A Highly Sensitive Femtosecond Time-Resolved Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy System with Simultaneous Measurement of Multiple Polarization Combinations

Characterization of real-time and ultrafast motions of the complex molecules at surface and interface is critical to understand how interracial molecules function. It requires to develop surface-sensitive, fast-identification, and time-resolved techniques. In this study, we employ several key technical procedures and successfully develop a highly sensitive femtosecond time-resolved sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy （SFG-VS） system. This system is able to measure the spectra with two polarization combinations （ssp and ppp, or psp and ssp） simultaneously. It takes less than several seconds to collect one spectrum. To the best of our knowledge, it is the fastest speed of collecting SFG spectra reported by now. Using the time-resolved measurement, ultrafast vibrational dynamics of the N-H mode of α-helical peptide at water interface is determined. It is found that the membrane environment does not affect the N-H vibrational relaxation dynamics. It is expected that the time-resolved SFG system will play a vital role in the deep understanding of the dynamics and interaction of the complex molecules at surface and interface. Our method may also provide an important technical proposal for the people who plan to develop time-resolved SFG systems with simultaneous measurement of multiple polarization combinations.

Creation of Multiple Subwavelength Focal Spot Segments Using Phase Modulated Radially Polarized Multi Gaussian Beam

Based on the vector diffraction theory, the effect of complex phase filters on intensity distribution of a radially polarized multi Gaussian beam in the focal region of high NA lens is theoretically investigated. It is observed that a properly designed multi belt complex phase filter can generate subwavelength novel focal patterns including splitting of focal spots and generation of multiple focal spot segments such as eight, six and four focal spots along the optical axis are obtained. We expect that such an investigation is useful for optical manipulation and material processing, multiple high refractive index particle trapping technologies.

Joint DOA and polarization estimation for unequal power sources based on reconstructed noise subspace

In most literature about joint direction of arrival（DOA） and polarization estimation, the case that sources possess different power levels is seldom discussed. However, this case exists widely in practical applications, especially in passive radar systems. In this paper, we propose a joint DOA and polarization estimation method for unequal power sources based on the reconstructed noise subspace. The invariance property of noise subspace（IPNS） to power of sources has been proved an effective method to estimate DOA of unequal power sources. We develop the IPNS method for joint DOA and polarization estimation based on a dual polarized array. Moreover, we propose an improved IPNS method based on the reconstructed noise subspace, which has higher resolution probability than the IPNS method. It is theoretically proved that the IPNS to power of sources is still valid when the eigenvalues of the noise subspace are changed artificially. Simulation results show that the resolution probability of the proposed method is enhanced compared with the methods based on the IPNS and the polarimetric multiple signal classification（MUSIC） method. Meanwhile, the proposed method has approximately the same estimation accuracy as the IPNS method for the weak source.

Creation of radially polarized optical fields with multiple controllable parameters using a vectorial optical field generator

A vectorial optical field generator(VOF-Gen) based on two reflective phase-only liquid crystal spatial light modulators enables the creation of an arbitrary optical complex field. In this work, the capabilities of the VOF-Gen in terms of manipulating the spatial distributions of phase, amplitude, and polarization are experimentally demonstrated by generating a radially polarized optical field consisted of five annular rings, the focusing properties of which are also numerically studied with vectorial diffraction theory. By carefully adjusting the relative amplitude and phase between the adjacent rings, an optical needle field with purely longitudinal polarization can be produced in the focal region of a high numerical aperture lens. The versatile method presented in this work can be easily extended to the generation of a vectorial optical field with any desired complex distributions.

Three-dimensional multiple optical cages formed by focusing double-ring shaped radially and azimuthally polarized beams

We propose and simulate a method for generating a three-dimensional （3D） optical cage in the vicinity of focus by focusing a double-ring shaped radially and azimuthally polarized beam. Our study shows that the combination of an inner ring with an azimuthally polarized field and an outer ring with a radially polarized field and a phase factor can produce an optical cage with a dark region enclosed by higher intensity. The shape of the cage can be tailored by appropriately adjusting the parameters of double-mode beams. Furthermore, multiple 3D optical cages can be realized by applying the shift theorem of the Fourier transform and macro-pixel sampling algorithm to a double-ring shaped radially and azimuthally polarized beam.