Stimulated supercontinuum-radiation generation of carbon disulfide by all-trans-β-carotene fluorescence enhancement effect in liquid core optical fibre

We demonstrate stimulated supercontinuum-radiation of carbon disulfide （CS2） influenced by biological molecules all-trans-stimulated Raman scattering, stimulated Brillouin scattering, all-trans-β-carotene, liquid core optical fibre-carotene in liquid core optical fibre （LCOF）. By virtue of the broad fluorescence characteristics and large third-order optical nonlinearities of all-trans-β-carotene, the high-order Stokes lines of stimulated Raman scattering （SRS） and the multi-order Stokes lines of stimulated Brillouin scattering （SBS） excitated by SRS are observed at low input-laser energies. The results indicate that the fluorescence not only enhances the SRS, but also the SBS. These Stokes lines generate the SRS-SBS supercontinuum radiation （RBSR）. A flat-amplitude bandwidth of 110 nm from 515 nm to 625 nm is observed when a frequency-doubled Nd：YAG laser at 532 nm with an energy of 0.86 mJ is used. This result is expected to be useful for the multi-wavelength fibre laser.

Configuration optimization of laser guide stars and wavefront correctors for multi-conjugation adaptive optics

Multi-conjugation adaptive optics（MCAOs） have been investigated and used in the large aperture optical telescopes for high-resolution imaging with large field of view（FOV）.The atmospheric tomographic phase reconstruction and projection of three-dimensional turbulence volume onto wavefront correctors,such as deformable mirrors（DMs） or liquid crystal wavefront correctors（LCWCs）,is a very important step in the data processing of an MCAO＇s controller.In this paper,a method according to the wavefront reconstruction performance of MCAO is presented to evaluate the optimized configuration of multi laser guide stars（LGSs） and the reasonable conjugation heights of LCWCs.Analytical formulations are derived for the different configurations and are used to generate optimized parameters for MCAO.Several examples are given to demonstrate our LGSs configuration optimization method.Compared with traditional methods,our method has minimum wavefront tomographic error,which will be helpful to get higher imaging resolution at large FOV in MCAO.

Research progress of cholesteric liquid crystals with broadband reflection characteristics in application of intelligent optical modulation materials

Cholesteric liquid crystals（CLCs） have recently sparked an enormous amount of interest in the development of soft matter materials due to their unique ability to self-organize into a helical supra-molecular architecture and their excellent selective reflection of light based on the Bragg relationship.Nowadays,by the virtue of building the self-organized nanostructures with pitch gradient or non-uniform pitch distribution,extensive work has already been performed to obtain CLC films with a broad reflection band.Based on authors＇ many years＇ research experience,this critical review systematically summarizes the physical and optical background of the CLCs with broadband reflection characteristics,methods to obtain broadband reflection of CLCs,as well as the application in the field of intelligent optical modulation materials.Combined with the research status and the advantages in the field,the important basic and applied scientific problems in the research direction are also introduced.

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Optical Switches

The dynamic response of molecular orientation, and the temperature and pulse shape dependences of the switching behavior in ferroelectric liquid crystal are described. The switching speed and the surface energy of ferroelectric liquid crystal are given.

A high precision phase reconstruction algorithm for multi-laser guide stars adaptive optics

Adaptive optics（AO） systems are widespread and considered as an essential part of any large aperture telescope for obtaining a high resolution imaging at present.To enlarge the imaging field of view（FOV）,multi-laser guide stars（LGSs） are currently being investigated and used for the large aperture optical telescopes.LGS measurement is necessary and pivotal to obtain the cumulative phase distortion along a target in the multi-LGSs AO system.We propose a high precision phase reconstruction algorithm to estimate the phase for a target with an uncertain turbulence profile based on the interpolation.By comparing with the conventional average method,the proposed method reduces the root mean square（RMS） error from 130 nm to 85 nm with a 30% reduction for narrow FOV.We confirm that such phase reconstruction algorithm is validated for both narrow field AO and wide field AO.

Tunable Optical Filters Based on Different Configurations with Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

Optical filters with different configurations based on cholesteric liquid crystals （CLCs） are designed. The central wavelength from CLCs can be tuned by the electric field or temperature. For the electric field tuning, the ITO is designed with circular patterns, which can make the tunable range 18 nm. For the temperature tuning, two-layer- CLC configurations are used. The experimental results indicate that a deepened or broadened bandgap from the CLC can be achieved by different handedness or concentrations of chiral dopants. The spectrum study is carried out.

Self-Assembled Colloidal Crystals in Capillary with Its Fiber Junction

Silica microspheres self-assembled in glass capillary are investigated. Monodisperse silica microsphere dispersions in diameter 320nm are self-organized into a bulk cylindrical colloidal crystal by evaporation induced nucleation and crystallization. The resulting colloidal crystals are characterized by optical microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy （SEM）, and the SEM images show these crystals dominate in fcc lattice with its （111） crystallographic axis as longitudinal. The colloidal crystal filled capillary is packaged into a heat-shrink plastic tube and a fiber measurement system is designed to measure the optical property of colloidal bulk in capillary. It is found that an appreciable bandgap appears at wavelength 686 nm from the transmission spectroscopy, which is consistent with the theoretical estimation. A considerable photonic band gap of up to -10 dB and a steep photonic band edge of up to 0.25 dB/nm indicate that silica microspheres are promising for implementing optical filter applications in fiber systems.

Determining the imaging plane of a retinal capillary layer in adaptive optical imaging

Even in the early stage,endocrine metabolism disease may lead to micro aneurysms in retinal capillaries whose diameters are less than 10 μm.However,the fundus cameras used in clinic diagnosis can only obtain images of vessels larger than 20 μm in diameter.The human retina is a thin and multiple layer tissue,and the layer of capillaries less than10 μm in diameter only exists in the inner nuclear layer.The layer thickness of capillaries less than 10 μm in diameter is about 40 μm and the distance range to rod＆cone cell surface is tens of micrometers,which varies from person to person.Therefore,determining reasonable capillary layer（CL） position in different human eyes is very difficult.In this paper,we propose a method to determine the position of retinal CL based on the rod＆cone cell layer.The public positions of CL are recognized with 15 subjects from 40 to 59 years old,and the imaging planes of CL are calculated by the effective focal length of the human eye.High resolution retinal capillary imaging results obtained from 17 subjects with a liquid crystal adaptive optics system（LCAOS） validate our method.All of the subjects＇ CLs have public positions from 127 μm to 147 μm from the rod＆cone cell layer,which is influenced by the depth of focus.

Ground State of Fermions in a 1D Trap with δ Function Interaction

The ground state of fermions in a 1D trap with δ function interaction is studied mathematically with group theory ideas.

Polarization-independent two-dimensional beam steering using liquid crystal optical phased arrays

A polarization-independent nonmechanical laser beam steering scheme is proposed to realize continuous two-dimensional（2 D） scanning with high efficiency, where the core components are two polarization-dependent devices, which are called liquid crystal optical phased arrays（LC-OPAs）. These two one-dimensional（1D） devices are orthogonally cascaded to work on the state of azimuthal and elevation steering, respectively. Properties of polarization independence as well as 2D beam steering are mathematically and experimentally verified with a good agreement. Based on the experimental setup, linearly polarized beams with different polarization angles are steered with high accuracy. The measured angular deviations are less than 5 μrad, which is on the same order of the accuracy of the measurement system. This polarization-independent 2 D laser beam steering scheme has potential application for nonmechanical laser communication, lidar, and other LC-based systems.

High laser damage threshold reflective optically addressed liquid crystal light valve based on gallium nitride conductive electrodes

In this paper,the feasibility of a high laser damage threshold liquid crystal spatial light modulator based on gallium nitride(GaN)transparent conductive electrodes is proved.The laser-induced damage threshold(LIDT)is measured,and a high LIDT reflective optically addressed liquid crystal light valve(OALCLV)based on GaN is designed and fabricated.The proper work mode of the OALCLV is determined;the OALCLV obtained a maximum reflectivity of about 55%and an on–off ratio of 55:1,and an image response is demonstrated.

Arbitrary and reconfigurable optical vortex generation:a high-efficiency technique using director-varying liquid crystal fork gratings

A high-efficiency technique for optical vortex(OV) generation is proposed and demonstrated. The technique is based on liquid crystal fork gratings with space-variant azimuthal orientations, which are locally controlled via polarization-sensitive alignment layers. Thanks to the optical rewritability of the alignment agent and the dynamic image generation of the digital micro-mirror device, fork gratings can be instantly and arbitrarily reconfigured.Corresponding optical vortices carrying arbitrary azimuthal and radial indices are demonstrated with a conversion efficiency of 98.5%, exhibiting features of polarization control and electrical switching. The technique may pave a bright road toward OV generation, manipulation, and detection.

Wideband, 50 dB Attenuation Range Liquid Crystal Based Variable Optical Attenuator

A compact variable optical attenuator, covering C and L bands with over 50 dB attenuation range, is realized using a single liquid crystal cell with a tilted fused silica coating compensating the cell's small residual birefringence.