Optics Commons^™

Empirical Validation Of Einstein’S Coefficient For The Deflection Of Light Due To Gravitational Forces, Alexandra R. Mcdowell

Honors College Theses

Einstein’s formula to calculate the deflection angle of light through space as it interacts with gravity was introduced in his 1916 publication on general relativity. This was not a new idea, but his equation was, and it was correct. Just 3 years after this publication, it was empirically validated by Sir Arthur Eddington and Sir Frank Dyson. Since that experiment in 1919, at least seven others have been performed that also gave definitive answers in support of Einstein’s deflection constant of 1.751 arcseconds. The two most recent ones made groundbreaking contributions to this effort. The 2017 eclipse showed reproducible results …

Developments And Applications Of Transport Of Intensity Equation Imaging And Optical Diffraction Tomography In Bioimaging, Shane D. Carney

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Non-invasive imaging schemes are highly sought after methodologies in biology and metrology, where maintaining the physical state of a sample is important. Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) techniques non-invasively reconstruct the relative phase delay imparted onto an optical field due to transmission through a sample. Phase delay is proportional to the thickness and refractive index of the sample, but is lost in the intensity measurement process. Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) and transport of intensity equation (TIE) phase imaging are two high-resolution QPI techniques. DHM is a well-researched, accurate, and widely implemented technique, but can be difficult to implement in labs without …

Non-Gaussian Phenomena In Light Scattering And Applications, Shubham Atul Dawda

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Physical reality is rarely deterministic; which, when probed by electromagnetic fields that also fluctuate, leads to observables that are most efficiently modelled as statistical processes. At equilibrium, this is usually achieved by invoking the Gaussian statistics of underlying physical processes, however, in practice, one often encounters out-of-equilibrium conditions where Gaussian descriptions may not suffice. Such situations are plentiful in nature– from biology to astronomy. This dissertation addresses several non-Gaussian phenomena associated with light scattering, and includes specific models’ derivations, experimental techniques developments, and demonstrations of potential applications. The systematic presentation will consider circumstances that infringe upon specific assumptions of the …

Investigation Of Laser Based Flow Diagnostics With Metastable Argon, Sterling S. Gordon

Physics Theses & Dissertations

The overarching motivation of this work is the development of seedless, non-intrusive, laser-based diagnostics for supersonic airflow in wind tunnels. To advance this goal, this dissertation fo-cuses on three-photon excitation in a research-grade argon beam within a tabletop vacuum system, which offers a controlled environment for testing and refining the approach. The chosen excitation scheme drives argon atoms to the 3d[5/2]₃ state using a pulsed Ti:Sapphire laser system, enabling time-of-flight (ToF) measurements on atoms that subsequently undergo a multi-step decay to the metastable 4s[3/2]₂ state. Although full realization of this excitation scheme was hindered by technical …

Growth, Cladding, And Characterization Of Single Crystal Optical Fiber: The Next Evolution In Directed Energy Systems, Allen Benton

All Dissertations

High-power fiber lasers are steadily increasing in maximum power and rapidly approaching theoretical maximum power output from a single fiber aperture. The low thermal conductivity of silica fibers is an inherent limitation to the dissipation of heat from the fiber core, and the buildup of heat within the laser gain media is the principal driver of transverse mode instability within fiber systems. This limitation necessitates the exploration of alternate fiber host materials. Due to their high thermal conductivity, excellent transmission range, ability to host most of the optically active rare earth ions, and success as bulk laser materials, single-crystalline YAG …

Atmospheric Characterization For Optical Paths In Lunar Proximity, Patrick D. Carattini

Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents a novel technique for estimating the Fried seeing parameter (r0) for optical paths around the Moon, where traditional methods fail due to the Moon's intensity. Using image processing, it derives the atmospheric optical transfer function (OTF) by using the Moon's edge as a step-input. A simulation chain validates the approach, achieving r0 estimation within 0.0012 m. Real-world tests confirm accuracy through visual and statistical analysis, offering an effective alternative for atmospheric characterization of optical paths close to the moon.

Interactions And Applications Of Optical Angular Momentum In Magneto-Optical Material, Seth R. Nelson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation explores the interactions and applications of optical angular momentum within magneto-optical materials. Beginning with a theoretical and experimental analysis of multiple reflection and refraction phenomena within magneto-optical material. We derive and verify the dependence of refractive indices on optical spin angular momentum and magneto-optical magnetization, resulting in nonreciprocal elliptical and linear polarization beam splitting effects and wavevector discretization. We fabricate a magnetless slab waveguide isolator with minimal optical loss. Extending our study to optical orbital angular momentum, we introduce a perturbation to the electronic transition model in bismuth-substituted iron garnets. We demonstrate that this perturbation leads to nonreciprocal …

Super-Resolution Magnetic Microscopy And Earth’S Field Magnetometry With Color Centers In Diamond, Nazanin Mosavian

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

In recent years, the negatively charged nitrogen- vacancy (NV) center has emerged as a promising solid-state color center capable of measuring magnetic fields with high sensi- tivity and spatial resolution under ambient conditions. In this thesis I will discuss how we perform super resolution magnetic microscopy and acquire magnetic field images of nanoparticle samples at 100 nm resolution. I will explain how 3D flux concentrators increase magnetic field amplitude and allows us to measure vector component magnetic fields as low as 50 µT with a diamond magnetometer, without the use of an additional bias magnetic field. I also describe how …

Focused Led Sintering, Dylan Defazio, Nilav Maulik, Branden Majors, Michael Fontillas

Mechanical Engineering

This report provides a detailed overview of the final design of our light-emitting diode (LED) focusing system. Our system incorporates a converging lens and a specially designed "glass funnel," which acts as a thick fiber optic that narrows the light to a fine point through internal reflection. The glass components of our system are precisely housed in a part made using advanced computer-numeric controlled (CNC) Mill and CNC Lathe manufacturing processes. This ensures high precision and durability of the overall system. Our LED focusing system is designed with a 60-watt stage light. The decision to use a glass funnel as …

Pt-Symmetry And Eigenmodes, Tamara Gratcheva

University Honors Theses

Spectra of systems with balanced gain and loss, described by Hamiltonians with parity and time-reversal (PT) symmetry is a rich area of research. This work studies by means of numerical techniques, how eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a Schrodinger operator change as a gain-loss parameter changes. Two cases on a disk with zero boundary conditions are considered. In the first case, within the enclosing disk, we place a parity (P) symmetric configuration of three smaller disks containing gain and loss media, which does not have PT-symmetry. In the second case, we study a PT-symmetric configuration …

Development Of A High-Resolution Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy Apparatus For The Study Of Methane And Other Astrochemical Molecules., S M Shah Riyadh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research documents steps towards building a novel spectroscopic technique, namely, cavity-enhanced double-resonance (CEDR) spectroscopy, for investigating methane (CH₄) and other molecules with significance in astrochemistry. These efforts focus on tackling the complexities of their ro-vibrational energy levels and the inefficiencies in analyzing vibrational spectra, particularly for molecules with high symmetry and strong intramolecular interactions. In the CEDR spectroscopy, the first photon, generated by a continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator (CW-OPO) locked to a Doppler-free saturation absorption line, excites the molecule from its ground level to a selected excited ro-vibrational (rotational-vibrational) level, e.g., that of the asymmetric CH-stretch mode. …

Orbital And Spin Angular Momentum Light Generation, Interactions, Special Photons, And Applications In Liquids, Solids, Vapors And Biological Tissue Media, Sandra Mamani Reyes

Dissertations and Theses

Photons possess many characteristics such as wavelength, coherence, speed, polarization and wavefront. The aim of this thesis is the study of two salient properties of light exploring light carrying polarization and space degree of freedom of the wavefront. The wavefront of light is complex with different states of polarization. Special light beams are generated and characterized for interaction with liquids, solids, vapors, and bio- materials to understand fundamental processes such as Transmission, Raman scattering, and Optical Kerr Effect in steady state and temporal domains.

It has been more than hundred years since it is known that light can carry other …

The Weighty Words Of Lord Rayleigh, John Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] Lord Rayleigh, a.k.a. John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (1842–1919), was, in my opinion, a quintessential mathematical and experimental physicist and, indeed, a classical applied mathematician of the highest order for his era. Among the many honors he received, the most prestigious was the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies.” He was one of the very few members of so-called British “higher nobility” who won fame as an outstanding scientist.

Quantitative, Photocurrent Multidimensional Coherent Spectroscopy, Adam Halaoui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multidimensional coherent spectroscopy (MDCS) is a quickly growing field that has a lot of advantages over more conventional forms of spectroscopy. These advantages all come from the fact that MDCS allows us to get time resolved correlated emission and absorption spectra using very precisely chosen interactions between the density matrix and the excitation laser. MDCS spectra gives the researcher a lot of information that can be extracted purely through qualitative analysis. This is possible because state couplings are entirely separated on the spectra, and once we know how to read the data, we can see how carriers transport in the …

Tunable Linear And Nonlinear Metasurfaces Based On Hybrid Gold-Graphene Plasmons, Matthew Feinstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Optical Metasurfaces are planar structures that are patterned with subwavelength structures and are very thin compared to the wavelength of light. Despite their thinness, these structured materials can strongly interact with incident light to effect the functionalities of conventional optical components, such as rotation of the polarization state, beam steering, lensing, spectral filtering, and holography, to name a few. Metasurfaces can also facilitate nonlinear optical effects, such as the mixing of beams at different frequencies to generate a beam at a new frequency.

The ability to alter the behavior of a metasurface during operation is highly desired for applications such …

Tardys Quantifiers: Extracting Temporal And Reversible Dynamical Symmetries, Nhat Vu Minh Nguyen, Arjendu K. Pattanayak, Andres Aragoneses

2023 Symposium

One of the great challenges in complex and chaotic dynamics is to reveal the details of its underlying determinism. This can be manifest in the form of temporal correlations or structured patterns in the dynamics of a measurable variable. These temporal dynamical structures are sometimes a consequence of hidden global symmetries. Here we identify the temporal (approximate) symmetries of a semiconductor laser with external optical feedback, based on which we define the Temporal And Reversible DYnamical Symmetry (TARDYS) quantifiers to evaluate the relevance of specific temporal correlations in a time series. We show that these symmetries are also present in …

Photonic Monitoring Of Atmospheric Fauna, Adrien P. Genoud

Dissertations

Insects play a quintessential role in the Earth’s ecosystems and their recent decline in abundance and diversity is alarming. Monitoring their population is paramount to understand the causes of their decline, as well as to guide and evaluate the efficiency of conservation policies. Monitoring populations of flying insects is generally done using physical traps, but this method requires long and expensive laboratory analysis where each insect must be identified by qualified personnel. Lack of reliable data on insect populations is now considered a significant issue in the field of entomology, often referred to as a “data crisis” in the field. …

Investigation Of Laser And Nonlinear Properties Of Anderson Localizing Optical Fibers, Cody Ryan Bassett

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

In this dissertation, I investigate the possibility of lasing and nonlinear phenomena in completely solid-state transverse Anderson localizing optical fibers (TALOFs). I examine three areas within this range of topics. The research in nonlinear phenomena focuses on four-wave mixing (FWM). FWM is of high interest in TALOFs due to the fact that guided localized modes of the fiber each have different propagation constants, and thus unique possible FWM pairs can be generated from the same input pump beam. I demonstrate the generation of FWM in the TALOF by pumping it with 532 nm light into a localized mode and observing …

Miniaturized Iii-V/ Si Hybrid Laser With An Integrated Modulator, Praveen Kumar Singaravelu

Theses

Light interaction with microscopic and nanoscopic structures enable manipulation of its characteristics which can be used to detect objects in 3D sensing, propel satellites to space using photonic propulsion and transmit data through optical communication. For optical communication, the basic components are lasers, modulators and photodetectors. The development of CMOS microfabrication foundries helps to manufacture silicon-based photonic devices with high yield that is directly co-integrated with electronics in a single chip. However, the lack of emission of photons efficiently in silicon propelled the necessity of hybrid photonic devices that inherits the combined advantage of different materials i.e. functionality and volume. …

Computational Methods For Propagation Of Optical Fields With The Angle-Impact Wigner Function, Jeremy Wittkopp

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In designing an optical setup for an experiment, one usually turns to simulations first in order to model the propagation of light through the proposed system. This way, the experimenter can determine if the system is operating as intended. In order for these simulations to be useful, they need to properly describe the propagation of light. In order to simplify calculations, most contemporary software makes assumptions on the nature of the light being propagated. Specifically, simulations typically consider optical fields that are beam-like (i.e., most of the rays comprising the field deviate only slightly in angle from the beam's primary …

Maximum Trapping Focal Length In Photophoretic Trap For 3d Imaging Systems, Jason M. Childers

Electrical Engineering

This product is a photophoretic trapping system which allows varying focal lengths to test which focal lengths are possible for trapping toner particles. This system establishes that there exists a maximum trapping distance limitation and is the first time the effect of focal length is studied in a photophoretic trapping system. Increasing photophoretic trapping focal length is necessary for improving this technology as a 3D display. The 3D imaging technology is realized by dragging a microscopic (micrometer-scale) particles with a laser beam to trace an image. This technology can display fully colored and high-resolution 3D images visible from almost any …

Developing A Data Acquisition System For Use In Cold Neutral Atom Traps, Jonathan E. Fuzaro Alencar

Physics

The rising interest in quantum computing has led to new quantum systems being developed and researched. Among these are trapped neutral atoms which have several desirable features and may be configured and operated on using lasers in an optical lattice. This work describes the development of a new data acquisition system for use in tuning lasers near the precise hyperfine transition frequencies of Rb 87 atoms, a crucial step in the functionality of a neutral atom trap. This improves on previous implementations that were deprecated and limited in laser frequency sweep range. Integration into the experiment was accomplished using an …

Numerical Methods For Optimal Transport And Optimal Information Transport On The Sphere, Axel G. R. Turnquist

Dissertations

The primary contribution of this dissertation is in developing and analyzing efficient, provably convergent numerical schemes for solving fully nonlinear elliptic partial differential equation arising from Optimal Transport on the sphere, and then applying and adapting the methods to two specific engineering applications: the reflector antenna problem and the moving mesh methods problem. For these types of nonlinear partial differential equations, many numerical studies have been done in recent years, the vast majority in subsets of Euclidean space. In this dissertation, the first major goal is to develop convergent schemes for the sphere. However, another goal of this dissertation is …

Enhanced Study Of Complex Systems By Unveiling Hidden Symmetries With Dynamical Visibility, Nhat Vu Minh Nguyen

2022 Symposium

One of the great challenges in complex and chaotic dynamics is to reveal its deterministic structures. These temporal dynamical structures are sometimes a consequence of hidden symmetries. Detecting and understanding them can allow the study of complex systems even without knowing the full underlying mathematical description of the system. Here we introduce a new technique, called Dynamical Visibility, that quantifies temporal correlations of the dynamics based upon some symmetry conditions. This visibility measures the departure of the dynamics from internal symmetries. We apply this technique to well-known chaotic systems, such as the logistic map and the circle map, as well …

Normative Data On The Foveal Avascular Zone In A Young Healthy Irish Population Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography, Susan M. O'Shea, Veronica O'Dwyer, Grainne Scanlon

Articles

Purpose: To establish normative data on the size, shape and vascular profile of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in a young, healthy, Irish population, using the Cirrus 5000 HD-OCT. Certain diseases may alter FAZ appearance. Normative databases provide normal baseline values for comparison, thus improving diagnostic ability.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-four subjects aged 18–35 years old were recruited. Superficial FAZ area, diameter, circularity, ganglion cell layer, central macular thickness (CMT), vascular perfusion and density were measured using the Cirrus 5000. Axial length was measured with the IOL Master and blood pressure was measured using the Omron sphygmomanometer. …

The Aquatic Particle Number Quandry, Alexander B. Bochdansky, Huanqing Huang, Maureen H. Conte

OES Faculty Publications

Optical surveys of aquatic particles and their particle size spectra have become important tools in studies of light propagation in water, classification of water masses, and the dynamics of trophic interactions affecting particle aggregation and flux. Here, we demonstrate that typical settings used in image analysis vastly underestimate particle numbers due to the particle – gel continuum. Applying a wide range of threshold values to change the sensitivity of our detection system, we show that macrogels cannot be separated from more dense particles, and that a true particle number per volume cannot be ascertained; only relative numbers in relation to …

Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning In Optical Information Processing: Introduction To The Feature Issue, Khan Iftekharuddin, Chrysanthe Preza, Abdul Ahad S. Awwal, Michael E. Zelinski

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This special feature issue covers the intersection of topical areas in artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) and optics. The papers broadly span the current state-of-the-art advances in areas including image recognition, signal and image processing, machine inspection/vision and automotive as well as areas of traditional optical sensing, interferometry and imaging.

Fabricating Nanophotonic Devices Using Nanofabrication Techniques, Scott Cummings

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Nanofabrication processes are widely used to make the integrated circuits and computer chips that are ubiquitous in today’s technology. These fabrication processes can also be applied to the creation of nanophotonic devices. The ways in which we apply these fabrication techniques in the field of photonics is often constrained by the technologies used for electronics manufacturing which presents an interesting engineering challenge. These limitations include availability and cost of certain fabrication equipment and techniques required to create state-of-the-art nanophotonic devices. Through work with the University of California Irvine nano-fabrication cleanroom, we designed and fabricated various integrated photonic components including grating …

Advancement In Infrared Optics Through The Exploration Of Solution Derived Arsenic Selenide (As2se3) Thin Films, Annabella Orsini

Physics and Astronomy Summer Fellows

There are great opportunities for advancement in the realm of infrared (IR) optics through the use of chalcogenide glasses (ChGs). The development of IR optics using ChGs is important for applications in search and rescue operations, firefighting efforts, medical imaging, and satellites. Instead of creating bulky, expensive, single crystal IR glasses, ChGs can be deposited as thin films by solution derived (SD) spin or dip coating. Our research takes a multidisciplinary approach to investigate ChGs thin films using physics, chemistry, optics, and materials science.

Study Of The Effects Of Cavity Mode Spacing On Mode-Hopping In Iii–V/Si Hybrid Photonic Crystal Lasers, Praveen K.J. Singaravelu, Sharon M. Butler, Robert N. Sheehan, Alexandros A. Liles, Stephen P. Hegarty, Liam O'Faolain

Cappa Publications

We present a design methodology for hybrid lasers to realise mode-hop free operation by controlling the cavity mode spacing. In this study, a compact hybrid photonic crystal laser (H-PhCL) was employed which allowed a reduction of the Fabry–Perot length of the laser cavity and eliminated the need for an active mode stabilisation mechanism in order to realise mode-hop free operation. The H-PhCL was formed by butt-coupling a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) with a two-dimensional silicon (Si) photonic crystal (PhC) cavity. Continuous stable single frequency operation with >40 dB side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of the laser was achieved for gain …