Resolution enhancement of optical scanning holography with a spiral modulated point spread function

In optical scanning holography, one pupil produces a spherical wave and another produces a plane wave. They interfere with each other and result in a fringe pattern for scanning a three-dimensional object. The resolution of the hologram reconstruction is affected by the point spread function(PSF) of the optical system. In this paper, we modulate the PSF by a spiral phase plate, which significantly enhances the lateral and depth resolution. We explain the theory for such resolution enhancement and show simulation results to verify the efficacy of the approach.

Integrated system of traditional THz time-domain spectroscopy and asynchronous optical sampling

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS)system,as a new means of spectral analysis and detection,plays an increasingly pivotal role in basic scientific research.However,owing to the long scanning time of the traditional THz-TDS system and the complex control of the asynchronous optical scanning(ASOPS)system,which requires frequent calibration,we combine traditional THz-TDS and ASOPS systems to form a composite system and propose an all-fiber trigger signal generation method based on the time overlapping interference signal generated by the collinear motion of two laser pulses.Finally,the time-domain and frequency-domain spectra are obtained by using two independent systems in the integrated systems.It is found that the full width at half maximum(FWHM)of the time-domain spectra and the spectral width of the frequency-domain spectra are almost the same,but the sampling speed of the ASOPS system is significantly faster than that of the traditional THz-TDS system,which conduces to the study of the transient characteristics of substances.

Automated cone photoreceptor cell identication in confocal adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope images based on object detection

Cone photoreceptor cell identication is important for the early diagnosis of retinopathy.In this study,an object detection algorithm is used for cone cell identication in confocal adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope(AOSLO)images.An effectiveness evaluation of identication using the proposed method reveals precision,recall,and F_(1)-score of 95.8%,96.5%,and 96.1%,respectively,considering manual identication as the ground truth.Various object detection and identication results from images with different cone photoreceptor cell distributions further demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.Overall,the proposed method can accurately identify cone photoreceptor cells on confocal adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope images,being comparable to manual identication.

Automated retinal layer segmentation in optical coherence tomography images with intraretinal fluid

We propose a novel retinal layer segmentation method to accurately segment 10 retinal layers in optical coherence tomography(OCT)images with intraretinal fluid.The method used a fan filter to enhance the linear information pertaining to retinal boundaries in an OCT image by reducing the effect of vessel shadows and fluid regions.A random forest classifier was employed to predict the location of the boundaries.Two novel methods of boundary redirection(SR)and similarity correction(SC)were combined to carry out boundary tracking and thereby accurately locate retinal layer boundaries.Experiments were performed on healthy controls and subjects with diabetic macular edema(DME).The proposed method required an average of 415 s for healthy controls and of 482 s for subjects with DME and achieved high accuracy for both groups of subjects.The proposed method requires a shorter running time than previous methods and also provides high accuracy.Thus,the proposed method may be a better choice for small training datasets.

Nanobridged rhombic antennas supporting both dipolar and high-order plasmonic modes with spatially superimposed hotspots in the mid-infrared

Mid-infrared antennas(MIRAs)support highly-efficient optical resonance in the infrared,enabling multiple applications,such as surface-enhanced infrared absorption(SEIRA)spectroscopy and ultrasensitive mid-infrared detection.However,most MIRAs such as dipolar-antenna structures support only narrow-band dipolar-mode resonances while high-order modes are usually too weak to be observed,severely limiting other useful applications that broadband resonances make possible.In this study,we report a multiscale nanobridged rhombic antenna(NBRA)that supports two dominant reson-ances in the MIR,including a charge-transfer plasmon(CTP)band and a bridged dipolar plasmon(BDP)band which looks like a quadruple resonance.These assignments are evidenced by scattering-type scanning near-field optical micro-scopy(s-SNOM)imaging and electromagnetic simulations.The high-order mode only occurs with nanometer-sized bridge(nanobridge)linked to the one end of the rhombic arm which mainly acts as the inductance and the resistance by the circuit analysis.Moreover,the main hotspots associated with the two resonant bands are spatially superimposed,en-abling boosting up the local field for both bands by multiscale coupling.With large field enhancements,multiband detec-tion with high sensitivity to a monolayer of molecules is achieved when using SEIRA.Our work provides a new strategy possible to activate high-order modes for designing multiband MIRAs with both nanobridges and nanogaps for such MIR applications as multiband SEIRAs,IR detectors,and beam-shaping of quantum cascade lasers in the future.

Laser synthesis and functionalization of nanostructures

This article summarizes work at the Laser Thermal Laboratory and discusses related studies on the laser synthesis and functionalization of semiconductor nanostructures and two-dimensional(2D)semiconductor materials.Research has been carried out on the laser-induced crystallization of thin films and nanostructures.The in situ transmission electron microscopy(TEM)monitoring of the crystallization of amorphous precursors in nanodomains is discussed herein.The directed assembly of silicon nanoparticles and the modulation of their optical properties by phase switching is presented.The vapor-liquid-solid mechanism has been adopted as a bottom-up approach in the synthesis of semiconducting nanowires(NWs).In contrast to furnace heating methods,laser irradiation offers high spatial selectivity and precise control of the heating mechanism in the time domain.These attributes enabled the investigation of NW nucleation and the early stage of nanostructure growth.Site-and shape-selective,on-demand direct integration of oriented NWs was accomplished.Growth of discrete silicon NWs with nanoscale location selectivity by employing near-field laser illumination is also reported herein.Tuning the properties of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides(TMDCs)by modulating the free carrier type,density,and composition can offer an exciting new pathway to various practical nanoscale electronics.In situ Raman probing of laser-induced processing of TMDC flakes was conducted in a TEM instrument.

Polarization-insensitive plasmon nanofocusing with broadband interference modulation for optical nanoimaging

Delivering light to the nanoscale using a flexible and easily integrated fiber platform holds potential in various fields of quantum science and bioscience.However,rigorous optical alignment,sophisticated fabrication process,and low spatial resolution of the fiber-based nanoconcentrators limit the practical applications.Here,a broadband azimuthal plasmon interference nanofocusing technique on a fiber-coupled spiral tip is demonstrated for fiber-based near-field optical nanoimaging.The spiral plasmonic fiber tip fabricated through a robust and reproducible process can reverse the polarization and modulate the mode field of the surface plasmon polaritons in three-dimensionally azimuthal direction,resulting in polarization-insensitive,broad-bandwidth,and azimuthal interference nanofocusing.By integrating this with a basic scanning near-field optical microscopy,a high optical resolution of 31 nm and beyond is realized.The high performance and the easy incorporation with various existing measurement platforms offered by this fiber-based nanofocusing technique have great potential in near-field optics,tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy,nonlinear spectroscopy,and quantum sensing.

Automated superpixels-based identification and mosaicking of cone photoreceptor cells for adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope

An automated superpixels identification/mosaicking method is presented for the analysis of cone photoreceptor cells with the use of adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope(AO-SLO) images. This is an image oversegmentation method used for the identification and mosaicking of cone photoreceptor cells in AO-SLO images.It includes image denoising, estimation of the cone photoreceptor cell number, superpixels segmentation, merging of superpixels, and final identification and mosaicking processing steps. The effectiveness of the presented method was confirmed based on its comparison with a manual method in terms of precision, recall, and F1-score of 77.3%, 95.2%, and 85.3%, respectively.

Bimorph deformable mirror based adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope for retina imaging in vivo

A bimorph deformable mirror(DM) with a large stroke of more than 30 μm using 35 actuators is presented and characterized for an adaptive optics(AO) confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope application. Facilitated with a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor, the bimorph DM-based AO operates closed-loop AO corrections for human eyes and reduces wavefront aberrations in most eyes to below 0.1 μm rms. Results from living eyes, including one exhibiting ～5D of myopia and ～2D of astigmatism along with notable high-order aberrations, reveal a practical efficient aberration correction and demonstrate a great benefit for retina imaging, including improving resolution, increasing brightness, and enhancing the contrast of images.

Anisotropic polaritons in van der Waals materials

Polaritons in two-dimensional(2D)materials continues to garner significant attention due to their favorable ability of field-confinement and intriguing potential for low-loss and ultrafast optical and photonic devices.The recent experimental observation of in-plane anisotropic dispersion in natural van der Waals materials has revealed much richer physics as compared to isotropic plasmonic materials,which provides new insight to manipulate the polaritons and manufacture flat optical devices with unprecedented controls.Herein,we give an overview of the recent progress in in-plane anisotropic polaritons launched and visualized in the near-field range in 2D layered van der Waals materials.Furthermore,future prospects in this promising but emerging field are featured on the basis of its peculiar applications.This review article will stimulate the scientific community to explore other hyperbolic materials and structures in order to develop optical technologies with novel functionalities and further improve the understanding of the exotic photonic phenomena.

A dual-use probe for nano-metric photoelectric characterization using a confined light field generated by photonic crystals in the cantilever

We propose a plasmonic atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe, which takes a part of the laser beam for monitoring cantilever deflection as the excitation light source. Photonic crystal cavities are integrated near the cantilever’s free end where the laser spot locates. The transmitted light excites surface plasmon polaritons on the metal-coated tip and induces a confined hot-spot at the tip apex. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the plasmonic probe can couple a tilted, linearly polarized beam efficiently and yield a remarkable local electromagnetic enhancement with the intensity being around 21 times stronger than that of the original probe. For demonstration, we employ the plasmonic probe in electrostatic force microscopy and scanning Kelvin probe microscopy to study the impact of local light field on the photoelectric characteristics of SiO_(2) and Au nanoparticles. Compared with the original probe, obvious differences are observed in the electrostatic force gradients on SiO_(2) nanoparticles and in the surface potentials of Au nanoparticles. The plasmonic probe can enable AFM as a powerful tool for simultaneous optical, mechanical and electrical characterizations.