Broadband bidirectional Brillouin–Raman random fiber laser with ultra-narrow linewidth

We present a Brillouin–Raman random fiber laser(BRRFL)with full-open linear cavity structure to generate broadband Brillouin frequency comb(BFC)with double Brillouin-frequency-shift spacing.The incorporation of a regeneration portion consisting of an erbium-doped fiber and a single-mode fiber enables the generation of broadband BFC.The dynamics of broadband BFC generation changing with the pump power(EDF and Raman)and Brillouin pump(BP)wavelength are investigated in detail,respectively.Under suitable conditions,the bidirectional BRRFL proposed can produce a flatamplitude BFC with 40.7-nm bandwidth ranging from 1531 nm to 1571.7 nm,and built-in 242-order Brillouin Stokes lines(BSLs)with double Brillouin-frequency-shift spacing.Moreover,the linewidth of single BSL is experimentally measured to be about 2.5 kHz.The broadband bidirectional narrow-linewidth BRRFL has great potential applications in optical communication,optical sensing,spectral measurement,and so on.

Wavelength-interval switchable Brillouin–Raman random fiber laser through Brillouin pump manipulation

A wavelength-interval switchable Brillouin–Raman random fiber laser(BRRFL) based on Brillouin pump(BP) manipulation is proposed in this paper. The proposed wavelength-interval switchable BRRFL has a full-open cavity configuration, featuring multiwavelength output with wavelength interval of double Brillouin frequency shifts. Through simultaneously injecting the BP light and its first-order stimulated Brillouin-scattered light into the cavity, the laser output exhibits a wavelength interval of single Brillouin frequency shift. The wavelength-interval switching effect can be manipulated by controlling the power of the first-order stimulated Brillouin scattering light. The experimental results show the multiwavelength output can be switched between double Brillouin frequency shift multiwavelength emission with a broad bandwidth of approximately 60 nm and single Brillouin frequency shift multiwavelength emission of 44 nm. The flexible optically controlled random fiber laser with switchable wavelength interval makes it useful for a wide range of applications and holds significant potential in the field of wavelength-division multiplexing optical communication.

Deep-ultraviolet integrated photonic and optoelectronic devices:A prospect of the hybridization of group Ⅲ–nitrides, Ⅲ–oxides,and two-dimensional materials

Progress in the design and fabrication of ultraviolet and deep-ultraviolet groupⅢ–nitride optoelectronic devices,based on aluminum gallium nitride and boron nitride and their alloys,and the heterogeneous integration with two-dimensional and oxide-based materials is reviewed.We emphasize wide-bandgap nitride compound semiconductors(i.e.,(B,Al,Ga)N)as the deep-ultraviolet materials of interest,and two-dimensional materials,namely graphene,two-dimensional boron nitride,and two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides,along with gallium oxide,as the hybrid integrated materials.We examine their crystallographic properties and elaborate on the challenges that hinder the realization of efficient and reliable ultraviolet and deep-ultraviolet devices.In this article we provide an overview of aluminum nitride,sapphire,and gallium oxide as platforms for deep-ultraviolet optoelectronic devices,in which we criticize the status of sapphire as a platform for efficient deep-ultraviolet devices and detail advancements in device growth and fabrication on aluminum nitride and gallium oxide substrates.A critical review of the current status of deep-ultraviolet light emission and detection materials and devices is provided.

Birefringent Bragg Gratings in Highly-Nonlinear Photonic Crystal Fiber

Efficient writing of Bragg gratings in 12-ring highly-nonlinear photonie crystal fibers is described. Experimental and numerical investigations are performed to reveal the optimum angle for coupling UV writing light to the core. Furthermore, we show that the formation of a strongly briefringent grating is at a particular angle of orientation.

Stable CW Single-Mode Photonic Crystal Fiber DFB Ring Laser

We demonstrate stable single-mode CW operation of a DFB ring laser based on Er3＋ doped photonics crystal fiber （PCF）. The incorporation of a ring cavity allows one single mode to lase and also suppresses the unwanted effect of self-pulsing. Such a narrow linewidth source in PCF has great potential in spectroscopy.

Wavelength switchable mode-locked fiber laser with a few-mode fiber filter

We have proposed and constructed a few-mode fiber(FMF)-based comb filter realized by dislocation splicing a fewmode long-period fiber grating(FM-LPFG) with a single-mode fiber(SMF). From an all-fiber laser with a FMF-based comb filter, the generation of switchable single-, dual-, triple-, and quadruple-wavelength continuous light has been achieved.Moreover, wavelength switchable mode-locked pulses have been obtained with the increased pump power. In the experiment, the output wavelength of the mode-locked fiber laser was changed from 1567.72 nm to 1571.04 nm, while the signal-to-noise(SNR) ratio was maintained above 61 d B. The switchable multiwavelength continuous wave(CW) and mode-locked all-fiber lasers have potentially important applications for fiber sensing, wavelength-division multiplexing(WDM) and signal processing.

Third-harmonic generation and imaging with resonant Si membrane metasurface

Dielectric metasurfaces play an increasingly important role in enhancing optical nonlinear generations owing to their ability to support strong light-matter interactions based on Mie-type multipolar resonances.Compared to metasurfaces composed of the periodic arrangement of nanoparticles,inverse,so-called,membrane metasurfaces offer unique possibilities for supporting multipolar resonances,while maintaining small unit cell size,large mode volume and high field enhancement for enhancing nonlinear frequency conversion.Here,we theoretically and experimentally investigate the formation of bound states in the continuum(BICs)from silicon dimer-hole membrane metasurfaces.We demonstrate that our BIC-formed resonance features a strong and tailorable electric near-field confinement inside the silicon membrane films.Furthermore,we show that by tuning the gap between the holes,one can open a leaky channel to transform these regular BICs into quasi-BICs,which can be excited directly under normal plane wave incidence.To prove the capabilities of such metasurfaces,we demonstrate the conversion of an infrared image to the visible range,based on the Third-harmonic generation(THG)process with the resonant membrane metasurfaces.Our results suggest a new paradigm for realising efficient nonlinear photonics metadevices and hold promise for extending the applications of nonlinear structuring surfaces to new types of all-optical near-infrared imaging technologies.

Exceptional-point-enhanced sensing in an all-fiber bending sensor

An exceptional-point(EP)enhanced fiber-optic bending sensor is reported.The sensor is implemented based on paritytime(PT)-symmetry using two coupled Fabry-Perot(FP)resonators consisting of three cascaded fiber Bragg gratings(FBGs)inscribed in an erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber(EYDF).The EP is achieved by controlling the pumping power to manipulate the gain and loss of the gain and loss FP resonators.Once a bending force is applied to the gain FP resonator to make the operation of the system away from its EP,frequency splitting occurs,and the frequency spacing is a nonlinear function of the bending curvature,with an increased slope near the EP.Thus,by measuring the frequency spacing,the bending information is measured with increased sensitivity.To achieve high-speed and high-resolution interrogation,the optical spectral response of the sensor is converted to the microwave domain by implementing a dual-passband microwave-photonic filter(MPF),with the spacing between the two passbands equal to that of the frequency splitting.The proposed sensor is evaluated experimentally.A curvature sensing range from 0.28 to 2.74 m^(−1) is achieved with an accuracy of 7.56×10^(−4 )m^(−1 )and a sensitivity of 1.32 GHz/m^(−1),which is more than 4 times higher than those reported previously.

A two-step quantum secure direct communication protocol with hyperentanglement

We propose a two-step quantum secure direct communication （QSDC） protocol with hyperentanglement in both the spatial-mode and the polarization degrees of freedom of photon pairs which can in principle be produced with a beta barium borate crystal. The secret message can be encoded on the photon pairs with unitary operations in these two degrees of freedom independently. This QSDC protocol has a higher capacity than the original two-step QSDC protocol as each photon pair can carry 4 bits of information. Compared with the QSDC protocol based on hyperdense coding, this QSDC protocol has the immunity to Trojan horse attack strategies with the process for determining the number of the photons in each quantum signal as it is a one-way quantum communication protocol.

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.

PINPOINT SOURCE LOCALIZATION FOR OCULAR NONSELECTIVE ATTENTION WITH COMBINATION OF ERP AND fNIRI MEASUREMENTS

Compared with event-related potential(ERP)which is widely used in psychology research,functional near-infrared imaging(fNIRI)is a new technique providing hemodynamic information related to brain activity,except for electrophysiological signals.Here,we use both these techniques to study ocular attention.We conducted a series of experiments with a classic paradigm of ocular nonselective attention,and monitored responses with fNIRI and ERP respectively.The results showed that fNIRI measured brain activations in the left prefrontal lobe,while ERPs showed activation in frontal lobe.More importantly,only with the combination measurements of fNIRI and ERP,we were then able to find the pinpoint source of ocular nonselective attention,which is in the left and upper corner in Brodmann area 10.These results demonstrated that fNIRI is a reliable technique in psychology,and the combination of fNIRI and ERP can be promising to reveal more information in the research of brain mechanism.

Active metasurfaces for manipulatable terahertz technology

Metasurface is a kind of two-dimensional metamaterial with specially designed sub-wavelength unit cells.It consists of single-layer or few-layer stacks of planar structures and possesses certain superior abilities to manipulate the propagating electromagnetic waves,including the terahertz(THz)ones.Compared with the usual passive THz metasurfaces whose optical properties are difficult to be controlled after fabrication,the active materials are highly desirable to enable dynamic and tunable control of THz waves.In this review,we briefly summarize the progress of active THz metasurfaces,from their physical mechanisms on carrier concentration modulations,phase transitions,magneto-optical effects,etc.,for various possible THz applications mainly with low-dimensional materials,vanadium dioxide films,and superconductors.

Simulation and Design of a Submicron Ultrafast Plasmonic Switch Based on Nonlinear Doped Silicon MIM Waveguide

We propose and analyze a submicron stub-assisted ultrafast all-optical plasmonic switch based on nonlinear MIM waveguide. It is constructed by two silicon stub filters sandwiched by silver cladding. The signal wavelength is assumed to be 1550 nm. The simulation results show a ?14.66 dB extinction ratio. Downscaling the silicon waveguide in MIM structure leads to enhancement of the effective Kerr nonlinearity due to tight mode confinement. Also, using O+ ions implanted into silicon, the switching time less than 10 ps and a delay time less than 8 fs are achieved. The overall length of the switch is 550 nm.

Mode-Locked Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser Using Vanadium Oxide as Saturable Absorber

A mode-locked erbium doped fiber laser（EDFL） is demonstrated using the vanadium oxide（V2O5） material as a saturable absorber（SA）. The V2O5 based SA is hosted into poly ethylene oxide film and attached on fiber ferule in the laser cavity. It shows 7% modulation depth with 71 MW/cm2 saturation intensity. By incorporating the SA inside the EDFL cavity with managed intra-cavity dispersion, ultrashort soliton pulses are successfully generated with a full width at half maximum of 3.14 ps. The laser operated at central wavelength of 1559.25 nm and repetition frequency of 1 MHz.

NOISE REDUCTION METHOD FOR OCT IMAGES BASED ON EMPIRICAL MODE DECOMPOSITION

In this paper,the new method for OCT images denoizing based on empirical mode decomposition(EMD)is proposed.The noise reduction is a very important process for following operations to analyze and recognition of tissue structure.Our method does not require any additional operations and hardware modifications.The basics of proposed method is described.Quality improvement of noise suppression om example of edge detection procedure using the classical Canny's algorithm without any additional pre-and post-proc essing operations is demonstrated.Improvement of raw-segmentation in the automatic diagnostic process between a tissue and a mesh implant is shown.

Exploiting the Faster-Than-Nyquist Concept in Wavelength-Division Multiplexing Systems Using Duobinary Shaping

This paper begins with Nyquist wavelengthdivision multiplexing （WDM） and then introduces fasterthanNyquist. In fasterthanNyquist a certain amount of intersymbol interference （ISI） is accepted, which violates the fundamental principle of Nyquist WDM. This results in muchrelaxed transceiver bandwidth and simpler spectral design. However, in fasterthanNyquist, implementation complexity is shifted from the transmitter side to the receiver side. Therefore, successful application of fasterthanNyquist depends on innovation in the receiver structure. In this paper, we discuss the guidelines for implementing suboptimum, lowcomplexity receivers based on fasterthanNyquist. We suggest that duobinary shaping is a good technique for trading off achievable spectral efficiency, detection performance, and implementation complexity and might be preferable to Nyquist WDM. Experiments are conducted to verify robustness of the proposed technique.

Harvesting,sensing and regulating light based on photo-thermal effect of Cu@CuO mesh

A system of light harvesting, sensing and regulating was designed based on the photo-thermal and Seebeck effect of flexible CuO nanostructures. Cu@CuO meshes were prepared via self-oxidation of Cu mesh and utilized as the photo-thermal material. Upon irradiation by visible light, the temperature of the Cu@CuO mesh dramatically increases. The temperature difference between the irradiated and non-irradiated parts of the Cu@CuO mesh produced a measurable voltage output due to the Seebeck effect. The generated voltage was then converted into a digital signal to control a rotary neutral-density disc to filter the received light. This enabled regulation of the intensity of the incident light at a selected region. This system is cost effective and has potential applications in greenhouses, factories and smart buildings to minimize energy consumption and improve wellbeing.

Explanation of Unusual Photoluminescence Behavior from InAs Quantum Dots with InAlAs Capping

The effect of different kinds of cap layers on optical property of InAs quantum dots （QDs） on GaAs （100） substrate was studied. Temperature dependent photoluminescence （PL） indicates that the PL integrated intensity from the ground state of InAs QDs capped with an intermediate InAIAs layer drops very little as compared to QDs capped with a thin InGaAs or GaAs cap layer from 15 K up to room temperature. PL integrated intensity ratio of the first excited to ground states for InAs QDs capped with an intermediate InAIAs layer is unexpectedly decreased with increasing temperature, which are attributed to phonon bottleneck effect. A virtual barrier is proposed to describe this physics process and shows good agreement with experimental results when fitting the curve with the value of the virtual barrier 30 meV.

Q-Switched Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser Using Cadmium Selenide Coated onto Side-Polished D-Shape Fiber as Saturable Absorber

A stable Q-switched erbium doped fiber laser emitting at 1558 nm is demonstrated using a cadmium selenide（CdSe） material coated onto a side-polished D-shape fiber as the saturable absorber（SA）. By elevating the input pump power from the threshold of 91 mW to the maximum available power of 136 mW, a pulse train with a maximum repetition rate of 57.44 kHz, minimum pulse width of 3.76 us, maximum average output power of7.99 mW, maximum pulse energy of 0.1391 uJ, and maximum peak power of 36.99 mW are obtained. The signalto-noise ratio of the spectrum is measured to be around 75 dB. This CdSe based SA is simple, robust, and reliable,and thus suitable for making a portable pulse laser source.

Nanosecond Pulses Generation with Samarium Oxide Film Saturable Absorber

Nanosecond pulse generation is demonstrated in a mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL) utilizing a samarium oxide(Sm2O3) film. The Sm2O3 film exhibits a modulation depth of 33%, which is suitable for modelocking operation. The passively pulsed EDFL operates stably at 1569.8 nm within a pumping power from 109 to 146 m W. The train of generated output pulses has a pulse width of 356 nm repeated at a fundamental frequency of 0.97 MHz. The average output power of 3.91 m W is obtained at a pump power of 146 m W, corresponding to 4.0 nJ pulse energy. The experimental result indicates that the proposed Sm2O3 saturable absorber is viable for the construction of a flexible and reliably stable mode-locked pulsed fiber laser operating in the 1.5 m region.