but also aims to assist researchers with a chemistry background working on optical power limiting materials. We also present photophysical data for a series of coumarins that can be useful for the determination of quantum yields and two-photon cross sections and show examples of characterization of molecules with excited triplet states.

The tutorial describes essential features of moiré patterns, as well as the circumstances, when the moiré patterns appear and how to estimate their characteristics (parameters) such as the orientation and period. The moiré effect is described in two domains, the image space (spatial domain) and in the spectral domain using the complex numbers. The tutorial covers the indicial equation method, the coplanar and noncoplanar sinusoidal gratings, the moiré effect in a spatial object (a cylinder), as well as explains the moiré wave vector, the moiré spectra, the spectral trajectories, and summarizes behavior of the visible patterns in moved/rotated gratings.

This guest editorial introduces the special section on photon counting technology, published in Optical Engineering, Vol. 57, Issue 3.

Time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) is a powerful optical technique, which permits recording fast luminous signals with picosecond precision. Unfortunately, given its repetitive nature, TCSPC is recognized as a relatively slow technique, especially when a large time-resolved image has to be recorded. In recent years, there has been a fast trend toward the development of TCPSC imagers. Unfortunately, present systems still suffer from a trade-off between number of channels and performance. Even worse, the overall measurement speed is still limited well below the saturation of the transfer bandwidth toward the external processor. We present a routing algorithm that enables a smart connection between a 32×32 detector array and five shared high-performance converters able to provide an overall conversion rate up to 10  Gbit/s. The proposed solution exploits a fully digital logic circuit distributed in a tree structure to limit the number and length of interconnections, which is a major issue in densely integrated circuits. The behavior of the logic has been validated by means of a field-programmable gate array, while a fully integrated prototype has been designed in 180-nm technology and analyzed by means of postlayout simulations.

We investigate the reconstruction of depth and intensity profiles from data acquired using a custom-designed time-of-flight scanning transceiver based on the time-correlated single-photon counting technique. The system had an operational wavelength of 1550 nm and used a Peltier-cooled InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diode detector. Measurements were made of human figures, in plain view and obscured by camouflage netting, from a stand-off distance of 230 m in daylight using only submilliwatt average optical powers. These measurements were analyzed using a pixelwise cross correlation approach and compared to analysis using a bespoke algorithm designed for the restoration of multilayered three-dimensional light detection and ranging images. This algorithm is based on the optimization of a convex cost function composed of a data fidelity term and regularization terms, and the results obtained show that it achieves significant improvements in image quality for multidepth scenarios and for reduced acquisition times.

The availability of compact, low-cost, and high-speed MEMS-based spatial light modulators has generated widespread interest in alternative sampling strategies for imaging systems utilizing single-pixel detectors. The development of compressed sensing schemes for real-time computational imaging may have promising commercial applications for high-performance detectors, where the availability of focal plane arrays is expensive or otherwise limited. We discuss the research and development of a prototype light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system via direct time of flight, which utilizes a single high-sensitivity photon-counting detector and fast-timing electronics to recover millimeter accuracy three-dimensional images in real time. The development of low-cost real time computational LiDAR systems could have importance for applications in security, defense, and autonomous vehicles.

Using time-correlated single photon counting for the purpose of fluorescence lifetime measurements is usually limited in speed due to pile-up. With modern instrumentation, this limitation can be lifted significantly, but some artifacts due to frequent merging of closely spaced detector pulses (detector pulse pile-up) remain an issue to be addressed. We propose a data analysis method correcting for this type of artifact and the resulting systematic errors. It physically models the photon losses due to detector pulse pile-up and incorporates the loss in the decay fit model employed to obtain fluorescence lifetimes and relative amplitudes of the decay components. Comparison of results with and without this correction shows a significant reduction of systematic errors at count rates approaching the excitation rate. This allows quantitatively accurate fluorescence lifetime imaging at very high frame rates.

Time-correlated single-photon counting lidar provides very high-resolution range measurements, making the technology interesting for 3D imaging of objects behind foliage or other obscuration. We study six peak detection approaches and compare their performance from several perspectives: detection of double surfaces within the instantaneous field of view, range accuracy, performance under sparse sampling, and the number of outliers. The results presented are based on reference measurements of a characterization target. Special consideration is given to the possibility of resolving two surfaces closely separated in range within the field of view of a single pixel. An approach based on fitting a linear combination of impulse response functions to the collected data showed the best overall performance.

Bloodstain detection and discrimination from nonblood substances on various substrates are critical in forensic science as bloodstains are a critical source for confirmatory DNA tests. Conventional bloodstain detection methods often involve time-consuming sample preparation, a chance of harm to investigators, the possibility of destruction of blood samples, and acquisition of too little data at crime scenes either in the field or in the laboratory. An imaging method has the advantages of being nondestructive, noncontact, real-time, and covering a large field-of-view. The abundant spectral information provided by multispectral imaging makes it a potential presumptive bloodstain detection and discrimination method. This article proposes an interference filter (IF) based area scanning three-spectral-band crime scene imaging system used for forensic bloodstain detection and discrimination. The impact of large angle of views on the spectral shift of calibrated IFs is determined, for both detecting and discriminating bloodstains from visually similar substances on multiple substrates. Spectral features in the visible and near-infrared portion employed by the relative band depth method are used. This study shows that 1 ml bloodstain on black felt, gray felt, red felt, white cotton, white polyester, and raw wood can be detected. Bloodstains on the above substrates can be discriminated from cola, coffee, ketchup, orange juice, red wine, and green tea.

We propose a parabolic mirror-based catadioptric imager for the panoramic imaging endoscope. The main difference of the structure is the use of a parabolic mirror in endoscope design. The manufacturing cost and/or size of the proposed panoramic design is lower than the previous designs. The designs by Katman and Liu use customized lens and thus cost more than the proposed in mass production. The design by Sahli uses more mirrors/lenses than the proposed. The size of the previous design by Yu, 20 mm in diameter, is larger than the standard-angle Olympus video colonoscope (9.5 mm in diameter). Our proposed design is 5.5 mm in diameter, so it is feasible to be integrated into an endoscope while the previous design by Yu is not feasible to be integrated into an endoscope.

We propose an image encryption scheme that brings into play a technique using a triplet of functions to manipulate complex-valued functions. Optical cryptosystems using this method are an easier approach toward the ciphertext generation that avoids the use of holographic setup to record phase. The features of this method were shown in the context of double random phase encoding and phase-truncated Fourier transform-based cryptosystems using gyrator transform. In the first step, the complex function is split into two matrices. These matrices are separated, so they contain the real and imaginary parts. In the next step, these two matrices and a random distribution function are acted upon by one of the functions in the triplet. During decryption, the other two functions in the triplet help us retrieve the complex-valued function. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed idea. To check the robustness of the proposed scheme, attack analyses were carried out.

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key structural characteristic of vegetation and plays a significant role in global change research. Several methods and remotely sensed data have been evaluated for LAI estimation. This study aimed to evaluate the suitability of the look-up-table (LUT) approach for crop LAI retrieval from Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT)-5 data and establish an LUT approach for LAI inversion based on scale information. The LAI inversion result was validated by in situ LAI measurements, indicating that the LUT generated based on the PROSAIL (PROSPECT+SAIL: properties spectra + scattering by arbitrarily inclined leaves) model was suitable for crop LAI estimation, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of ∼0.31m²  /  m² and determination coefficient (R²) of 0.65. The scale effect of crop LAI was analyzed based on Taylor expansion theory, indicating that when the SPOT data aggregated by 200  ×  200  pixel, the relative error is significant with 13.7%. Finally, an LUT method integrated with scale information was proposed in this article, improving the inversion accuracy with RMSE of 0.20  m²  /  m² and R² of 0.83.

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is an attractive technique for label-free biochemical-specific characterization of biological specimens. However, it has very low sensitivity in monitoring and imaging molecules present in extremely low concentrations or at fast speeds. To improve this sensitivity, especially for multiplex CARS, the intensity of the pump beam and broadband Stokes beam should be enhanced simultaneously. Therefore, the gold shell particle and gold surface are demonstrated to enhance the forward and backward CARS, respectively. Results show that a signal enhancement factor of ∼25,000 can be achieved for the gold surface and an even higher enhancement factor can be achieved for the gold shell particles. Thus, we can obtain an enhanced CARS signal in a broad spectral range, which will substantially improve the detection sensitivity of hyperspectral CARS spectroscopy and imaging.

An approach for carrying out depth profile measurement of an object with the plenoptic camera is proposed. A single plenoptic image consists of multiple lenslet images. To begin with, these images are processed directly with a refocusing technique to obtain the depth map, which does not need to align and decode the plenoptic image. Then, a linear depth calibration is applied based on the optical structure of the plenoptic camera for depth profile reconstruction. One significant improvement of the proposed method concerns the resolution of the depth map. Unlike the traditional method, our resolution is not limited by the number of microlenses inside the camera, and the depth map can be globally optimized. We validated the method with experiments on depth map reconstruction, depth calibration, and depth profile measurement, with the results indicating that the proposed approach is both efficient and accurate.

The large number of spectral channels in a hyperspectral image (HSI) produces a fine spectral resolution to differentiate between materials in a scene. However, difficult classes that have similar spectral signatures are often confused while merely exploiting information in the spectral domain. Therefore, in addition to spectral characteristics, the spatial relationships inherent in HSIs should also be considered for incorporation into classifiers. The growing availability of high spectral and spatial resolution of remote sensors provides rich information for image clustering. Besides the discriminating power in the rich spectrum, contextual information can be extracted from the spatial domain, such as the size and the shape of the structure to which one pixel belongs. In recent years, spectral clustering has gained popularity compared to other clustering methods due to the difficulty of accurate statistical modeling of data in high dimensional space. The joint spatial–spectral information could be effectively incorporated into the proximity graph for spectral clustering approach, which provides a better data representation by discovering the inherent lower dimensionality from the input space. We embedded both spectral and spatial information into our proposed local density adaptive affinity matrix, which is able to handle multiscale data by automatically selecting the scale of analysis for every pixel according to its neighborhood of the correlated pixels. Furthermore, we explored the “conductivity method,” which aims at amplifying the block diagonal structure of the affinity matrix to further improve the performance of spectral clustering on HSI datasets.

Visual saliency detection has been receiving great attention in recent years since it can facilitate a wide range of applications in computer vision. A variety of saliency models have been proposed based on different assumptions within which saliency detection via sparse representation is one of the newly arisen approaches. However, most existing sparse representation-based saliency detection methods utilize partial characteristics of sparse representation, lacking of in-depth analysis. Thus, they may have limited detection performance. Motivated by this, this paper proposes an algorithm for detecting visual saliency based on in-depth analysis of sparse representation. A number of discriminative dictionaries are first learned with randomly sampled image patches by means of inner product-based dictionary atom classification. Then, the input image is partitioned into many image patches, and these patches are classified into salient and nonsalient ones based on the in-depth analysis of sparse coding coefficients. Afterward, sparse reconstruction errors are calculated for the salient and nonsalient patch sets. By investigating the sparse reconstruction errors, the most salient atoms, which tend to be from the most salient region, are screened out and taken away from the discriminative dictionaries. Finally, an effective method is exploited for saliency map generation with the reduced dictionaries. Comprehensive evaluations on publicly available datasets and comparisons with some state-of-the-art approaches demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

To obtain information on the outer surface of a cylinder object, we propose a catadioptric panoramic imaging system based on the principle of uniform spatial resolution for vertical scenes. First, the influence of the projection-equation coefficients on the spatial resolution and astigmatism of the panoramic system are discussed, respectively. Through parameter optimization, we obtain the appropriate coefficients for the projection equation, and so the imaging quality of the entire imaging system can reach an optimum value. Finally, the system projection equation is calibrated, and an undistorted rectangular panoramic image is obtained using the cylindrical-surface projection expansion method. The proposed 360-deg panoramic-imaging device overcomes the shortcomings of existing surface panoramic-imaging methods, and it has the advantages of low cost, simple structure, high imaging quality, and small distortion, etc. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A dual-wavelength method in high accuracy polarimetry has been successfully tested and applied to measure optical activity (OA) of nonlinear crystals. In proposed polarimetric scheme two neighboring semiconductor laser wavelengths (635 and 650 nm) are used, which increases number of parameters measured simultaneously and improves the data processing. By neglecting dispersion of eigen wave ellipticity in crystals, more efficient elimination of the systematic errors, in comparison with the known HAUP technique, is possible. We have tested our experimental setup on optically inactive lithium niobate crystal and obtained OA in the perpendicular to the optical axis direction for quartz and DKDP crystals.

The strain errors in stereo-digital image correlation (DIC) due to camera calibration were investigated using precisely controlled numerical experiments and real experiments. Three-dimensional rigid body motion tests were conducted to examine the effects of camera calibration on the measured results. For a fully accurate calibration, rigid body motion causes negligible strain errors. However, for inaccurately calibrated camera parameters and a short working distance, rigid body motion will lead to more than 50-μϵ strain errors, which significantly affects the measurement. In practical measurements, it is impossible to obtain a fully accurate calibration; therefore, considerable attention should be focused on attempting to avoid these types of errors, especially for high-accuracy strain measurements. It is necessary to avoid large rigid body motions in both two-dimensional DIC and stereo-DIC.

A parallel mirror calibration method with two calibration modes is presented to calibrate the posed relationship of the camera relative to the screen, which does not have a common field of view in stereo deflectometry. The camera captures images of the screen through the reflection of parallel mirror. The rotation matrix is directly determined by perspective-n-point method and the principle of mirror. The solution to rotation matrix only requires one parallel mirror position, whereas the calibration method with a plane mirror requires at least three plane mirror positions. About the translation matrix, two different calibration modes are proposed: single-camera calibration mode with two parallel mirror positions and dual-calibration mode with one parallel mirror position. The translation matrix in single-camera calibration mode is determined by solving linear equations. The solution of the translation matrix in dual-camera calibration mode is converted into obtaining the optimal value of the distance from the parallel mirror to camera. In addition, the influence of parallel mirror configuration and setup distance about calibration accuracy and precision is analyzed through simulations. The experimental results demonstrate the validity, simplicity, and high precision of the parallel mirror calibration method. Further, dual-camera calibration mode is available for automatic, quick, and high-precision calibration of stereo deflectometry.

Instrumented indentation was used to investigate the proportional relationships among indentation variables such as the maximum indentation displacement, contact depth, the ratio of load over contact stiffness, and the ratio of permanent displacement over the maximum displacement. Material and indenter were borosilicate K9 glass and a Berkovich indenter, respectively. Results of fused silica under the same indenter were compared. Load–displacement curves of K9 glass were characterized by power-law functions for both loading (power exponent of 2) and unloading (power exponent of 1.36) with hardness, elastic modulus, yield stress, and power strain hardening exponent being 7.72, 82.8, 3.5 GPa, and 0.6, respectively. Experimental results were found to be in agreement with theoretical prediction and dimensional analysis. The results calculated from energy-based method were found to be consistent with those based on Oliver and Pharr’s method. General implications of the scaling relations for indentation variables were discussed (e.g., the scaling expressions can be used to check indentation data).

In the existing intensity-ratio measuring methods, unwrapping the intensity ratio may be erroneous or even fail when measuring complex and isolated objects. This paper presents an improved three-dimensional (3-D) profile measuring method based on intensity-ratio measurement. Two shifting triangular patterns are projected to generate a triangular intensity-ratio distribution, and a Ronchi grating is projected to correctly divide the triangular intensity-ratio regions. Then, an absolute intensity ratio is retrieved point-by-point with the periodic label of the projected Ronchi grating. Finally, the intensity-ratio-to-height mapping algorithm is used to reconstruct the 3-D surface shape. The experimental results have demonstrated the feasibility and validity of the proposed method in restoring 3-D surface shape of the complex and isolated objects.

In the laser synthetic wavelength interferometer (LSWI), enhancing the stability of the synthetic wavelength is very important for the improvement of displacement measurement accuracy. A synthetic wavelength stabilization scheme using offset-frequency locking for LSWI is proposed. By locking an external cavity diode laser to the +3rd sideband of an I₂ frequency-stabilized He–Ne laser modulated with an electro-optic modulator, a stabilized large synthetic wavelength with frequency difference of 815 MHz can be obtained for LSWI. The optical configuration and principle of offset-frequency locking is described in detail. The experiments of frequency stability and displacement measurement were carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Frequency stability experimental results show that the relative stability of the frequency difference between the two lasers is about 1.84  ×  ^{10  −  11} at 1 s averaging time. Nanometer and micrometer displacement measurement results show that subnanometer accuracy can be realized. These results indicate that the proposed scheme is able to evidently improve the displacement measurement accuracy of LSWI.

We propose a method to compensate for the projector intensity nonlinearity induced by gamma effect in three-dimensional (3-D) fringe projection metrology by extending high-order spectra analysis and bispectral norm minimization to digital sinusoidal fringe pattern analysis. The bispectrum estimate allows extraction of vital signal information features such as spectral component correlation relationships in fringe pattern images. Our approach exploits the fact that gamma introduces high-order harmonic correlations in the affected fringe pattern image. Estimation and compensation of projector nonlinearity is realized by detecting and minimizing the normed bispectral coherence of these correlations. The proposed technique does not require calibration information and technical knowledge or specification of fringe projection unit. This is promising for developing a modular and calibration-invariant model for intensity nonlinear gamma compensation in digital fringe pattern projection profilometry. Experimental and numerical simulation results demonstrate this method to be efficient and effective in improving the phase measuring accuracies with phase-shifting fringe pattern projection profilometry.

The measurement of microstructured components is a challenging task in optical engineering. Digital holographic microscopy has attracted intensive attention due to its remarkable capability of measuring complex surfaces. However, speckles arise in the recorded interferometric holograms, and they will degrade the reconstructed wavefronts. Existing speckle removal methods suffer from the problems of frequency aliasing and phase distortions. A reconstruction method based on the antialiasing shift-invariant contourlet transform (ASCT) is developed. Salient edges and corners have sparse representations in the transform domain of ASCT, and speckles can be recognized and removed effectively. As subsampling in the scale and directional filtering schemes is avoided, the problems of frequency aliasing and phase distortions occurring in the conventional multiscale transforms can be effectively overcome, thereby improving the accuracy of wavefront reconstruction. As a result, the proposed method is promising for the digital holographic measurement of complex structures.

We present the optical design and system characterization of an imaging microscope prototype at 121.6 nm. System engineering processes are demonstrated through the construction of a Schwarzschild microscope objective, including tolerance analysis, fabrication, alignment, and testing. Further improvements on the as-built system with a correction phase plate are proposed and analyzed. Finally, the microscope assembly and the imaging properties of the prototype are demonstrated.

We proposed a zoom homogenizer that can control the size of the illumination field by adding one lens array to the conventional imaging-type beam homogenizer. An equivalent lens system was used to derive the imaging condition and size of the illumination field. The result of the ray-tracing simulation shows the validity of the zoom homogenizer to generate the uniform and sharp-edged beam. We presented the strengths and weaknesses of the zoom homogenizer in terms of its etendue with the maximum acceptance angle of the system.

We demonstrate an all-optical control device based on a structure with nonlinear core layer containing dye-sensitized liquid crystal. We study the signal field coupled out the cladding surface and observe an interesting polarization rotation effect due to the coupling of two different nonlinear dynamics in the nonlinear optical layer. This unique polarization rotation effect allows us to build a compact and low-cost all-optical switching device.

This work has developed an approach to construct a corner cube retroreflector (CCR). A two-dimensional cutout pattern is first fabricated with wire electrical discharge machining process. It is then folded up into a three-dimensional CCR suspended on a cantilever beam. The folded-up CCR may be driven through external actuators for optical modulation; it can also mechanically respond to perturbation, acceleration, etc., to function as a sensor. Mechanical (static and dynamic modeling) and optical (ray tracing) analyses are also performed.

Active infrared thermography has been applied for the evaluation of the internal structure and operation quality of hyperconductive flat mini heat pipes used in satellite electronics. The distribution of effective transverse thermal diffusivity in heat pipes has been obtained by means of the Parker technique to exhibit areas with low content of fluid in the porous structure. The lateral components of thermal diffusivity were determined by placing a slit mask between a flash heater and a heat pipe. Peculiarities of heat pipe operation in a working regime have been experimentally studied by placing a local heat source on the pipe surface and following the surface temperature dynamics.

We have proposed a scheme of radio-over-fiber (RoF) system employing a dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DP-MZM) based on four-wave mixing (FWM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). In this scheme, the pump and the signal are generated by properly adjusting the direct current bias, modulation index of the DP-MZM, and the phase difference between the sub-MZMs. Because of the pump and the signal deriving from the same optical wave, the polarization states of the two lightwaves are copolarized. The single-pump FWM is polarization insensitive. After FWM and optical filtering, the optical millimeter-wave with octuple frequency is generated. About 40-GHz RoF system with a 2.5-Gbit  /  s signal is implemented by numerical simulation; the result shows that it has a good performance after the signal is transmitted over 40-km single-mode fiber. Then, the effects of the SOA’s injection current and the carrier-to-sideband ratio on the system performance are discussed by simulation, and the optimum value for the system is obtained.

A numerical simulation model for investigating modulation instability in a Raman-assisted fiber-optics system is presented and used. The modulation instability (MI) spectrum and its threshold are numerically analyzed based on this theoretical model. The different MI behaviors between forward and backward Raman pumping are studied in detail, respectively. The MI threshold in the case of forward Raman pumping is lower than that in the case of backward Raman pumping. Experiments are conducted based on the theoretical analysis, and the results agree well with the numerical calculations.

The angular velocity of a vaterite microsphere spinning in the optical trap is measured using rotational Doppler effect. The perfectly spherical vaterite microspheres are synthesized via coprecipitation in the presence of silk fibroin nanospheres. When trapped by a circularly polarized beam, the vaterite microsphere is uniformly rotated in the trap center. The probe beams containing two Laguerre–Gaussian beams of opposite topological charge l  =    ±  7, l  =    ±  8, and l  =    ±  9 are illuminated on the spinning vaterite. By analyzing the backscattered light, a frequency shift is observed scaling with the rotation rate of the vaterite microsphere. The multiplicative enhancement of the frequency shift proportion to the topological charge has greatly improved the measurement precision. The reliability and practicability of this approach are verified through varying the topological charge of the probe beam and the trapping laser power. In consideration of the excellent measurement precision of the rotation frequency, this technique might be generally applicable in studying the torsional properties of micro-objects.

We numerically demonstrate the anomalous interactions of in-phase and out-of-phase Airy–Gaussian beams with intense excitation in nonlocal nonlinear (NL) media. We show that the stationary breathing Airy–Gaussian solitons and bound states can be formed with proper choice of the initial parameters. We report besides the traditional straight trajectory that the breathing Airy–Gaussian solitons can propagate along the sinusoidal trajectories, and the sinusoidal trajectories can be controlled arbitrarily. Moreover, we show the impacts of decay constant on the interaction dynamics of Airy–Gaussian beams in nonlocal NL media in detail. Interestingly, we find that the nonoverlapping bound states of Airy–Gaussian solitons can be formed in the interactions between two out-of-phase Airy–Gaussian beams.

A high pumping-power fiber combiner for backward pumping configurations is fabricated and demonstrated by manufacturing process refinement. The pump power handling capability of every pump fiber can extend to 600 W, corresponding to the average pump coupling efficiency of 94.83%. Totally, 2.67-kW output power with the beam quality factor M² of 1.41 was obtained, using this combiner in the fiber amplifier experimental setup. In addition, the temperature of the splicing region was less than 50.0°C in the designed combiner under the action of circulating cooling water. The experimental results prove that the designed combiner is a promising integrated all-fiber device for multikilowatt continuous-wave fiber laser with excellent beam quality.

This study characterizes laser-induced vapor bubble dynamics for five different distal fiber optic tip configurations, to provide insight into stone retropulsion commonly experienced during laser ablation of kidney stones. A thulium fiber laser with 1908-nm wavelength delivered 34-mJ energy per pulse at 500-μs pulse duration through five different fibers such as 100-μm-core  /  170-μm-OD bare fiber tip, 150- to 300-μm-core tapered fiber tip, 100-μm-core  /  300-μm-OD ball tip fiber, 100-μm-core  /  340-μm-OD hollow steel tip fiber, and 100-μm-core  /  560-μm-OD muzzle brake fiber tip. A high-speed camera with 10-μm-spatial and 9.5-μs-temporal resolution was used to image the vapor bubble dynamics. A needle hydrophone measured pressure transients in the forward (0 deg) and side (90 deg) directions while placed at a 6.8  ±  0.4  mm distance from the distal fiber tip. Maximum bubble dimensions (width/length) averaged 0.7/1.5, 1.0/1.6, 0.5/1.1, 0.8/1.9, and 0.7  /  1.5  mm, for bare, tapered, ball, hollow steel, and muzzle brake fiber tips, respectively (n  =  5). The hollow steel tip exhibited the most elongated vapor bubble shape, translating into increased forward pressure in this study and consistent with higher stone retropulsion in previous reports. Relative pressures (a.u.) in (forward/side) directions averaged 1.7/1.6, 2.0/2.0, 1.4/1.2, 6.8/1.1, and 0.3/1.2, for each fiber tip (n  =  5). For the hollow steel tip, forward pressure was 4  ×   higher than for the bare fiber. For the muzzle brake fiber tip, forward pressure was 5  ×   lower than the bare fiber. Bubble dimensions and pressure measurements demonstrated that the muzzle brake fiber tip reduced forward pressure by partially venting vapors through the portholes, which is consistent with the observation of lower stone retropulsion in previous reports.

Radio over fiber (RoF) systems use a large number of base stations (BSs) and a number of central stations (CSs), which are interlinked together to form the network. RoF systems use multiple wavelengths for communication between CSs or between CSs and BSs to facilitate the huge amount of data traffic due to the multiple services for a large number of users. When erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are used as amplifiers in such wavelength-division multiplexed systems, the nonuniform gain spectrum of EDFAs causes instability to some of the channels while providing faithful amplification to other channels. To avoid this inconsistency, the gain spectrum of the amplifier needs to be uniform along the whole usable range of wavelengths. A gain contouring technique is proposed to provide uniform gain to all channels irrespective of wavelength. Optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs) and different lengths of erbium-doped fibers are used to create such a gain contouring mechanism in the optical domain itself. The effect of a cascade of nonuniform gain amplifiers is studied, and the proposed system mitigates the adverse effects caused due to nonuniform gain-induced channel instability effectively.

The present work analyzes the performance of photonic switching networks, optical packet switching (OPS) and optical burst switching (OBS), in mesh topology of different sizes and configurations. The “lossless” photonic switching node is based on a semiconductor optical amplifier, demonstrated and validated with experimental results on optical power gain, noise figure, and spectral range. The network performance was evaluated through computer simulations based on parameters such as average number of hops, optical packet loss fraction, and optical transport delay (A_m). The combination of these elements leads to a consistent account of performance, in terms of network traffic and packet delivery for OPS and OBS metropolitan networks. Results show that a combination of highly connected mesh topologies having an ingress e-buffer present high efficiency and throughput, with very low packet loss and low latency, ensuring fast data delivery to the final receiver.

Indoor visible light (VL) positioning systems for smart indoor services are negatively affected by both cochannel interference from adjacent light sources and VL reception position irregularity in the three-dimensional (3-D) VL channel. A secure positioning methodology based on a two-dimensional (2-D) encrypted VL map is proposed, implemented in prototypes of the specific positioning system, and analyzed based on performance tests. The proposed positioning technique enhances the positioning performance by more than 21.7% compared to the conventional method in real VL positioning tests. Further, the pseudonoise code is found to be the optimal encryption key for secure VL positioning for this smart indoor service.

A single quantum well semiconductor laser based on wurtzite-nitride is designed and analyzed for short distance communication wavelength (at around 1300 nm). The laser structure has 12 Å well layer of InN, 15 Å barrier layer of In0.25Ga0.75N, and 54 Å separate confinement heterostructure layer of GaN. To calculate the electronic characteristics of the structure, a self-consistent method is used where Hamiltonian with effective mass approximation is solved for conduction band while six-bands Hamiltonian matrix with k  ·  p formalism including the polarization effect, valence-band mixing effect, and strain effect is solved for valence band. The interband optical transition elements, optical gain, differential gain, radiative current density, spontaneous emission rate, and threshold characteristics have been calculated. The wave function overlap integral is found to be 45.93% for TE-polarized structure. Also, the spontaneous emission rate is found to be 6.57  ×  1027  s  −  1 cm  −  3 eV  −  1 at 1288.21 nm with the carrier density of 5  ×  1019  cm  −  3. Furthermore, the radiative current density and the radiative recombination rate are found to be 121.92  A cm  −  2 and 6.35  ×  1027  s  −  1 cm  −  3, respectively, while the TE-polarized optical gain of the structure is 3872.1  cm  −  1 at 1301.7 nm.

A three-layer-core single-mode large-mode-area fiber is investigated. The three-layer structure in the core, which is composed of a core-index layer, a cladding-index layer, and a depression-index layer, could achieve a large effective area A_eff while maintaining an ultralow bending loss without deteriorating cutoff behaviors. The single-mode large mode area of 100 to 330  μm² could be achieved in the fiber. The effective area A_eff can be further enlarged by adjusting the layer parameters. Furthermore, the bending property could be improved in this three-layer-core structure. The bending loss could decrease by 2 to 4 orders of magnitude compared with the conventional step-index fiber with the same A_eff. These characteristics of three-layer-core fiber suggest that it can be used in large-mode-area wide-bandwidth high-capacity transmission or high-power optical fiber laser and amplifier in optical communications, which could be used for the basic physical layer structure of big data storage, reading, calculation, and transmission applications.

Dimer nanoparticles in a sandwich structure exhibit a large electric-field intensity enhancement. The dispersion relation between the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and particle size has not been reported yet, owing to the effects of the particle size, shape, materials, etc. A sandwich structure, which contains a nano-right-triangle dimer array, SiO₂ spacer, and Au film, is proposed, with a significant electric-field intensity enhancement and polarization-changing properties. The dependence of the peak positions of the two localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) modes as a function of the triangle thicknesses is discussed; different trends are observed for the different LSPR modes. We introduce a concept on the rule for LSPR peak position change, which can contribute to a better understanding of the LSPR modes. In addition, centrosymmetric but not axisymmetric structures, which like in our study exhibit surface plasmon polaritons typically show different responses to a different polarization of the incident light. Here, we showed that our centrosymmetric but not axisymmetric structure can change the linearly polarized light into a circularly or elliptically polarized wave, by surface plasmon-induced polarization properties. Far-field distribution maps are used to study the properties of the surface plasmons-induced circular or elliptic polarization wave. These findings could be employed to better understand the surface plasmon-induced polarization properties showed in previous reports and near-field of surface plasmons. These findings could be employed to better understand the near-field of surface plasmons and polarization properties.

Square and circular light source layouts conventionally employed in visible light communication (VLC) systems suffer from communication blind spots and received signal nonuniformity as well as from large power fluctuations in the middle of the room. To address these shortcomings, we use the cross square and annulus layouts in conjunction with the cross-fertilize particle swarm optimization algorithm to improve VLC system performance. The distribution of the unit area received power (RPUA), the distribution of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the bit error rate (BER) performance were simulated and the rationality of the algorithm was compared. The results show that after optimization, the RPUA fluctuation value of the cross square layout decreases from 2.32 to 1.59  dB  /  m², the SNR fluctuation value reduces from 8.5 to 4.2 dB, and the RPUA fluctuation value of the annulus layout decreases from 4.69 to 3.46  dB  /  m², the SNR fluctuation value decreases from 13.3 to 8.8 dB. The RPUA value of cross-square layout fluctuates between −1.5 and −0.5  dB  /  m², and the receiving area accounts for 93.4% in this range while in the case of the square layout, this area is only 86.7%. Therefore, it suggests that this scheme is reasonable for the equality of communication quality and system performance heightens greatly.

We propose an indoor positioning system with visible light communication (VLC) technology, which employs a dimensionality reduction (DR) algorithm based on the received signal intensity, to eliminate the dead zone of positioning. Simulations are conducted for five altitude levels with dimensions of 5  m  ×  5  m  ×  4  m to verify the performance of the proposed DR algorithm. The result shows that subcentimeter accuracy in positioning can be obtained at five levels in three-dimensional space and that there exists no dead zone. Good robustness against the signal-to-noise ratio, space size, and transmission power is also verified via extensive tests.

Due to thermal stress, each emitter in a semiconductor laser bar or array is vertically displaced along the p-n junction; the result is that each emitter is not in a line, called near-field nonlinearity. Near-field nonlinearity along a laser bar (also known as “SMILE” effect) degrades the laser beam brightness, which causes an adverse effect on optical coupling and beam shaping. A large SMILE value causes a large divergence angle after collimation and a wider line after collimation and focusing. We simulate the factors affecting the SMILE value of a high-power diode laser array on a microchannel cooler (MCC). According to the simulation results, we have fabricated a series of laser bars bonded on MCCs with lower SMILE value. After simulation and experiment analysis, we found the key factor to affect SMILE is the deformation of the thin MCC because of the distribution of strain and stress in it. We also decreased the SMILE value of 1-cm-wide full bar AuSn bonded on MCCs from 12 to 1  μm by balancing force on MCC to minimize the deformation.

This paper aims to design a drone swarm network by employing free-space optical (FSO) communication for detecting and deep decision making of topological problems (e.g., oil pipeline leak), where deep decision making requires the highest image resolution. Drones have been widely used for monitoring and detecting problems in industrial applications during which the drone sends images from the on-air camera video stream using radio frequency (RF) signals. To obtain higher-resolution images, higher bandwidth (BW) is required. The current study proposed the use of the FSO communication system to facilitate higher BW for higher image resolution. Moreover, the number of drones required to survey a large physical area exceeded the capabilities of RF technologies. Our configuration of the drones is V-shaped swarm with one leading drone called mother drone (D_M). The optical decode-and-forward (DF) technique is used to send the optical payloads of all drones in V-shaped swarm to the single ground station through D_M. Furthermore, it is found that the transmitted optical power (Pt) is required for each drone based on the threshold outage probability of FSO link failure among the onboard optical-DF drones. The bit error rate of optical payload is calculated based on optical-DF onboard processing. Finally, the number of drones required for different image resolutions based on the size of the considered topological area is optimized.

The light-tree-based optical multicasting (LT-OM) scheme provides a spectrum- and energy-efficient method to accommodate emerging multicast services. Some studies focus on the survivability technologies for LTs against a fixed number of link failures, such as single-link failure. However, a few studies involve failure probability constraints when building LTs. It is worth noting that each link of an LT plays different important roles under failure scenarios. When calculating the failure probability of an LT, the importance of its every link should be considered. We design a link importance incorporated failure probability measuring solution (LIFPMS) for multicast LTs under independent failure model and shared risk link group failure model. Based on the LIFPMS, we put forward the minimum failure probability (MFP) problem for the LT-OM scheme. Heuristic approaches are developed to address the MFP problem in elastic optical networks. Numerical results show that the LIFPMS provides an accurate metric for calculating the failure probability of multicast LTs and enhances the reliability of the LT-OM scheme while accommodating multicast services.

A proposal toward the enhancement in the sensitivity of a multimode interference-based fiber optic liquid-level sensor is explored analytically using a zero-order Bessel–Gauss (BG) beam as the input source. The sensor head consists of a suitable length of no-core fiber (NCF) sandwiched between two specialty high-order mode fibers. The coupling efficiency of various order modes inside the sensor structure is assessed using guided-mode propagation analysis and the performance of the proposed sensor has been benchmarked against the conventional sensor using a Gaussian beam. Furthermore, the study has been corroborated using a finite-difference beam propagation method in Lumerical’s Mode Solutions software to investigate the propagation of the zero-order BG beam inside the sensor structure. Based on the simulation outcomes, the proposed scheme yields a maximum absolute sensitivity of up to 3.551  dB  /  mm and a sensing resolution of 2.816  ×  10^−  3  mm through the choice of an appropriate length of NCF at an operating wavelength of 1.55  μm. Owing to this superior sensing performance, the reported sensing technology expedites an avenue to devise a high-performance fiber optic-level sensor that finds profound implication in different physical, biological, and chemical sensing purposes.

Device-level optimization of sensitivity in separated absorption, grading charge, and multiplication avalanche photodiodes (SAGCM APDs) has been performed. The impulse response was derived using the modified random path length (RPL) model for nonuniform electric field. The impact ionization in the charge layer was also taken into consideration with a modified RPL model based on the ionization coefficients deduced from Monte Carlo simulation. The bit error rate was calculated based on the derived impulse response, considering tunneling current, intersymbol interference, and bandwidth-limited gain. The bandwidth has significant effect on response, and sensitivity of APDs was optimized.

A broadband absorber which was proposed by Thue–Morse structures containing graphene-based hyperbolic metamaterials (GHMM) is theoretically investigated. The Thue–Morse layer is composed of a lossy dielectric, conventional material layer, and GHMM. It is shown to absorb roughly 80% of all available electromagnetic waves at an 11 terahertz absorption bandwidth at normal angle incidence. The absorption bandwidth and absorptance is affected by incident angle, Fermi energy, and the thickness of dielectric. These findings can lead to the development of midinfrared photonic devices and have potential applications for designing broadband optoelectronic devices.

Spectral coloring glass and its application on the surface-enhanced Raman scattering are demonstrated experimentally via a simple and moderate heat-treating of the top ultrathin gold film to create discrete nanoparticles, which can produce localized surface plasmon resonances and strong plasmonic near-field coupling effects. Ultrathin metal films with a wide range of thicknesses are investigated by different heat-treatment processes. The annealed metal films have been demonstrated with a series of spectral coloring responses. Moreover, the microscopy images of the metal film structures confirm the formation of distinct geometry features in these operation procedures. Densely packed nanoparticles are observed for the ultrathin metal film with the single-digit level of thickness. With increasing the film thickness over 10 nm, metallic clusters and porous morphologies can be obtained. Importantly, the metallic resonators can provide enhanced Raman scattering with the detection limit down to 10^−  7  molL^−  1 of Rhodamine 6G molecules due to the excitation of plasmon resonances and strong near-field coupling effects. These features hold great potential for large-scale and low-cost production of colored glass and Raman substrate.

A horizontally asymmetric transverse magnetic (TM) pass polarizer is presented. The device passes only TM mode and rejects transverse electric (TE) mode. The proposed device has an asymmetricity in the horizontal direction comprising a direction coupler region with a silicon waveguide, silicon nitride waveguide, and an air gap, all residing on silica. Between three equal width Si waveguides, we have one region filled with air and the other with SiN with unequal optimized widths. The device with its optimal dimensions yields an extremely low insertion loss (IL) of 0.16 dB for TM→TM, while TE is rejected by an IL of >48  dB. The proposed polarizer is operated between C&L bands with a high extinction ratio and broadband width of about 110 nm.

Spectral computed tomography is an emerging imaging method that involves using recently developed energy discriminating photon-counting detectors (PCDs). This technique enables measurements at isolated high-energy ranges, in which the dominating undergoing interaction between the x-ray and the sample is the incoherent scattering. The scattered radiation causes a loss of contrast in the results, and its correction has proven to be a complex problem, due to its dependence on energy, material composition, and geometry. Monte Carlo simulations can utilize a physical model to estimate the scattering contribution to the signal, at the cost of high computational time. We present a fast Monte Carlo simulation tool, based on McXtrace, to predict the energy resolved radiation being scattered and absorbed by objects of complex shapes. We validate the tool through measurements using a CdTe single PCD (Multix ME-100) and use it for scattering correction in a simulation of a spectral CT. We found the correction to account for up to 7% relative amplification in the reconstructed linear attenuation. It is a useful tool for x-ray CT to obtain a more accurate material discrimination, especially in the high-energy range, where the incoherent scattering interactions become prevailing (>50  keV).

Volume Bragg grating (VBG) with refractive index modulation (RIM) apodized with sinusoidal semiperiod profile is studied theoretically and experimentally. An apodized VBG of this type was fabricated with a sequential recording of two VBGs with slightly different resonant Bragg wavelengths in the same glass wafer. As a result, a moiré pattern was produced with a constant average refractive index and a slow sinusoidal envelope of RIM. Modeling showed that an apodized VBG with a sinusoidal semiperiod has provided a suppression of the sidelobes in the reflection spectrum. The experimental measurements are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. This type of VBG is suitable for high-resolution spectroscopy applications due to a significant reduction of sidelobes.

A reflection-type refractive-index sensor based on the surface plasmon resonance of graphene in the mid-infrared to terahertz regime is proposed. With a simple configuration, the sensor demonstrates high flexibilities for the gas and liquid samples sensing and achieves markedly improved figures of merit of 53.64 and 36.5  RIU^−  1, respectively.

An edge filter is a potential technology in the fiber Bragg grating interrogation that has the advantages of fast response speed and suitability for dynamic measurement. To build a low loss, wideband jammed-array wideband sawtooth (JAWS) filter, a finite reflection virtually imaged array (FRVIA) is proposed and demonstrated. FRVIA is different from the virtually imaged phased array in that it has a low reflective front end. This change will lead to many differences in the device’s performance in output optical intensity distribution, spectral resolution, output aperture, and tolerance of the manufacture errors. A low loss, wideband JAWS filter based on an FRVIA can provide an edge filter for each channel, respectively.

The transmittance polarization extinction ratio of fused silica substrates with random antireflective surface structures (rARSS) was investigated. The antireflective structures were etched on both sides of the substrates to suppress Fresnel reflection from the two surfaces, and the substrates were processed with three different sets of etching parameters, resulting in samples with three distinct sets of surface characteristics. In addition, three of the samples were fabricated with identical processes on both sides, while one was fabricated with a different process on each side. Normal incidence transmission spectra, spanning wavelengths from 300 to 1900 nm, are presented for each double-sided substrate, and variable angle of incidence polarization measurements were taken at 633 nm. Although the spectral Fresnel reflection suppression of all of the samples was measured to similar levels at normal incidence, the polarized transmittance response was found to vary considerably, correlating with the surface morphology differences and the front-to-back surface roughness similarities between the samples. Polarization insensitivity was verified from normal incidence to Brewster’s angle. Comparisons with the ideal single-layer thin-film antireflection coating performance calculations show that rARSS samples are polarization insensitive over a larger range of angles and have a wide wavelength band of transmission enhancement.

Simplified analytical models with predictive capability enable simpler and faster optimization of the performance in applications of complex photonic devices. We recently demonstrated the most simplified analytical model still showing predictive capability for parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon (PA-LCoS) devices, which provides the voltage-dependent retardance for a very wide range of incidence angles and any wavelength in the visible. We further show that the proposed model is not only phenomenological but also physically meaningful, since two of its parameters provide the correct values for important internal properties of these devices related to the birefringence, cell gap, and director profile. Therefore, the proposed model can be used as a means to inspect internal physical properties of the cell. As an innovation, we also show the applicability of the split-field finite-difference time-domain (SF-FDTD) technique for phase-shift and retardance evaluation of PA-LCoS devices under oblique incidence. As a simplified model for PA-LCoS devices, we also consider the exact description of homogeneous birefringent slabs. However, we show that, despite its higher degree of simplification, the proposed model is more robust, providing unambiguous and physically meaningful solutions when fitting its parameters.

Quasiconformal transformation optics is used to design two-dimensional polarization beam splitters. The resulting media present inhomogeneous uniaxial permittivity and nonmagnetic response. The compact devices are theoretically designed and investigated for symmetrical and asymmetrical geometries, with footprint of 64 and 110  μm², respectively. The polarization splitter performance is evaluated for the fundamental mode and third mode, exhibiting an insertion loss closer to 0 dB and extinction ratio above 40 dB over a broad wavelength range.