Optics Commons^™

Applications Of Volume Holographic Elements In High Power Fiber Lasers, Apurva Jain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this thesis is to explore the use of volume holographic elements recorded in photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass for power scaling of narrow linewidth diffraction-limited fiber lasers to harness high average power and high brightness beams. Single fiber lasers enable kW level output powers limited by optical damage, thermal effects and non-linear effects. Output powers can be further scaled using large mode area fibers, however, at the cost of beam quality and instabilities due to the presence of higher order modes. The mechanisms limiting the performance of narrow-linewidth large mode area fiber lasers are investigated and solutions using …

Low Voltage Blue Phase Liquid Crystal Displays, Linghui Rao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From cell phones, laptops, desktops, TVs, to projectors, high reliability LCDs have become indispensable in our daily life. Tremendous progress in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) has been made after decades of extensive research and development in materials, device configurations and manufacturing technology. Nowadays, the most critical issue on viewing angle has been solved using multidomain structures and optical film compensation. Slow response time has been improved to 2-5 ms with low viscosity LC material, overdrive and undershoot voltage, and thin cell gap approach. Moving image blur has been significantly reduced by impulse driving and frame insertion. Contrast ratio in excess …

Lithographic Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers, Guowei Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Remarkable improvements in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have been made by the introduction of mode- and current-confining oxide optical aperture now used commercially. However, the oxide aperture blocks heat flow inside the device, causing a larger thermal resistance, and the internal strain caused by the oxide can degrade device reliability, also the diffusion process used for the oxide formation can limit device uniformity and scalability. Oxide-free lithographic VCSELs are introduced to overcome these device limitations, with both the mode and current confined within the lithographically defined intracavity mesa, scaling and mass production of small size device could be possible. The …

Vertical Field Switching Blue Phase Liquid Crystals For Field Sequential Color Displays, Hui-Chuan Cheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Low power consumption is a critical requirement for all liquid crystal display (LCD) devices. A field sequential color (FSC) LCD was proposed by using red (R), green (G) and blue (B) LEDs and removing the lossy component of color filters which only transmits ~30% of the incoming white light. Without color filters, FSC LCDs exhibit a ~3X higher optical efficiency and 3X higher resolution density as compared to the conventional color filters-based LCDs. However, color breakup (CBU) is a most disturbing defect that degrades the image quality in FSC displays. CBU can be observed in stationary or moving images. It …

Optical Fluid-Based Photonic And Display Devices, Su Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional solid-state photonic devices exhibit an ultra-high optical performance and durability, but minimal adaptability. Recently, optical fluid-based photonic and display devices are emerging. By dynamically manipulating the optical interface formed by liquids, the optical output can be reconfigured or adaptively tuned in real time. Such devices exhibit some unique characteristics that are not achievable in conventional solid-state photonic devices. Therefore, they open a gateway for new applications, such as image and signal processing, optical communication, sensing, and lab-on-a-chip, etc. Different operation principles of optical fluidbased photonic devices have been proposed, for instance fluidic pressure, electrochemistry, thermal effect, environmentally adaptive hydrogel, …

Non-Reciprocal Wave Transmission In Integrated Waveguide Array Isolators, Tony Yatming Ho

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-reciprocal wave transmission is a phenomenon witnessed in certain photonic devices when the wave propagation dynamics through the device along one direction differs greatly from the dynamics along the counter-propagating direction. Specifically, it refers to significant power transfer occurring in one direction, and greatly reduced power transfer in the opposite direction. The resulting effect is to isolate the directionality of wave propagation, allowing transmission to occur along one direction only. Given the popularity of photonic integrated circuits (PIC), in which all the optical components are fabricated on the same chip so that the entire optical system can be made more …

Infrared Tapered Slot Antennas Coupled To Tunnel Diodes, Louis A. Florence

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tapered slot antennas (TSAs) have seen considerable application in the millimeter-wave portion of the spectrum. Desirable characteristics of TSAs include symmetric E- and H-plane antenna patterns, and broad non-resonant bandwidths. We investigate extension of TSA operation toward higher frequencies in the thermal infrared (IR), using a metal-oxide-metal diode as the detector. Several different infrared TSA design forms are fabricated using electronbeam lithography and specially developed thin-film processes. The angular antenna patterns of TSA-coupled diodes are measured at 10.6 micrometer wavelength in both E- and H-planes, and are compared to results of finite-element electromagnetic modeling using Ansoft HFSS. Parameter studies are …

High-Efficiency Blue Phase Liquid Crystal Displays, Yan Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Blue phase liquid crystals (BPLCs) have a delicate lattice structure existing between chiral nematic and isotropic phases, with a stable temperature range of about 2 K. But due to short coherent length, these self-assembled nano-structured BPLCs have a fast response time. In the past three decades, the application of BPLC has been rather limited because of its narrow temperature range. In 2002, Kikuchi et al. developed a polymer stabilization method to extend the blue-phase temperature range to more than 60 K. This opens a new gateway for display and photonic applications. In this dissertation, I investigate the material properties of …

Laser Filamentation Interaction With Materials For Spectroscopic Applications, Matthew Weidman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laser filamentation is a non-diffracting propagation regime consisting of an intense core that is surrounded by an energy reservoir. For laser ablation based spectroscopy techniques such as Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), laser filamentation enables the remote delivery of high power density laser radiation at long distances. This work shows a quasiconstant filament-induced mass ablation along a 35 m propagation distance. The mass ablated is sufficient for the application of laser filamentation as a sampling tool for plasma based spectroscopy techniques. Within the scope of this study, single-shot ablation was compared with multi-shot ablation. The dependence of ablated mass on …

Internal Electric Fields Due To Piezoelectric And Spontaneous Polarizations In Cdzno/Mgzno Quantum Well, H. C. Jeon, S. J. Lee, Tae Won Kang, S. H. Park, Yung Kee Yeo, T. F. George

Faculty Publications

We have investigated optical properties as a function of internal and external fields in the quantum well (QW). Optical properties of CdZnO/MgZnO QW structures are investigated by using many‐body effects. The CdZnO/MgZnO QW structure with high Cd composition is found to have smaller optical gain because the strain‐induced piezoelectric polarization and the spontaneous polarization in the well increase with the inclusion of Cd. These results demonstrate that high performance laser diode operation can be realized in CdZnO/MgZnO QW structures by reducing those polarizations adopting dipole reverse method.

Wavelength Dependence Of Transverse Mode Coupling With/Without E-Block Of Gan Laser Cavity, Krishneel Lal

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Chaotic Bandgaps In Hybrid Acousto-Optic Feedback And Their Implications, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Mohammed A. Al-Saedi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The nonlinear dynamics of a hybrid acousto-optic device was examined from the perspective of the Lyapunov exponent (LE) and bifurcation maps. The plots for LE versus system parameters and bifurcation maps have recently been examined against known simulation results including chaotic encryption experiments [1]. It is verified that the "loop gain" (feedback gain (β) times incident light amplitude (Iin) needs to be greater than one as a necessary , but not sufficient condition for the onset of chaos.

It is found that for certain combinations of β, Iin, net bias voltage (αtοt), and the initial value of the first-order scattered …

Examination Of Chaotic Signal Encryption And Recovery For Secure Communication Using Hybrid Acousto-Optic Feedback, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Mohammed A. Al-Saedi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Generation of chaos from acousto-optic (A-O)Bragg cell modulators with an electronic feedback has been studied for over 3 decades. Since an acousto-optic Bragg cell with zeroth- and first-order feedback exhibits chaotic behavior past the threshold for bistability, such a system was recently examined for possible chaotic encryption of simple messages (such as a low-amplitude sinusoidal signal) applied via the bias input of the sound cell driver. Subsequent recovery of the message signal was carried out via a heterodyne-type strategy employing a locally generated chaotic carrier, with threshold parameters matched to the transmitting Bragg cell.

In this paper, we present numerical …

Scalar Em Beam Propagation In Inhomogeneous Media, John M. Jarem, Partha P. Banerjee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In the previous chapter, we reviewed some of the mathematical preliminaries that will be useful later on in the text. In this chapter, we discuss some of the basic concepts of scalar wave propagation, and discuss an important numerical method, called the beam propagation method (BPM), to study propagation in linear media and in media with induced nonlinearities. Furthermore, we also discuss propagation through induced gratings, both transmission and reflection type, in order to assess energy coupling between participating waves. Finally, we introduce readers to an important characterization method, called the z-scan method, which is often used to determine the …

Binary And Core-Shell Nanoparticle Dispersed Liquid Crystal Cells For Metamaterial Applications, George Nehmetallah, Rola Aylo, Partha P. Banerjee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We theoretically explored the feasibility of a tunable metamaterial using binary as well as core-shell nanoparticle dispersed liquid crystal cells in the infrared and optical regimes. Owing to the spatial variation of the permittivity of the liquid crystal host upon the application of a bias voltage, the host was decomposed into a layered medium and the effective refractive index recalculated for each layer due to the distribution of polaritonic and plasmonic nanoparticles.

The scattering, extinction, and absorption of such a nanoparticle dispersed liquid crystal cell were also found. Depending on the applied voltage bias across the liquid crystal host, the …

Single-Beam Holographic Tomography Creates Images In Three Dimensions, George Nehmetallah, Partha P. Banerjee, Nickolai Kukhtarev

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In digital holography (DH), the interference between light scattered from an object and a reference wave is recorded using a CCD camera. DH has various advantages over analog holography: no film processing is needed, reconstruction is performed using numerical methods, and no further experimental setup is necessary. However, one of the disadvantages of DH is that current CCDs have a resolution of approximately 1,000 lines/mm, which is less than that of photographic film.

Anisotropic Electrical Properties Of Nanostructured Metallic Thin Films, Mo Ahoujja, Piyush Shah, Andrew Saragan, Said Elhamri, Elena A. Guliants

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

High surface area, porous, metallic (Ti, Cr) nanorod thin ¯lms with columnar microstructure can be deposited using conventional physical vapor deposition technique of E-beam evaporation. The technique relies on the physical vapor deposition onto a static substrate oriented in a position where °ux from the source material (Ti, Cr) arrives at oblique angle. The adatoms provides geometrical shadowing which results in growth of nanorod columns in the direction of vapor source. Deposition conditions such as angle of the incoming vapor °ux, substrate temperature, surface di®usion etc. have strong in°uence on the shape and arrangement of the columnar thin ¯lms. In …

Multilayered Planar Periodic Subwavelength Microstructures For Generating And Detecting Circularly Polarized Thermal Infrared Radiation, Samuel Lanning Wadsworth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Generation and detection of circularly-polarized (CP) radiation in the 8- to 12-μm band of the infrared (IR) spectrum is crucial for polarization sensing and imaging scenarios. There is very little naturally occurring CP radiation in the long-wave IR band, so that useful functionalities may be obtained by exploiting preferential radiation and transmission characteristics of engineered metamaterials. Conventional CP devices in the IR utilize birefringent crystals, which are typically bulky and expensive to manufacture. The operation of these devices is generally optimized at a single wavelength. Imaging in the long-wave IR is most often broadband, so that achromatic CP-device behavior is …

Low Noise, Narrow Optical Linewidth Semiconductor-Based Optical Comb Source And Low Noise Rf Signal Generation, Ibrahim Tuna Ozdur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recently optical frequency combs and low noise RF tones are drawing increased attention due to applications in spectroscopy, metrology, arbitrary waveform generation, optical signal processing etc. This thesis focuses on the generation of low noise RF tones and stabilized optical frequency combs. The optical frequency combs are generated by a semiconductor based external cavity mode-locked laser with a high finesse intracavity etalon. In order to get the lowest noise and broadest bandwidth from the mode-locked laser, it is critical to know the free spectral range (FSR) of the etalon precisely. First the etalon FSR is measured by using the modified …

Infrared Phased-Array Antenna-Coupled Tunnel Diodes, Brian Alan Slovick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Infrared (IR) dipole antenna-coupled metal-oxide-metal (MOM) tunnel diodes provide a unique detection mechanism that allows for determination of the polarization and wavelength of an optical field. By integrating the MOM diode into a phased-array antenna, the angle of arrival and degree of coherence of received IR radiation can be determined. The angular response characteristics of IR dipole antennas are determined by boundary conditions imposed by the surrounding dielectric or conductive environment on the radiated fields. To explore the influence of the substrate configuration, single dipole antennas are fabricated on both planar and hemispherical lens substrates. Measurements demonstrate that the angular …

Multi-Pose Face Recognition And Tracking System, Binu Muraleedharan Nair, Jacob Foytik, Richard Tompkins, Yakov Diskin, Theus Aspiras, Vijayan K. Asari

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We propose a real time system for person detection, recognition and tracking using frontal and profile faces. The system integrates face detection, face recognition and tracking techniques. The face detection algorithm uses both frontal face and profile face detectors by extracting the 'Haar' features and uses them in a cascade of boosted classifiers. The pose is determined from the face detection algorithm which uses a combination of profile and frontal face cascades and, depending on the pose, the face is compared with a particular set of faces having the same range for classification. The detected faces are recognized by projecting …

Fluorinated Templates For Energy-Related Nanomaterials And Applications, Mohammed J. Meziani, Fushen Lu, Li Cao, Christopher E. Bunker, Elena A. Guliants, Ya-Ping Sun

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Fluorinated ionomer membranes, as represented by the commercially available Nafion films, are macroscopically homogeneous and optically transparent but microscopically inhomogeneous with the presence of nanoscale hydrophilic cavities. These cavities serve as nanoscale reactors for the synthesis of nanoparticles from a variety of materials. The membranes with embedded nanoscale semiconductors, still optically transparent, have been used as sheet-photocatalysts for energy conversion applications, while those with embedded reactive metals used as nano-energetic materials for hydrogen generation and beyond. This chapter provides an overview on the templated synthesis of nanomaterials in fluorinated ionomer membranes and the various energy-related applications of this unique class …

Comparison Of Turbulence-Induced Scintillations For Multi-Wavelength Laser Beacons Over Tactical (7 Km) And Long (149 Km) Atmospheric Propagation Paths, Mikhail Vorontsov, Venkata S. Rao Gudimetla, Gary W. Carhart, Thomas Weyrauch, Svetlana Lachinova, Ernst Polnau, Joseph Rierson, Leonid A. Beresnev, Jony Jiang Liu, Jim F. Riker

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We report results of the experimental analysis of atmospheric effects on laser beam propagation over two distinctive propagation paths: a long-range (149 km) propagation path between Mauna Loa (Island of Hawaii) and Haleakala (Island of Maui) mountains, and a tactical-range (7 km) propagation path between the roof of the Dayton Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) and the Intelligent Optics Laboratory (IOL/UD) located on the 5th floor of the University of Dayton College Park Center building. Both testbeds include three laser beacons operating at wavelengths 532 nm, 1064 nm, and 1550 nm and a set of identical optical receiver systems with …

Theoretical Study Of Beam Transformations By Volume Diffraction, Sergiy V. Mokhov

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laser beams can be manipulated by volume diffractive elements in addition to conventional optical elements like mirrors, lenses, and beam splitters. Conventional optical elements can be described by applying the basic laws of reflection and refraction at the surfaces of the elements. Even diffraction by surface gratings utilizes relatively simple mathematics. This is to be contrasted with the volume diffraction, which requires coupled wave theory in the slowly varying envelope approximation (SVEA) to obtain accurate results. Efficient spatially distributed diffraction of laser beams is possible due to the high coherence of laser light, and it occurs at specific resonant Bragg …

Electromagnetic Propagation Anomalies In Waveguiding Structures And Scattering Systems, Alessandro Salandrino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The effects related to diffraction and interference are ubiquitous in phenomena involving electromagnetic wave propagation, and are accurately predicted and described within the framework of classical electrodynamics. In the vast majority of the cases the qualitative features of the evolution of a propagating wave can be inferred even without detailed calculations. A field distribution will spread upon propagation, will accumulate phase along the direction of power flow, will exert mechanical forces upon scattering objects in the direction of propagation etc. When such predictions fail, counterintuitive effects and new functionalities can be engineered. In this work a series of exceptional cases …

Ultra High Density Spectral Beam Combining By Thermal Tuning Of Volume Bragg Gratings In Photo-Thermo-Refractive Glass, Derrek Drachenberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High power lasers with diffraction limited beam quality are desired for many applications in defense and manufacturing. A lot of applications require laser beams at the 100 kW power level along with divergence close to the diffraction limit. The figure of merit for a beam used in such applications should be radiance which determines the laser power delivered to a remote target. One of the primary limiting factors is thermal distortion of a laser beam caused by excessive heat generated in the laser media. Combination of multiple laser beams is usually considered as a method to mitigate these limitations. Spectral …

Perceptual Image Quality Of Launch Vehicle Imaging Telescopes, Joshua K. Lentz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A large fleet (in the hundreds) of high quality telescopes are used for tracking and imaging of launch vehicles during ascent from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center. A maintenance tool has been development for use with these telescopes. The tool requires rankings of telescope condition in terms of the ability to generate useful imagery. It is thus a case of ranking telescope conditions on the basis of the perceptual image quality of their imagery. Perceptual image quality metrics that are well-correlated to observer opinions of image quality have been available for several decades. However, these are …

Few-Cycle Pulses Amplification For Attosecond Science Applications Modeling And Experiments, Michael Hemmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of mode-locked oscillators providing pulses with durations as short as a few electric-field cycles in the near infra-red has paved the way toward electric-field sensitive physics experiments. In addition, the control of the relative phase between the carrier and the pulse envelope, developed in the early 2000’s and rewarded by a Nobel price in 2005, now provides unprecedented control over the pulse behaviour. The amplification of such pulses to the millijoule level has been an on-going task in a few world-class laboratories and has triggered the dawn of attoscience, the science of events happening on an attosecond timescale. …

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 …

Computationally Efficient Digital Backward Propagation For Fiber Nonlinearity Compensation, Likai Zhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The next generation fiber transmission system is limited by fiber nonlinearity. A distributed nonlinearity compensation method, known as Digital Backward Propagation (DBP), is necessary for effective compensation of the joint effect of dispersion and nonlinearity. However, in order for DBP to be accurate, a large number of steps are usually required for long-haul transmission, resulting in a heavy computational load. In real time DBP implementation, the FIR filters can be used for dispersion compensation and account for most of the computation per step. A method of designing a complementary filter pair is proposed. The individual errors in the frequency response …