Acousto-optic modulator-based bi-frequency interferometer for quantum technology

We demonstrate a high-performance acousto-optic modulator-based bi-frequency interferometer,which can realize either beating or beating free interference for a single-photon level quantum state.Visibility and optical efficiency of the interferometer are(99.5±0.2)%and(95±1)%,respectively.The phase of the interferometer is actively stabilized by using a dithering phase-locking scheme,where the phase dithering is realized by directly driving the acousto-optic modulators with a specially designed electronic signal.We further demonstrate applications of the interferometer in quantum technology,including bi-frequency coherent combination,frequency tuning,and optical switching.These results show the interferometer is a versatile device for multiple quantum technologies.

Highly sensitive and stable probe refractometer based on configurable plasmonic resonance with nano-modified fiber core

A dispersion model is developed to provide a generic tool for configuring plasmonic resonance spectral characteristics.The customized design of the resonance curve aiming at specific detection requirements can be achieved.According to the model,a probe-type nano-modified fiber optic configurable plasmonic resonance(NMF-CPR)sensor with tip hot spot enhancement is demonstrated for the measurement of the refractive index in the range of 1.3332-1.3432 corresponding to the low-concentration biomarker solution.The new-type sensing structure avoids excessive broadening and redshift of the resonance dip,which provides more possibilities for the surface modification of other functional nanomaterials.The tip hot spots in nanogaps between the Au layer and Au nanostars(AuNSs),the tip electric field enhancement of AuNSs,and the high carrier mobility of the WSe_(2)layer synergistically and significantly enhance the sensitivity of the sensor.Ex-perimental results show that the sensitivity and the figure of merit of the tip hot spot enhanced fiber NMF-CPR sensor can achieve up to 2995.70 nm/RIU and 25.04 RIU^(−1),respectively,which are 1.68 times and 1.29 times higher than those of the conventional fiber plasmonic resonance sensor.The results achieve good agreements with numerical simulations,demonstrate a better level compared to similar reported studies,and verify the correctness of the dispersion model.The detection resolution of the sensor reaches up to 2.00×10^(−5)RIU,which is obviously higher than that of the conventional side-polished fiber plasmonic resonance sensor.This indicates a high detection accuracy of the sensor.The dense Au layer effectively prevents the intermediate nanomaterials from shedding and chemical degradation,which enables the sensor with high stability.Furthermore,the terminal reflective sensing structure can be used as a practical probe and can allow a more convenient operation.

Ultra-high photoresponsive photodetector based on ReS_(2)/SnS_(2)heterostructure

Photodetectors based on two-dimensional materials have attracted much attention because of their unique structure and outstanding performance.The response speed of single ReS_(2)photodetector is slow exceptionally,the heterostructure could improves the response speed of ReS_(2)-based photodetector,but the photodetectors responsivity is reduced greatly,which restricts the development of ReS_(2).In this paper,a vertically structured ReS_(2)/SnS_(2)van der Waals heterostructure photodetectors is prepared,using ReS_(2)as the transport layer and SnS_(2)as the light absorbing layer to regulate the channel current.The device has an ultra-high photoconductive gain of 10^(10),which exhibits an ultra-high responsivity of4706 A/W under 365-nm illumination and response speed in seconds,and has an ultra-high external quantum efficiency of1.602×10^(6)%and a high detectivity of 5.29×10^(12)jones.The study for ReS_(2)-based photodetector displays great potential for developing future optoelectronic devices.

Dynamic phase assembled terahertz metalens for reversible conversion between linear polarization and arbitrary circular polarization

If a metalens integrates the circular polarization(CP)conversion function,the focusing lens together with circular-polariz-ing lens(CPL)in traditional cameras may be replaced by a metalens.However,in terahertz(THz)band,the reported metalenses still do not obtain the perfect and strict single-handed CP,because they were constructed via Pancharatnam-Berry phase so that CP conversion contained both left-handed CP(LCP)and right-handed CP(RCP)components.In this paper,a silicon based THz metalens is constructed using dynamic phase to obtain single-handed CP conversion.Also,we can rotate the whole metalens at a certain angle to control the conversion of multi-polarization states,which can simply manipulate the focusing for incident linear polarization(LP)THz wave in three polarization conversion states,in-cluding LP without conversion,LCP and RCP.Moreover,the polarization conversion behavior is reversible,that is,the THz metalens can convert not only the LP into arbitrary single-handed CP,but also the LCP and RCP into two perpen-dicular LP,respectively.The metalens is expected to be used in advanced THz camera,as a great candidate for tradi-tional CPL and focusing lens group,and also shows potential application in polarization imaging with discriminating LCP and RCP.

Simulation and experimental study of a random neutron analyzing system with (252)~Cf neutron source

Experiments were performed on a high-speed online random neutron analyzing system (HORNA system) with a 252Cf neutron source (up to 1 GHz sampling rate and 3 input data channel),to obtain timeand frequency dependent signatures which are sensitive to changes in the composition,fissile mass and configuration of the fissile assembly.The data were acquired by three high-speed synchronized acquisition cards at different detector angles,source-detector distances and block sizes.According to the relationship between 252Cf source and the ratio of power spectral density,Rpsd,all the signatures were calculated and analyzed using correlation and periodogram methods.Based on the results,the simulated autocorrelation functions were utilized for identifying different fissile mass with Elman neural network.The experimental results show that the Rpsd almost remains at constant amplitude in frequency range of 0-100 MHz,and is only related to the angle and source-detector distance.The trained Elman neural network is able to distinguish the characteristics of autocorrelation function and identify different fissile mass.The average identification rate reached 90% with high robustness.

Analysis on electrical characteristics of high-voltage GaN-based light-emitting diodes

In order to investigate their electrical characteristics, high-voltage light-emitting-diodes （HV-LEDs） each contain- ing four cells in series are fabricated. The electrical parameters including varying voltage and parasitic effect are studied. It is shown that the ideality factors （IFs） of the HV-LEDs with different numbers of cells are 1.6, 3.4, 4.7, and 6.4. IF increases linearly with the number of cells increasing. Moreover, the performance of the HV-LED with failure cells is examined, The analysis indicates that the failure cell has a parallel resistance which induces the leakage of the failure cell. The series resistance of the failure cell is 76.8 Ω, while that of the normal cell is 21.3 Ω. The scanning electron microscope （SEM） image indicates that different metal layers do not contact well. It is hard to deposit the metal layers in the deep isolation trenches. The fabrication process of HV-LEDs needs to be optimized.

All-fiber optical modulator based on no-core fiber and magnetic fluid as cladding

An all-fiber optical modulator, which is composed of a piece of no-core fiber spliced between two sections of singlemode fibers and uses magnetic fluid（MF） as the cladding of the no-core fiber section, is proposed and investigated experimentally. Due to the tunable refractive index and absorption coefficient of MF, the output intensity can be modulated by controlling an applied magnetic field. The dependences of the modulator＇s temporal response on the working wavelength,the magnetic field strength（H）, and the MF＇s concentration are investigated experimentally. The results are explained qualitatively by the dynamic response process of MF under the action of a magnetic field. The findings are helpful for optimizing this kind of modulator.

A tunnel regenerated coupled multi-active-region large optical cavity laser with a high quality beam

A novel coupled multi-active-region large optical cavity structure cascaded by a tunnel junction is proposed to solve the problems of facet catastrophic optical damage （COD） and the large vertical divergence caused by the thin emitting area in conventional laser diodes. For a laser with three active regions, a slope efficiency as high as 1.49 W/A, a vertical divergence angle of 17.4~, and a threshold current density of 271 A/cm~ are achieved. By optimizing the structural parameters, the beam quMity is greatly improved, and the level of the COD power increases by more than two times compared with that of the conventional laser.

Power dissipation in oxide-confined 980-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

We presented 980-nm oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers （VCSELs） with a 16 -um oxide aperture. Optical power, voltage, and emission wavelength are measured in an ambient temperature range of 5 ℃-80 ℃. Measurements combined with an empirical model are used to analyse the power dissipation in the device and the physical mechanism contributing to the thermal rollover phenomenon in VCSEL. It is found that the carrier leakage induced selfheating in the active region and the Joule heating caused by the series resistance are the main sources of power dissipation. In addition, carrier leakage induced self-heating increases as the injection current increases, resulting in a rapid decrease of the internal quantum efficiency, which is a dominant contribution to the thermal rollover of the VCSEL at a larger current. Our study provides useful guidelines to design a 980-nm oxide-confined VCSEL for thermal performance enhancement.

Effect of terahertz pulse on gene expression in human eye cells

In recent years, the advances in terahertz applications have stimulated interest in the biological effects associated with this frequency range. We study the gene expression profile in three types of cells exposed to terahertz radiation,i.e., human ARPE-19 retinal pigment epithelial cells, simian virus 40-transformed human corneal epithelial cells, and human MIO-M1 Müller cells. We find that the gene expression in response to heat shock is unaffected, indicating that the minimum temperature increases under controlled environment. The transcriptome sequencing survey demonstrates that 6-hour irradiation with a broadband terahertz source results in specific change in gene expression and also the biological functions that are closely related to these genes. Our results imply that the effect of terahertz radiation on gene expression can last over 15 hours and depends on the type of cell.

Single-Fundamental-Mode 850 nm Surface Relief VCSEL

The performance of the oxide-confined surface-relief(SR)structure vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser(VCSEL)is simulated and analyzed by using the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain(FDTD)method.The impacts of the device structure parameters on the far-field characteristics are researched.A single-fundamental-mode SR VCSEL with an oxide-aperture of 15μm is designed and produced.The single-mode power of the VCSEL is 5 mW,the threshold current is 2.5 mA,far-field divergent angles range from 7.8°to 10.8°and the side-mode suppression ratio is over 30 dB.The optical and electrical properties of the device are in agreement with the results of FDTD simulation,which shows that the SR technology can effectively suppress the higher-order-mode lasing,and make the SR VCSEL work in a single mode under a larger oxide aperture.

Reflection-type electromagnetically induced transparency analogue in terahertz metamaterials

A reflection-type electromagnetically induced transparency（EIT） metamaterial is proposed, which is composed of a dielectric spacer sandwiched with metallic patterns and metallic plane. Experimental results of THz time domain spectrum（THz-TDS） exhibit a typical reflection of EIT at 0.865 THz, which are in excellent agreement with the full-wave simulations. A multi-reflection theory is adopted to analyze the physical mechanism of the reflection-type EIT, showing that the reflection-type EIT is a superposition of multiple reflection of the transmission EIT. Such a reflection-type EIT provides many applications based on the EIT effect, such as slow light devices and nonlinear elements.

Ultrabroad Terahertz Bandpass Filter Based on a Multiple-Layered Metamaterial with Flexible Substrates

An ultrabroad and sharp transition bandpass flexible terahertz(THz)filter is designed using a multiple-layered metamaterial.This bandpass filter has excellent filtering capability,with a 3 dB bandwidth of about 0.47 THz and sharp band-edge transitions of 80 dB/THz and 96 dB/THz,respectively,and it can be realized by a coupling individual resonance mode.We find that the geometry parameters have an influence on the transmission profile,which are capable of giving us meaningful guidance in design of high profile bandpass THz filters.The numerical results show that the multiple-layered flexible metamaterial provides an effective way to achieve ultrabroad THz devices.

Single-mode low threshold current multi-hole vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

A multi-hole vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser （VCSEL） operating in stable single mode with a low threshold current was produced by introducing multi-leaf scallop holes on the top distributed Bragg-refleetor of an oxidation- confined 850 nm VCSEL. The single-mode output power of 2.6 mW, threshold current of 0.6 mA, full width of half maximum lasing spectrum of less than 0.1 nm, side mode suppression ratio of 28.4 dB, and far-field divergence angle of about 10% are obtained. The effects of different hole depths on the optical characteristics are simulated and analysed, including far-field divergence, spectrum and lateral cavity mode. The single-mode performance of this multi-hole device is attributed to the large radiation loss from the inter hole spacing and the scattering loss at the bottom of the holes, particularly for higher order modes.

Terahertz metasurface zone plates with arbitrary polarizations to a fixed polarization conversion

Metasurfaces that can realize the polarization manipulation of electromagnetic waves on the sub-wavelength scale have become an emerging research field.Here,a novel strategy of combining the metasurface and Fresnel zone plate to form a metasurface zone plate is proposed to realize the conversion from nearly arbitrary polarizations to a fixed polarization.Specifically,when one polarized wave is incident on adjacent ring zones constructed by different types of meta-atoms,the transmitted waves generated by odd-numbered and even-numbered ring zones converge at the same focus and superimpose to generate a fixed polarized wave.As function demonstrations,we have designed two types of metasurface zone plates:one is a focused linear polarizer,and the other can convert nearly arbitrary polarized waves into focused circularly polarized waves.The simulated and measured results are consistent with theoretical expectations,suggesting that the proposed concept is flexible and feasible.Our work provides an alternative platform for polarization manipulation and may vigorously promote the development of polarization photonic devices.

Two-dimensional distributed strain sensing with an Archimedean spiral arrangement in optical frequency domain reflectometry

We demonstrate a distributed two-dimensional(2D)strain-sensing system in optical frequency domain reflectometry(OFDR)with an Archimedean spiral arrangement of the sensing fiber.The Archimedean spiral describes a simple relationship between the radial radius and polar angle,such that each circle(the polar angle from0 to 2π)can sense the 2D strain in all directions.The strain between two adjacent circles can also be easily obtained because an Archimedean spiral facilitates sensing of every angle covering the full 2D range.Based on the mathematical relation of Archimedean spirals,we deduce the relationship between the one-dimensional position of the sensing fiber and 2D distribution in polar coordinates.The results of the experiment show that an Archimedean spiral arrangement system can achieve 2D strain sensing with different strain load angles.

Low-loss terahertz waveguide with InAs-graphene-SiC structure

We demonstrate a low-loss terahertz waveguide based on the InAs-graphene-SiC structure. By analyzing the terahertz waveguide proposed in this paper, we can obtain that it is the characteristic of a low transmission loss coefficient （αloss 0.55 dB/m） for fundamental mode （LP01） when the incident frequency is larger than 3.0 THz. The critical radii of the inside and outside cylinders have been found for the high-quality transmission. The large inside radius and the high transmission frequency result in a fiat transmission loss coefficient curve. As a strictly two-dimensional material, the double graphene surface rings perform better to improve the quality of transmission mode. These results provide a new idea for the research of the long-distance THz waveguide.

Enhanced performances of AlGaInP-based light-emitting diodes with Schottky current blocking layers

A new epitaxial structure of AlGaInP-based light-emitting diode（LED） with a 0.5-μm GaP window layer was fabricated. In addition, indium tin oxide（ITO） and localized Cr deposition beneath the p-pad electrode were used as the current spreading layer and the Schottky current blocking layer（CBL）, respectively. The results indicated that ITO and the Schottky CBL improve the total light extraction efficiency by relieving the current density crowding beneath the p-pad electrode. At the current of 20 mA, the light output power of the novel LED was 40% and 19% higher than those of the traditional LED and the new epitaxial LED without CBL. It was also found that the novel LED with ITO and CBL shows better thermal characteristics.

Negative photoconductivity in low-dimensional materials

In recent years,low-dimensional materials have received extensive attention in the field of electronics and optoelectronics.Among them,photoelectric devices based on photoconductive effect in low-dimensional materials have a broad development space.In contrast to positive photoconductivity,negative photoconductivity(NPC)refers to a phenomenon that the conductivity decreases under illumination.It has novel application prospects in the field of optoelectronics,memory,and gas detection,etc.In this paper,we review reports about the NPC effect in low-dimensional materials and systematically summarize the mechanisms to form the NPC effect in existing low-dimensional materials.

Intersubband absorption with difference-frequency generation in GaAs asymmetric quantum wells

An asymmetric quantum well （AQW） is designed to emit terahertz （THz） waves by using difference frequency generation （DFG） with the structure of GaAs/Al0.2Ga0.8As/Al0.5Ga0.sAs. The characteristics of absorption coefficients are analysed under the parabolic and non-parabolic energy-band conditions in detail. We find that the absorption coefficients vary with the two pump optical intensities, and they reach the maxima when the pump wavelengths are given as λp1 = 9.70 μm and λp2 = 10.64 μm, respectively. Compared with non-parabolic conditions, the total absorption coefficient under parabolic conditions shows a blue shift, which is due to the increase in the energy difference between the ground and excited states. By adjusting the two pump optical intensities, the wave vector phase-matching condition inside the AQW is satisfied.