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.

Topology Optimization for Steady-State Navier-Stokes Flow Based on Parameterized Level Set Based Method

In this paper,we consider solving the topology optimization for steady-state incompressibleNavier-Stokes problems via a new topology optimization method called parameterized level set method,which can maintain a relatively smooth level set function with a local optimality condition.The objective of topology optimization is to􀀀nd an optimal con􀀀guration of theuid and solid materials that minimizes power dissipation under a prescribeduid volume fraction constraint.An arti􀀀cial friction force is added to the Navier-Stokes equations to apply the no-slip boundary condition.Although a great deal of work has been carried out for topology optimization ofuidow in recent years,there are few researches on the topology optimization ofuidow with physical body forces.To simulate theuidow in reality,the constant body force(e.g.,gravity)is considered in this paper.Several 2D numerical examples are presented to discuss the relationships between the proposed method with Reynolds number and initial design,and demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of the proposed method in dealing with unstructuredmesh problems.Three 3D numerical examples demonstrate the proposedmethod is feasible in three-dimensional.

Structure and stability of various states of the EuC and EuC2 molecules

B3LYP level density functional theory （DFT） and multiconfiguration self-consistent-field （MCSCF） level ab initio method calculations have been performed on the basis of relativistic effective core potentials to investigate the nature of EuC and EuC2 molecules. The computed results indicate that the ground states of EuC and EuC2 are ^12∑^＋ and SA2, respectively. Dissociation potential energy curves of the low-lying electronic states of EuC have been calculated using the MCSCF method, and the same level calculation on EuC2 indicates that the dissociation energy of EuC2 of ground state compares well with the available experimental data. The bond characteristic is also discussed using Mulliken populations.

Fiber Bundle Topology Optimization for Surface Flows

This paper presents a topology optimization approach for the surface flows on variable design domains.Via this approach,the matching between the pattern of a surface flow and the 2-manifold used to define the pattern can be optimized,where the 2-manifold is implicitly defined on another fixed 2-manifold named as the base manifold.The fiber bundle topology optimization approach is developed based on the description of the topological structure of the surface flow by using the differential geometry concept of the fiber bundle.The material distribution method is used to achieve the evolution of the pattern of the surface flow.The evolution of the implicit 2-manifold is realized via a homeomorphous map.The design variable of the pattern of the surface flow and that of the implicit 2-manifold are regularized by two sequentially implemented surface-PDE filters.The two surface-PDE filters are coupled,because they are defined on the implicit 2-manifold and base manifold,respectively.The surface Navier-Stokes equations,defined on the implicit 2-manifold,are used to describe the surface flow.The fiber bundle topology optimization problem is analyzed using the continuous adjoint method implemented on the first-order Sobolev space.Several numerical examples have been provided to demonstrate this approach,where the combination of the viscous dissipation and pressure drop is used as the design objective.

The Lyman-alpha Solar Telescope(LST) for the ASO-S mission——Ⅱ. design of LST

As one of the three payloads for the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory(ASO-S)mission,the Lyman-alpha(Lyα)Solar Telescope(LST)is composed of three instruments:a Solar Corona Imager(SCI),a LyαSolar Disk Imager(SDI)and a full-disk White-light Solar Telescope(WST).When working in-orbit,LST will simultaneously perform high-resolution imaging observations of all regions from the solar disk to the inner corona up to 2.5 R⊙(R⊙stands for the mean solar radius)with a spatial resolution of 4.8′′and 1.2′′for coronal and disk observations,respectively,and a temporal resolution of 30–120 s and 1–120 s for coronal and disk observations,respectively.The maximum exposure time can be up to20 s due to precise pointing and image stabilization function.Among the three telescopes of LST,SCI is a dual-waveband coronagraph simultaneously and independently observing the inner corona in the HI Lyα(121.6±10 nm)line and white light(WL)(700±40 nm)wavebands by using a narrowband Lyαbeam splitter and has a field of view(FOV)from 1.1 to 2.5 R⊙.The stray-light suppression level can attain<10^-6 B⊙(B⊙is the mean brightness of the solar disk)at 1.1 R⊙and≤5×10^-8 B⊙at 2.5 R⊙.SDI and WST are solar disk imagers working in the Lyαline and 360.0 nm wavebands,respectively,which adopt an off-axis two-mirror reflective structure with an FOV up to 1.2 R⊙,covering the inner coronal edge area and relating to coronal imaging.We present the up-to-date design for the LST payload.

Effect of vacancy defect clusters on the optical property of the aluminium filter used for the space solar telescope

We investigate the microstructures of the pure aluminium foil and filter used on the space solar telescope, irradiated by photons with different doses. The vacancy defect clusters induced by proton irradiation in both samples are characterized by transmission electron microscopy, and the density and the size distribution of vacancy defect clusters are determined. Their transmittances are measured before and after irradiating the samples by protons with energy E = 100 keV and dose φ = 6 × 10^11/mm^2. Our experimental results show that the density and the size of vacancy defect clusters increase with the increase of irradiation doses in the irradiated pure aluminium foils. As irradiation dose increases, vacancies incline to form larger defect clusters. In the irradiated filter, a large number of banded void defects are observed at the agglomerate boundary, which results in the degradation of the optical and mechanical performances of the filter after proton irradiation.

Research progress of femtosecond surface plasmon polariton

As the combination of surface plasmon polariton and femtosecond laser pulse,femtosecond surface plasmon polariton has both nanoscale spatial resolution and femtosecond temporal resolution,and thus provides promising methods for light field manipulation and light-matter interaction in extreme small spatiotemporal scales.Nowadays,the research on femtosecond surface plasmon polariton is mainly concentrated on two aspects:one is investigation and characterization of excitation,propagation,and dispersion properties of femtosecond surface plasmon polariton in different structures or materials;the other one is developing new applications based on its unique properties in the fields of nonlinear enhancement,pulse shaping,spatiotemporal super-resolved imaging,and others.Here,we introduce the research progress of properties and applications of femtosecond surface plasmon polariton,and prospect its future research trends.With the further development of femtosecond surface plasmon polariton research,it will have a profound impact on nano-optoelectronics,molecular dynamics,biomedicine and other fields.

Diffractive characteristics of the liquid crystal spatial light modulator

The liquid crystal spatial light modulator （LC SLM） is very suitable for wavefront correction and optical testing and can produce a wavefront with large phase change and high accuracy. The LC SLM is composed of thousands of pixels and the pixel size and shape have effects on the diffractive characteristics of the LC SLM. This paper investigates the pixel effect on the phase of the wavefront with the scalar diffractive theory. The results show that the maximum optical path difference modulation is 41μm to produce the paraboloid wavefront with the peak to valley accuracy better than λ/10. Effects of the mismatch between the pixel and the period, and black matrix on the diffraction efficiency of the LC SLM are also analysed with the Fresnel phase lens model. The ability of the LC SLM is discussed for optical testing and wavefront correction based on the calculated results. It shows that the LC SLM can be used as a wavefront corrector and a compensator.

Improvement of Response Performance of Liquid Crystal Optical Devices by using a Low Viscosity Component

Difluorooxymethylene-bridged(CF2O)liquid crystal(LC)with low viscosity is prepared and used as a fast response LC material.When the material is mixed with isothiocyanato LCs with high birefringence,the visco−elastic coefficient of the mixture decreases evidently and,accordingly,the response performance increases.While the concentration of CF2O LCs is about 7%,the LC mixture approximately maintains high birefringence and exhibits a fastest response performance that is 14%higher than that of pure isothiocyanato LCs.Therefore,the LC material and mixing method could find useful applications in optical devices.

Fabrication of a Mono-Domain Alignment Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Device Using a Polar Self-Assembled Monolayer

A mono-domain ferroelectric liquid crystal device （FLCD） is fabricated using a novel method. The cell used in this method is an asymmetric cell, typically the combination of a polar self-assembled monolayer （SAM） for one substrate and a rubbed polyimide for the other substrate. A defect-free alignment of ferroelectric liquid crystal is fabricated without applying adc voltage to remove degeneracy in the layer structure. The contact angles of self-assembled monolayer and PI-2942 are measured and the polarity of SAM is higher than the PI alignment. It is found that the polarity of self-assembled monolayer is a key factor in the formation of mono-domain alignment of FLC.

Electro-optical properties cholesteric liquid of polymer stabilized crystal film＊

Liquid crystals （LCs） and polymers are extensively used in various electro-optical applications. In this paper, normal mode polymer stabilized cholesteric LC film is prepared and studied. The effects of chiral dopant and monomer concentrations on the electro-optical properties, such as contrast ratio, driving voltage, hysteresis width and response time, are investigated. The reasons of electro-optical properties influenced by the concentrations of the materials are discussed. Through the proper material recipe, the electro-optical properties of polymer stabilized cholesteric LC film can be optimized.

Azimuthal anchoring of a nematic liquid crystal on a grooved interface with anisotropic polar anchoring

Zhang Y J et al.[Zhang Y J,Zhang Z D,Zhu L Z and Xuan L 2011 Liquid Cryst.38 355] investigated the effects of finite polar anchoring on the azimuthal anchoring energy at a grooved interface,in which polar anchoring was isotropic in the local tangent plane of the surface.In this paper,we investigate the effects of both isotropic and anisotropic polar anchoring on the surface anchoring energy in the frame of Fukuda et al.’s theory.The results show that anisotropic polar anchoring strengthens the azimuthal anchoring of grooved surfaces.In the one-elastic-constant approximation（K11 = K22 = K33 = K）,the surface-groove-induced azimuthal anchoring energy is entirely consistent with the result of Faetti,and it reduces to the original result of Berreman with an increase in polar anchoring.Moreover,the contribution of the surface-like elastic term to the Rapini-Papoular anchoring energy is zero.

Optical anisotropy of black phosphorus by total internal reflection

Although abundant research on the anisotropy of van der Waals(vd W)materials has been published,we undertake an in-depth study of their optical properties as they have an important guiding role for light control in two-dimensional(2D)nanospace.As an example,we study the reflectance of few-layered black phosphorus(BP)in the total internal reflection(TIR)mode in detail.We demonstrate that its optical anisotropy can be changed on a large scale by varying the incident angles,polarization states,and the in-plane rotation angles of the BP samples.Theoretical analysis indicates that the phenomena observed are common to all the atom-thick biaxial crystals,so these conclusions can be widely applied to other anisotropic 2D materials.This research furthers the current understanding of the properties of BP more comprehensively,and provides guidance for developing new optoelectronic applications,especially when BP and other atom-thick biaxial crystals are integrated with TIR devices.

Electro-optical properties of high birefringence liquid crystal compounds with isothiocyanate and naphthyl group

Liquid crystal（LC） compound with isothiocyanate and naphthyl group is an attractive high birefringence LC material,and can be used in optical devices. In this paper, the electro-optical properties of a series of this type of LC compounds were investigated. The melting points and enthalpy values of these LC compounds were higher than those of corresponding compounds with the phenyl group. These compounds exhibited high birefringence with a maximum value of 0.66. Fluorine substitution in the molecular almost does not affect the birefringence value. When these LC compounds with the naphthyl group were dissolved in a commercial LC mixture, the electro-optical properties depending on temperature were investigated. In the low-temperature region, LC mixtures with the naphthyl-group LC compounds exhibited higher viscosity than pure commercial LCs. In the high-temperature region, viscosity values very closely approached each other. When response performance was investigated, figure-of-merit（FoM） values were measured. The Fo M values of LC mixtures containing LC compounds with naphthyl group were lower than those of reference benzene LCs in the low-temperature region. However, in the high-temperature region, the results were reversed. These isothiocyanate LC compounds with naphthyl group can be applied in special fast-response LC device, particularly the ones used under high-temperature conditions.

High signal-to-noise ratio sensing with Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor based on auto gain control of electron multiplying CCD

High signal-to-noise ratio can be achieved with the electron multiplying charge-coupled-device（EMCCD） applied in the Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor（S–H WFS） in adaptive optics（AO）.However,when the brightness of the target changes in a large scale,the fixed electron multiplying（EM） gain will not be suited to the sensing limitation.Therefore an auto-gain-control method based on the brightness of light-spots array in S–H WFS is proposed in this paper.The control value is the average of the maximum signals of every light spot in an array,which has been demonstrated to be kept stable even under the influence of some noise and turbulence,and sensitive enough to the change of target brightness.A goal value is needed in the control process and it is predetermined based on the characters of EMCCD.Simulations and experiments have demonstrated that this auto-gain-control method is valid and robust,the sensing SNR reaches the maximum for the corresponding signal level,and especially is greatly improved for those dim targets from 6 to 4 magnitude in the visual band.

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.

Towards a bright future:The versatile applications of organic solar cells

Due to the mechanical flexibility,light weight,aesthetics,absorption tunability and environmental friendliness,organic solar cells(OSCs)have superior application potential over their inorganic counterparts including silicon and perovskite solar cells(PSCs).Thanks to these benefits,the past decade have witnessed the rapid growth of flexible OSCs,semitransparent OSCs and indoor OSCs.In this progress report,we firstly overview the recent advance of the applications of the three promising OSCs.Subsequently,we sketch the critical points for the three classes of OSCs and highlight the efforts paid by the research community to address these issues.Besides,we discuss some popular strategies to afford great performance of each kind of OSC,respectively,and underline the corresponding breakthrough directions.Last but not least,we present the remaining challenges for advancing the commercial applications of these three classes of OSCs.

Effect of Molecular Weight on Liquid Crystal Photoalignment by Photosensitive Polyester Containing Thrifluoromethyl Moieties

We investigate the liquid-crystal （LC） alignment direction on photoalignment films formed from photosensitive polyester containing thrifluoromethyl moieties （PPDA） with various molecular weights by crossed polarized optical microscopy. It is found that LC alignment behaviour changes with molecular weight of PPDA. The LC alignment on PPDA irradiated films with the highest molecular weight is homogeneous, while those with low and intermediate molecular weights are homeotropic. However, surface morphologies show weak dependence on molecular weight. The surfaces are smooth and there is no clear morphological anisotropy on these aligned films observed by an atomic force microscope. The surface energies of the irradiated films are also measured by using an indirect contact-angle method where both surface energy and its polar component, increase with increasing molecular weight. Different polar surface energies can be considered as a main reason for different alignment characteristics.

Enhanced removal of X-ray-induced carbon contamination using radio-frequency Ar/H_2 plasma

Removal of X-ray-induced carbon contamination on beamline optics was studied using radio-frequency plasma with an argon/hydrogen(Ar/H_2) mixture. Experiments demonstrated that the carbon removal rate with Ar/H_2 plasma was higher than that with pure hydrogen or argon. The possible mechanism for this enhanced removal was discussed. The key working parameters for Ar/H_2 plasma removal were determined, including the optimal vacuum pressure, gas mixing ratio, and source power. The optimal process was performed on a carbon-coated multilayer, and the reflectivity was recovered.

Influence of Surface Geometry of Grating Substrate on Director in Nematic Liquid Crystal Cell

The director in nematic liquid crystal cell with a weak anchoring grating substrate and a strong anchoring planar substrate is relative to the coordinates x and z.The influence of the surface geometry of the grating substrate in the cell on the director profile is numerically simulated using the two-dimensional finite-difference iterative method under the condition of one elastic constant approximation and zero driven voltage.The deepness of groove and the cell gap affect the distribution of director.For the relatively shallow groove and the relatively thick cell gap,the director is only dependent on the coordinate z.For the relatively deep groove and the relatively thin cell gap,the director must be dependent on the two coordinates x and z because of the increased elastic strain energy induced by the grating surface.