Optics Commons^™

Characterization Of Atmospheric Turbulence Over Long Horizontal Paths Using Optical Slope Measurements, Eric E. Silbaugh

Theses and Dissertations

Atmospheric turbulence has long been recognized as one of the fundamental factors affecting optical systems operating through the atmosphere. Turbulence over vertical paths has been well characterized, both theoretically and experimentally. Much less is known about turbulence over long, horizontal paths. Perturbations of the wave front phase can be measured using a Hartmann wave front sensor (H-WFS). Theoretical expressions for the tilt removed structure function of the H-WFS slope measurements were derived and evaluated using quadrature. These slope structure functions are functions of the phase structure function. The Kolmogorov turbulence model was assumed. Simulated H-WFS slope measurements were generated using …

Design, Fabrication And Characterization Of Micro Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems, Darren E. Sene

Theses and Dissertations

Several micro-opto-electro-mechanical structures were designed using the Multi-User MEMS Process (MUMPS). Specific design techniques were investigated for improving the capabilities of elevating flip up structures. The integration of several flip up microoptical structures into a microoptical system was explored with emphasis on the development of a microinterferometer. The thermal effects on the Modulus of Elasticity were determined by detecting the resonant frequency for a square Flexure Beam Micromirror Device. The resonance of the device was found to match theory to within 0.1 % and the Modulus of Elasticity was found to decrease by 0.041 GPa/K from 290 to 450 K. …

Micromirror Array Control Of A Phase-Locked Laser Diode Array, Carl J. Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

A ten element micromirror array has been designed, fabricated, and employed to control the far field irradiance pattern of a phase locked laser diode array. The laser array used in this experiment was a ten element, gain guided array lasing at a nominal wavelength of 828 nm and operating in the it out of phase supermode. The laser's near field irradiance was imaged onto a micromirror array, where the it phase differences between adjacent laser elements were corrected. This was accomplished by moving the micromirrors with individually applied voltages. The result was the desirable single lobed far field pattern, placing …

Experimental Investigation And Computer Modeling Of Optical Switching In Distributed Bragg Reflector And Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Structures, Richard J. Bagnell

Theses and Dissertations

The optical switching capabilities of Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) structures, including Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) are examined. Reflectivity switching is demonstrated using both thermal and carrier generated effects to alter the DBR/VCSEL layers' refractive indices. Optical bistability is demonstrated at room temperature, under CW photopumped excitation. The optical bistability hysteresis is controllable by spectral location of the pump on the stop band edge. In the VCSEL, reflective bistability is also evidenced; additionally, this bistability is accompanied by a bistability in the VCSEL lasing output intensity, spot size, and wavelength. Modeling of the DBR/VCSEL thermally induced bistability was accomplished …

Neutron Damage In Distributed Bragg Reflectors And Microcavity Lasers, Mark A. Suriano

Theses and Dissertations

Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBRs) grown on a gallium-arsenide substrate for a solid state mirror and a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) were subjected to a neutron fluence to determine the sensitivity of the DBRs. The samples were irradiated at Ohio State University's 500 kW research reactor. Relative and absolute reflectance measurements were taken before and after each irradiation over a spectral band of 530 880 µm. Relative reflectance measurements showed that the irradiation did not cause any spectral shift over seven decades of neutron fluences. The reflectivity of the DBRs decreased from their initial measurements after being irradiated. The …

Maximum Likelihood Estimation Of Wave Front Slopes Using A Hartmann-Type Sensor, Scott A. Sallberg

Theses and Dissertations

Current methods for estimating the wave front slope at the pupil of a telescope equipped with a Hartmann-type wave front sensor (H-WFS) are based on a simple centroid calculation of the intensity distributions (spots) recorded in each subaperture of the H-WFS. The centroid method does not include any knowledge concerning correlation properties of the slopes over the subapertures or the amount of light collected by the telescope and diverted to the H-WFS for wave front reconstruction purposes. This thesis devises a maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of the spot centroids by incorporating statistical knowledge of the spot shifts. The light level …

Computer-Aided Diagnosis Of Mammographic Masses, William E. Polakowski

Theses and Dissertations

A new Model-Based Vision algorithm was developed to find possibly cancerous regions of interest (ROIs) in digitized mammograms and to correctly identify the malignant masses. This work has shown a sensitivity of 92 percent for locating malignant ROIs. The database contained 272 images (12 bit, 1OO microns) with 36 malignant and 53 benign mass images. Of the 53 biopsied benign cases, 74 percent were correctly classified. The Focus of Attention (segmentation) Module algorithm used a physiologically motivated Difference of Gaussians (DoG) filter to highlight mass-like regions in the mammogram. The Index Module labeled the regions by their hypothesized class: large …

Effects Of Neutron Radiation On Resonant Cavity Light-Emitting Diodes, Daniel S. Hinkel

Theses and Dissertations

Resonant Cavity Light Emitting Diodes (RCLEDs) were irradiated in Ohio State University's nuclear reactor to determine the effects of Neutron displacement damage. The RCLEDs were characterized both before and after irradiation by their current versus voltage curves (I-V curves) and external light power versus current curves (L-I curves). The I-V curves showed an increase in the "knee voltage" at a neutron fluence of 1.45x10¹⁷ neutrons/cm2. Logarithmic decreases in external light power and differential quantum efficiency were observed. Significant decreases in external light power were observed at neutron fluences greater than 5.1x10¹³ neutrons/cm². Equations were developed to …

Two-Wavelength Neodymium Based Lasers, Scott H. Mccracken

Theses and Dissertations

A dual wavelength Q switched laser cavity has been successfully designed and assembled to evaluate the new neodymium (Nd) based materials. Initial characterization has been achieved for Nd:YAG and Nd:YLF. The results indicate that for a fixed pulse repetition frequency, the delay time can be used to adjust the relative energy between the 1.06 and 1.32 micrometer pulses. Any deficiency in the performance of one transition can be made up by performance in the other simply by changing the relative amount of time the population inversion is allowed to build up for each pulse. The best performance was obtained using …

Analysis Of Ladar Range Resolution Enhancement By Sinusoidal Phase Modulation, Leonard T. Masters, Martin B. Mark, Bradley D. Duncan

Electro-Optics and Photonics Faculty Publications

The ability of a ladar system to resolve two or more separate returns from a combined echo is related to the effective correlation bandwidth of the pulse emitted by the ladar system. Phase modulation of an outgoing pulse introduces additional frequency components, which increases the effective correlation bandwidth of the pulse and thus improves the range resolution of the system. In this paper, we discuss the general theoretical basis for achieving improved range resolution using a modulated waveform and a matched filter receiver. We then demonstrate these concepts by considering the particular case of improved range resolution for a sinusoidally …

Image Restoration Of Dispersion-Degraded Images From A Liquid-Crystal Beam Steerer, Ronald J. Broessel, Vince Dominic, Russell C. Hardie

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Liquid-crystal arrays represents one of the first practical technologies capable of steering light by electronic control only. We use such a device to steer the field of view of a broadband imaging sensor. Unfortunately, dispersion degrades the image quality by smearing out details in the image and by introducing multiple diffraction orders (echoes) at the detector plane. We present a method to compensate for these unwanted effects and thus restore the broadband images obtained with the beam steerer. We use the beam-propagation method to find the wavelength-dependent impulse response, from which we determine the appropriate Wiener filter. When training data …

Aliasing Reduction In Staring Infrared Imagers Utilizing Subpixel Techniques, Joseph C. Gillette, Thomas M. Stadtmiller, Russell C. Hardie

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We introduce and analyze techniques for the reduction of aliased signal energy in a staring infrared imaging system. A standard staring system uses a fixed two-dimensional detector array that corresponds to a fixed spatial sampling frequency determined by the detector pitch or spacing. Aliasing will occur when sampling a scene containing spatial frequencies exceeding half the sampling frequency. This aliasing can significantly degrade the image quality. The aliasing reduction schemes presented here, referred to as microscanning, exploit subpixel shifts between time frames of an image sequence. These multiple images are used to reconstruct a single frame with reduced aliasing. If …

Heterodyne Ladar System Efficiency Enhancement Using Single-Mode Optical Fiber Mixers, Donald K. Jacob, Martin B. Mark, Bradley D. Duncan

Electro-Optics and Photonics Faculty Publications

A theoretical performance analysis of a heterodyne ladar system incorporating a single-mode fiber receiver has been performed. For our purposes, the performance parameters of interest are the coupling and mixing efficiency of the ladar receiver, as they relate to the overall system carrier-to-noise ratio. For a receiver incorporating a single-mode fiber mixer, the received and local-oscillator fields are matched both spatially and temporally at the detector, yielding 100% mixing efficiency. We have therefore focused our efforts on determining an expression for the efficiency with which a diffuse return from a purely speckle target can be coupled into the receiving leg …

Single-Layer-Coated Surfaces With Linearized Reflectance Versus Angle Of Incidence: Application To Passive And Active Silicon Rotation Sensors, R. M.A. Azzam, M. M. K. Howlader, T. Y. Georgiou

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

A transparent or absorbing substrate can be coated with a transparent thin film to produce a linear reflectanceversus- angle-of-incidence response over a certain range of angles. Linearization at and near normal incidence is a special case that leads to a maximally flat response for p-polarized, s-polarized, or unpolarized light. For midrange and high-range linearization with moderate and high slopes, respectively, the best results are obtained when the incident light is s polarized. Application to a Si substrate that is coated with a SiO₂ film leads to novel passive and active reflection rotation sensors. Experimental results and an error analysis …

Transient Wave Mixing And Recording Kinetics In Photorefractive Barium Titanate: A Nonlinear Coupled Mode Approach, Partha P. Banerjee, John M. Jarem

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

By using rigorous coupled-wave diffraction theory along with a time-dependent nonlinear formulation, we analyze two- and multiplewave coupling and the grating kinetics in BaTi03 with different boundary interfaces. Efffects of electrostatic and optical anisotropy have been included in the analysis. Significant mode conversion to higher orders is observed only when the boundary interfaces are highly mismatched.

Guest Editorial: Special Section On Photorefractive Nonlinear Optics, Partha P. Banerjee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Hand in hand with experimental work in photorefractives, there is a lot of activity in modeling photorefractive materials and experimental observations in the open literature. This special section contains a paper by Banerjee and Jarem, who use a rigorous coupled wave theory to analyze two- and multiple-wave mixing photorefractive barium titanate, modeled through the Kukhtarev equations.

Broadband Dynamic, Holographically Self-Recorded, And Static Hexagonal Scattering Patterns In Photorefractive Knbo3:Fe, Nickolai Kukhtarev, Tatiana V. Kukhtareva, John Caulfield, Partha P. Banerjee, Hsueh-Ling Yu, Lambertus Hesselink

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We have observed and explained three types of hexagon pattern formation in photo refractive crystal KNb03:Fe. These are:

• Dynamic (laser induced)
• Semipermanent (holographically stored)
• Permanent (induced by a static domain grid) over a wide wavelength range

Interview: Brenda Laurel, Jason Challas

SWITCH

This interview with Brenda Laurel, Virtual Reality (VR) author and thinker, discusses the applications and challenges of VR. Creating an emphatic experience using VR technology is possible, but the challenge lies in designing an environment that models the senses to stimulate emotions. VR enables experiences of different genders, but physiological differences between the sexes exist and are important to understand. However, technology used to create the environment and simulation of physical objects in VR is only in the developmental stage. Laurel believes in the importance of keeping the mind grounded in the physical body, in order to strengthen the appreciation …

Review: 'Integrated Optics: Design And Modeling,' By Reinhard Marz, Bradley D. Duncan

Electro-Optics and Photonics Faculty Publications

My overall impression is that Integrated Optics: Design and Modeling will make a fine addition to almost anyone's collection of books on integrated optics. It will, however, serve its readers better as a reference book than as a text from which to first learn the basic concepts of integrated optics. I say this because the book is written at a fairly sophisticated technical level, though the author often moves rather quickly to the "bottom line" without providing material much beyond what is first necessary to introduce a problem or concept, and then a statement of the results and/or implications. It …

Statistical Properties Of Schriidinger Real And Imaginary Cat States, Victor V. Dodonov, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Vladimir I. Man'ko

Serge Youri Kalmykov

We study the photon statistics in the superpositions of coherent states |\alpha> and |\alpha*> named “Schroedinger real and imaginary cat states”. The oscillatory character of the photon distribution function (PDF) emerging due to the quantum interference between the two components is shown, and quadrature squeezing is observed for moderate values |\alpha| ~ 1. In spite of the quantity <\delta n^2> / tending to unity (like in the Poissonian PDF) at |\alpha| >> 1, the photon statistics is essentially non-Poissonian for all values of |\alpha|. The factorial moments and cumulants of the PDF are calculated, and oscillations of their ratio are demonstrated.

Optical Measurements Of The Core Radius Of High-Δ Fibers With 1-Nm Resolution, Peter N. Saeta

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

An optical technique for measuring the core radius of high-Δ optical fibers is described. Variations in the core radius of step-index fibers can be measured down to a scale of 1 nm.

The Characterization Of The Radiative Energy Transfer Process Among Holmium(3+) Ions In Yttrium(3) Aluminum(5) Oxygen(12), Terri Lynn Lazarus

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This research comprises a comprehensive spectroscopic study of the characteristics of the solid state crystal YAG (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet) singly doped with Ho (Holmium) ions. An important area of solid state laser crystal research is the determination and optimization of the processes within these laser crystals which lead to efficient laser action. In most laser crystals, there is a donor ion such as Tm (Thulium) and an acceptor ion such as Ho. The donor ion generally has greater absorption than that of the acceptor at the wavelength of the pump source. The donor ion can transfer this absorbed energy to …