Flexible control of semiconductor laser with frequency tunable modulation transfer spectroscopy

We introduce a new method of simultaneously implementing frequency stabilization and frequency shift for semiconductor lasers. We name this method the frequency tunable modulation transfer spectroscopy （FTMTS）. To realize a stable output of 780 nm semiconductor laser, an FTMTS optical heterodyne frequency stabilization system is constructed. Before entering into the frequency stabilization system, the probe laser passes through an acousto-optical modulator （AOM） twice in advance to achieve tunable frequency while keeping the light path stable. According to the experimental results, the frequency changes from 120 MHz to 190 MHz after the double-pass AOM, and the intensity of laser entering into the system is greatly changed, but there is almost no change in the error signal of the FTMTS spectrum. Using this signal to lock the laser frequency, we can ensure that the frequency of the laser changes with the amount of AOM shift. Therefore, the magneto-optical trap （MOT）-molasses process can be implemented smoothly.

Tunable frequency selective surface with a shorted ring slot

In order to realize the tunable performance of a frequency selective surface （FSS）, a new unit cell is designed in this paper by properly adding two metal shorts to the ring slot. Based on the spectral-domain method, the frequency responses of the FSS structure with two shorts per slot ring are analysed for both the horizontal and the vertical polarizations at the normal incidence. It is demonstrated that the presence of the metal shorts does not affect the resonant frequency of the horizontally polarized wave but doubles the resonant frequency of the vertically polarized wave. Therefore based on the analysis of the novel transmission properties, a new approach to adjusting the resonant frequency by rotating the FSS screen 90° is presented in this paper.

High-power terahertz radiation from surface-emitted THz-wave parametric oscillator

We report a pulsed surface-emitted THz-wave parametric oscillator based on two MgO：LiNbO3 crystals pumped by a multi-longitudinal mode Q-switched Nd：YAG laser. Through varying the phase matching angle, the tunable THzwave output from 0.79 THz to 2.84 THz is realized. The maximum THz-wave output was 193.2 n J/pulse at 1.84 THz as the pump power density was 212.5 MW/cm2, corresponding to the energy conversion efficiency of 2.42Х10-6 and the photon conversion efficiency of about 0.037%. When the pump power density changed from 123 MW/cm^2 to 148 MW/cm^2 and 164 MW/cm^2, the maximum output of the THz-wave moved to the high frequency band. We give a reasonable explanation for this phenomenon.

Graphene-Based Tunable Polarization Insensitive Dual-Band Metamaterial Absorber at Mid-Infrared Frequencies

A graphene-based tunable dual-band metamaterial absorber which is polarization insensitive is numerically pro- posed at mid-infrared frequencies. In numerical simulation the metamaterial absorber exhibits two absorption peaks at the resonance wavelengths of 6.246 μm and 6.837μm when the Fermi level of graphene is fixed at 0. 6 eV. Absorption spectra at different Fermi levels of graphene are displayed and tuning functions are discussed in detail. Both the resonance wavelengths of the absorber blue shift with the increase in Fermi level of graphene. Moreover, the surface current distributions on the gold resonator and ground plane at the two resonance wavelengths are simulated to deeply understand the physical mechanism of resonance absorption.

The Absorbing Properties of Two-Dimensional Plasma Photonic Crystals

Plasma photonic crystals composed of periodic plasma and dielectric materials have attracted considerable attention because of their tunable photonic band gaps,but only their band structures or negative refractive index properties have been addressed in previous works.In this paper,through studying the transmission and reflection characteristics of two types of twodimensional plasma photonic crystals,it is found that plasma photonic crystals play an important role in absorbing waves,and they show broader band and higher amplitude absorption characteristics than bulk plasmas.Also,the absorption of plasma photonic crystals can be tuned via plasma parameters;varying the collision frequency can make the bandwidth and amplitude tunable,but cannot change the central frequency,whereas varying the plasma frequency would control both the location and the amplitude of the absorbers.These features of plasma photonic crystals have potential for terahertz tunable absorber applications.

Numerical and Experimental Investigations on Tunable Low-frequency Locally Resonant Metamaterials

In this paper,a tunable locally resonant metamaterial is proposed for low-frequency band gaps.The local resonator composed of two pairs of folded slender beams and a proof mass is designed based on the theory of compliant mechanism.The design optimization on geometric parameters is carried out to fulfil the quasi-zero-stiffness property.The locally resonant metamaterial is formed by periodically arranged unit cells,and the transmittance of longitudinal wave is studied through three aspects:numerical predictions,finite element simulations and experimental tests.The variation trends revealed by these three methods match well with one another:the band gap moves to lower frequency and both its depth and width get smaller and smaller with the increase of pre-compression(Δ).The band gap overlays the frequency range of 73.10–92.38 Hz and 16.78–19.49 Hz atΔ=0mm andΔ=10mm,respectively,providing a wide range of tunability.Besides,the ultralow-frequency band gap can be achieved asΔapproaches 10 mm.This study may provide an avenue for achieving the tunable ultralow-frequency locally resonant band gap.

Photonic-assisted approach for instantaneous microwave frequency measurement with tunable range by using Mach-Zehnder interferometers

A novel photonic-assisted approach to microwave frequency measurement is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed scheme is based on the frequency-to-power mapping with different transmis- sion responses. A polarizer is used in one output branch of a phase modulator to simultaneously implement phase modulation and intensity modulation. Owing to the complementary nature of the transmission re- sponses and the Mach-Zehnder interferometers （MZIs）, this scheme theoretically provides high resolution and tunable measurement range. The measurement errors in the experimental results can be kept within 0.2 GHz over a freauencv ranee from 0.1 to 5.3 GHz.

Widely tunable laser frequency offset locking to the atomic resonance line with frequency modulation spectroscopy

A simple and robust technique is reported to offset lock a single semiconductor laser to the atom resonance line with a frequency difference easily adjustable from a few tens of megahertz up to tens of gigahertz. The proposed scheme makes use of the frequency modulation spectroscopy by modulating sidebands of a fiber electro-optic modulator output. The short-term performances of a frequency offset locked semiconductor laser are experimentally demonstrated with the Allan variance of around 3.9 × 10-11 at a 2 s integration time. This method may have many applications, such as in Raman optics for an atom interferometer.

Tunable terahertz wave difference frequency generation in a graphene/AlGaAs surface plasmon waveguide

Graphene-based surface plasmon waveguides(SPWs) show high confinement well beyond the diffraction limit at terahertz frequencies. By combining a graphene SPW and nonlinear material, we propose a novel graphene/AlGaAs SPW structure for terahertz wave difference frequency generation(DFG) under near-infrared pumps.The composite waveguide, which supports single-mode operation at terahertz frequencies and guides two pumps by a high-index-contrast AlGaAs∕Al Oxstructure, can confine terahertz waves tightly and realize good mode field overlap of three waves. The phase-matching condition is satisfied via artificial birefringence in an AlGaAs∕Al Ox waveguide together with the tunability of graphene, and the phase-matching terahertz wave frequency varies from 4 to 7 THz when the Fermi energy level of graphene changes from 0.848 to 2.456 eV. Based on the coupled-mode theory, we investigate the power-normalized conversion efficiency for the tunable terahertz wave DFG process by using the finite difference method under continuous wave pumps, where the tunable bandwidth can reach 2 THz with considerable conversion efficiency. To exploit the high peak powers of pulses, we also discuss optical pulse evolutions for pulse-pumped terahertz wave DFG processes.