Electromagnetics and Photonics Commons^™

Audio-To-Optical Conversion And Transmission, Jason Moritz

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to understand free-space optical transmission of signals in the application of transmitting an audio signal. An audio signal will be taken from the headphone output of a computer and used to modulate a current source driving an LED and a laser diode. The optical signal will then be transmitted through free space as well as two different focal length lenses and converted back to an audio signal to measure any attenuation or gain in the original signal. My experimental results showed that the LED was able to transmit up to 10 dB more power …

Optical Fibre Communications And Sensing System Experiments For Undergraduate Photonics Laboratories, Graham Wild, Geoffrey Swan

Research outputs 2011

Experiments in photonics tend to be reserved for postgraduate laboratories, where suitable equipment and resources are available. Simple optical fibre experiments may be included in some undergraduate programs, possibly utilising polymer optical fibres with LEDs and phototransistors, or with the use of bulk optical components and glass optical fibre elements. However, real optical fibre communication systems and optical fibre sensing systems utilise more complex devices, such as optical fibre Bragg gratings. With the availability of optical components in the 850nm wavelength range, a variety of practical systems can be realised using industry standard components. We show how to mitigate a …

Numerical Modelling Of Interrogation Systems For Optical Fibre Bragg Grating Sensors, Daniel P. Oswald, Steven J. Richardson, Graham Wild

Research outputs 2011

There are a number of interrogation methods that can be used in optical Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensing system. For very high frequency signals interrogating the sensor signal from an FBG is limited to two intensiometric methods, edge filter detection and power detection. In edge filter detection, a broadband light source illuminates an FBG, the reflected spectrum is then passed through a spectral filter. In power detection, a narrowband light source with a wavelength corresponding to the 3dB point of the FBG is filtered by the FBG itself. Both methods convert the spectral shift of the FBG into intensity signals. …

Nano-Patterned High-Responsivity Gaas Metal-Semiconductor-Metal Photodetector, Ayman Karar, Chee Leong Tan, Kamal Alameh, Yong Tak Lee

Research outputs 2011

In this paper, we use the finite difference time-domain (FDTD) method to optimize the light absorption of an ultrafast nano-grating plasmonic GaAs metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector (MSM-PD) employing double metal nano-gratings. The geometry of the MSM-PD is theoretically investigated, leading to improved light absorption near the design wavelength of GaAs due to plasmon-assisted electric and magnetic field concentration through a subwavelength aperture. Simulation results show up to 8- and 21-times light absorption enhancement for the single and double nano-grating structure, respectively, in comparison to conventional MSM-PDs. Experimentally, more than 4 times enhancement in photocurrent is demonstrated for a single top nano-grating MSM-PD …

Design Of Laser Multi-Beam Generator For Plant Discrimination, Sreten Askraba, Arie Paap, Kamal Alameh, John Rowe

Research outputs 2011

Optimisation of the optical signal from the laser multi-spot beam generator employed in a photonic based real-time plant discrimination sensor for use in selective herbicide spraying systems is presented. The plant detection sensor uses a three-wavelength laser diode module that sequentially emits identically-polarized laser light beams through a common aperture, along one optical path. Each laser beam enters a multi-spot beam generator which produces 15 parallel laser beams over a 240mm span. The intensity of the reflected light from each spot is detected by a high-speed line scan image sensor. Plant discrimination is based on calculating the slope of the …

Garnet Multilayer Thin Film Structure With Magnetostatically-Altered And Improved Magnetic Properties Prepared By Rf Magnetron Sputtering, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam, Mikhail Vasiliev, Viacheslav Kotov, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2011

We prepare an all-garnet multilayer film structure by sandwiching a magneto-soft garnet material in between two magneto-hard garnet materials with high bismuth substitution levels using RF magnetron sputtering technique and investigate the microstructure and the effects of magnetostatic inter-layer coupling on magnetic properties. Both types of the Bi-substituted magneto-optic garnet materials used possess excellent optical, magnetic and magneto-optical properties suitable for the application in different new and emerging technologies in optics and photonics. Garnet layers of composition type Bi2Dy1Fe4Ga1O12 have strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and Bi1.8Lu1.2Fe3.6Al1.4O12 magneto-soft layer features magnetization behavior similar to that of in-plane magnetized films. The all-garnet …

A 1x4 Adaptive Optical Splitter Based On Opto-Vlsi Processor, Haithem Mustafa, Feng Xiao, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2011

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel high resolution 1×4 adaptive optical power splitter based on the use of an Opto-VLSI processor and a 4-f imaging system with an optimized optical beam waist profile. By uploading optimized multicasting phase holograms onto the software-driven Opto-VLSI processor, an input optical signal is dynamically split into different output fiber ports with user-defined splitting ratios. Experimental results showing dynamic optical splitting over a wavelength range exceeding 50 nm are presented.

Photonic Microwave Filter Employing An Opto-Vlsi-Based Adaptive Optical Combiner, Haithem Mustafa, Feng Xiao, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2011

A reconfigurable photonic microwave filter structure employing an Opto-VLSI based adaptive optical combiner is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The Opto-VLSI based adaptive optical combiner is used to combine RF modulated optical signals with a user-defined weight profile to realize a reconfigurable RF photonic filter response. Theoretical simulations are in excellent agreement with the experimental results that demonstrate the concept of the photonic microwave filter structure.

Log-Periodic Microstrip Patch Antenna Miniaturization Using Artificial Magnetic Conductor Surfaces, Ahmad Tariq Almutawa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microstrip patch antennas are attractive for numerous military and commercial applications due to their advantages in terms of low-profile, broadside radiation, lowcost, low-weight and conformability. However, the inherent narrowband performance of patch antennas prohibits their use in systems that demand wideband radiation. To alleviate the issue, an existing approach is to combine multiple patch antennas within a log-periodic array configuration [1]. These log-periodic patch antennas (LPMAs) are capable of providing large bandwidths (>50%) with stable broadside radiation patterns. However, they suffer from electrically large sizes. Therefore, their miniaturization without degrading the bandwidth performance holds promise for extending their use …

Characterization Of The Nonlinear Refractive Index Of Carbon Disulfide Over An Extended Spectral And Temporal Range, Marcus Seidel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intensity dependent refractive index change of a medium is frequently described in terms of the product n₂ · I where n₂ is the nonlinear refractive index and I the light intensity. The nonlinear refractive index is often treated as constant which is a reasonable assumption if the light interacts only with bound electrons. In the case of carbon disulfide (CS₂) however, nuclear motions contribute to n₂. These motions occur on the sub picosecond time scale and thus become especially relevant for ultrashort laser pulses. The neat liquid CS₂ is studied because it exhibits a large nonlinear refractive index in …

Low Noise And Low Repetition Rate Semiconductor-Based Mode-Locked Lasers, Dimitrios Mandridis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topic of this dissertation is the development of low repetition rate and low noise semiconductor-based laser sources with a focus on linearly chirped pulse laser sources. In the past decade chirped optical pulses have found a plethora of applications such as photonic analogto-digital conversion, optical coherence tomography, laser ranging, etc. This dissertation analyzes the aforementioned applications of linearly chirped pulses and their technical requirements, as well as the performance of previously demonstrated chirped pulse laser sources. Moreover, the focus is shifted to a specific application of the linearly chirped pulses, timestretched photonic analog-to-digital conversion (TS ADC). The challenges of …

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of High-Transparency Deep Ultra-Violet Contacts Using Surface Plasmon Coupling In Subwavelength Aluminum Meshes, Clarisse Mazuir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present work aims at enhancing the external quantum efficiencies of ultra-violet (UV) sensitive photodetectors (PDs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs)for any light polarization. Deep UV solid state devices are made out of AlGaN or MgZnO and their performances suffer from the high resistivity of their p-doped regions. They require transparent p-contacts; yet the most commonly used transparent contacts have low transmission in the UV: indium tin oxide (ITO) and nickel-gold (Ni/Au 5/5 nms) transmit less than 50% and 30% respectively at 300 nm. Here we investigate the use of surface plasmons (SPs) to design transparent p-contacts for AlGaN devices …

Lead Silicate Glass Microsphere Resonators With Absorption-Limited Q, Pengfei Wang, Genapathy Murugan, Timothy Lee, Xian Feng, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Wei Loh, Gilberto Brambilla, James Wilkinson, Gerald Farrell

Articles

We report the fabrication and characterization of a lead-silicate glass microsphere resonator. We show that at the wavelengths near 1555 nm high Q modes can be efficiently excited from a 109 μm diameter lead-silicate glass microsphere via evanescent coupling using a tapered silica fiber with a waist diameter of 2 μm. Resonances with Q-factors as high as 0.9×10⁷ were observed. This is very close to the theoretical material-limited Q-factor and is the highest Q-factor reported so far from a nonlinear glass microsphere.

Guiding Electric Fields For Electroporation Applications, Jose Rey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electroporation is the critical step in an electric field mediated drug or gene delivery protocol. Electroporation based protocols have been successfully demonstrated in cancer clinical trials, however, its impact in other applications is still under investigation. A significant roadblock to long term functioning of implantable biosensors in vivo is the tissue reaction in the form of fibrous encapsulation that results in reduced transport to the sensing element of the biosensor. In vivo gene electroporation has a great potential as a means to modify the transport properties of tissues in the proximity of the sensing element of implantable biosensors.

This dissertation …

Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Of Single Silver Nanoparticles Studied By Dark-Field Optical Microscopy And Spectroscopy, Wei Cao, Tao Huang, Xiao-Hong Nancy Xu, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) with different shapes and disk-shaped Ag NP pairs with varying interparticle distance is studied using dark-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy (DFOMS). Disk-, square-, and triangular-shaped Ag NPs were fabricated on indium tin oxide-coated glass substrates by electron beam lithography. The LSPR spectra collected from single Ag NPs within 5×5 arrays using DFOMS exhibited pronounced redshifts as the NP shape changed from disk to square and to triangular. The shape-dependent experimental LSPR spectra are in good agreement with simulations using the discrete dipole approximation model, although there are small deviations in the …

Generalized Ellipsometry On Sculptured Thin Films Made By Glancing Angle Deposition, Daniel Schmidt

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, physical properties of highly optically and magnetically anisotropic metal sculptured thin films made by glancing angle deposition are presented. Predominantly, the determination of optical and magneto-optical properties with spectroscopic generalized Mueller matrix ellipsometry and homogenization approaches is discussed. Nomenclatures are proposed to unambiguously identify the sculptured thin film geometry.

Generalized ellipsometry, a non-destructive optical characterization technique, is employed to determine geometrical structure and anisotropic dielectric properties of highly spatially coherent three-dimensionally nanostructured thin films in the spectral range from 400 to 1700 nm. The analysis of metal slanted columnar thin films (F1-STFs) deposited at glancing angle ( …

On The Use Of Natural-Mode Basis Functions For Electromagnetic Analysis Of Arbitrary Conducting Surfaces, Joshua Lawrence

All Theses

The natural modes defined in the singularity expansion method (SEM) are used as basis functions for the frequency- and time-domain current responses of arbitrary perfect electrically conducting (PEC) surfaces in this work. First, a method of determining the natural frequencies and corresponding modes which employs the electric field integral equation is presented. These quantities are then calculated for several geometries and the currents induced due to an incident plane wave in the frequency and time domains are approximated by a weighted sum of the natural modes. Additionally, the modal weights prescribed by SEM are compared to a set of weights …

Modeling And Simulation Of Tunable Photonic Crystals, Weiqing Yang

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Photonic crystals (PhCs) have wavelength scale periodically alternating refractive indexes. Photon in such structures is subject to strong scattering, experiencing distinctive redistribution of energy, yielding interesting properties such as photonic band gaps, field enhancement, strong nonlinear optic effects and photon confinement. The modified fields also alter the propagation of light beams. By proper setup, super collimation could be realized in PhCs where beams can travel long distance without spreading, while no waveguide structure is used. Redirection of light can extend the refraction to negative range, without violating physics rules. This distinguished phenomenon has been envisioned as the core mechanism for …

Microstrip-Fed Wideband Circularly Polarized Printed Antenna, Xiulong Bao, Max Ammann, Patrick Mcevoy

Articles

A wideband circularly-polarized printed antenna is proposed, which employs an asymmetrical dipole and a slit in the ground plane which are fed by an L-shaped microstrip feedline using a via. The proposed antenna geometry is arranged so that the orthogonal surface currents, which are generated in the dipole, feedline and ground plane, have the appropriate phase to provide circular polarization. A parametric study of the key parameters is made and the mechanism for circular polarization is described. The measured results show that the impedance bandwidth is approximately 1.34 GHz (2.45 GHz to 3.79 GHz) and the 3 dB axial ratio …

Improving Range Estimation Of A 3d Flash Ladar Via Blind Deconvolution, Jason R. Mcmahon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research effort is to improve and characterize range estimation in a three-dimensional FLASH LAser Detection And Ranging (3D FLASH LADAR) by investigating spatial dimension blurring effects. The myriad of emerging applications for 3D FLASH LADAR both as primary and supplemental sensor necessitate superior performance including accurate range estimates. Along with range information, this sensor also provides an imaging or laser vision capability. Consequently, accurate range estimates would also greatly aid in image quality of a target or remote scene under interrogation. Unlike previous efforts, this research accounts for pixel coupling by defining the range image mathematical …