Near-infrared emission spectrometry based on an acousto-optical tunable filter

A spectrometer has been constructed to detect the radiation emitted by thermally excited samples in the near-infrared spectral region extending from 1500 to 3000 nm. The instrument employs an acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF) made of TeO2 and attains maximum sensitivity by making effective use of the two diffracted beams produced by the anisotropic AOTF. The full exploitation of the transmitted power of the monochromatic beams is reported for the first time and became possible because the detector does not saturate when employed for the acquisition of the weak emission signal in the NIR region, even when exposed to the total (nondiffracted) beam. Thus, modulation and lock-in-based detection can be employed to find the intensity of the diffracted beams superimposed on the nondiffracted beam. The resolution is slighted degraded in view of the small (approximately 10 nm) difference in the wavelength diffracted in the ordinary and extraordinary beams. The instrument has been evaluated in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, effect of sample thickness, and excitation temperature and for its potential in analytical applications in monitoring high-temperature kinetics, for qualitative identification of inorganic solids, for use with a closed cell to obtain spectra of species that evaporate at the temperatures (> 150 degrees C) necessary for sample excitation, and for quantitative purposes in the determination of soybean oil content in olive oil. The feasibility of near-infrared emission spectroscopy has been demonstrated together with some of its advantages over mid-infrared emission spectroscopy, such as greater tolerance to sample thickness, suitable signal-to-noise, and its use in the investigation of kinetic phenomena and phase transitions at high temperatures.     

Acousto-optic imaging spectropolarimetry for remote sensing

We review the operating principles of noncollinear acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTF's), emphasizing the use of two orthogonally polarized beams for narrow-band imaging. Spectral characterization and spectral broadening measurements of commercially available AOTF's agree with theoretical predictions and reveal difficulties associated with imaging noncollimated light. An AOTF imaging spectropolarimeter for ground-based astronomy that uses CCD's has been constructed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It uses a TeO(2) noncollinear AOTF and a simple optical relay assembly to produce side-by-side orthogonally polarized spectral images. We summarize the instrument design and initial performance tests. We include sample spectral images acquired at the Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory.     

Spin-to-orbit conversion at acousto-optic diffraction of light: conservation of optical angular momentum

Acousto-optic diffraction of light in optically active cubic crystals is analyzed from the viewpoint of conservation of optical angular momentum. It is shown that the availability of angular momentum in the diffracted optical beam can be necessarily inferred from the requirements of angular momentum conservation law. As follows from our analysis, a circularly polarized diffracted wave should bear an orbital angular momentum. The efficiency of the spin-to-orbit momentum conversion is governed by the efficiency of acousto-optic diffraction.     

Thermally assisted recording of holographic gratings in semicrystalline azobenzene-containing polymers

We examine optically induced birefringence in semicrystalline azopolymer films that are held at glass-transition temperature Tg. The birefringence increases markedly after interception of the pump beam; the saturation value depends on exposure time. In addition, the induced birefringence is completely erased by irradiation with a circularly polarized beam at Tg. Using this thermally assisted method, we demonstrate the holographic recording of a test image. The intensity of the diffracted beam also increases after interception of the writing beams. Furthermore, the retrieved image is found to have a resolution of approximately 30 lp/mm. This resolution is comparable with that of the optical setup that is used. Accordingly, the thermally assisted recording by use of semicrystalline azopolymers is a promising method for reversible holographic storage.     

Reflection and non-specular effects of 2D gaussian beams in interfaces between isotropic and uniaxial anisotropic media

Abstract

In the present paper bidimensional Gaussian linearly polarized beams, which are incident on an interface between an isotropic medium and a non-absorbing non-magnetic uniaxial crystal are considered. The relation between the reflection coefficients and the non-specular effects are studied. The expressions for the first order effects in the case of a beam linearly polarized in a plane perpendicular to the one containing the crystal optical axis and the normal to the interface are analytically determined. Two highly symmetric geometries are analysed and the results are compared to those obtained with isotropic interfaces.     

Design of an infrared monochromatic system with an AOTF as the dispersion element

In this paper, a method on how to design an infrared monochromatic system based on an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is introduced. Some key problems about optical system (including collimation of incident light beam and working distance-the shortest distance to separate the zero order light and the diffracted light) are researched and solved. The driving circuit for an AOTF based on Direct Digital Synthesis and a Digital Signal Processor is also introduced. The experimental results show a direct proportional relationship between the wave number of diffracted light and the driving frequency. The monochromatic system has a wave number range of 2000-4000 cm(-1) and the spectral half-width is 20 cm(-1).     

Refractive Bessel lattice in azobenzene liquid crystal

A refractive Bessel lattice with micrometric periodicity is induced optically in a photosensitive azobenzene liquid crystal cell of 3?µm thickness by a green 532?nm, 30?mW Bessel beam and with simultaneous illumination by a red 632.8?nm, 15?mW Gaussian beam. The uninterrupted action of both beams plays a key role in the complete mechanism of the refractive lattice formation. The lattice formation is investigated in real-time by the measurement of forward diffracted ring powers from both the red Gaussian and the green Bessel beams. The diffraction efficiency is investigated depending on the green Bessel beam intensity and on the mutual relation between the green beam polarization and the rubbing direction of the cell. A maximum diffraction efficiency of 1.1% is obtained which corresponds to a refractive index change of 6?×?10^?3. Simulations are performed and a physical model to explain the experimental results is discussed.     

Color separation of argon laser light with the effect of dispersion of optical activity

A new approach for spatially separating the green and the blue components of an argon laser beam is presented. By exploiting the effect of dispersion of optical activity, this approach renders the vibration planes of the green and the blue components of a linearly polarized argon laser orthogonal to each other; this is done by passing the beam through an optically active crystal and then spatially separating the components with a Wollaston prism. Two methods for controlling the directions of the polarization of the transmitted beams are discussed. The new design is characterized by higher separation efficiency, lower energy loss, and system simplicity and symmetry. The measured data for the new design are also given.     

Coupled-wave analysis of vector holograms. 3. Effects of intrinsic distribution of optical axis in anisotropic media

We investigated theoretically the interference of two counterpropagating polarized light beams in optically anisotropic media whose optical axis is in the film plane and is gradually rotated around the thickness direction. Results indicated that pure polarization modulation without intensity variation is obtained in the inhomogeneous media when the total angle of the rotation is much smaller than the total retardation. Reflective anisotropic gratings recorded by the polarization modulation were formulated as the perturbation of the dielectric tensor, and diffraction properties were studied using coupled-wave analysis (CWA) and a numerical method. By assuming that the period of the intrinsic distribution is substantially larger than that of the induced one, we demonstrated that CWA estimates the diffraction efficiency and the polarization state of the diffracted light with high accuracy.     

Spectrograph based on a single diffractive element for real-time measurement of circular dichroism

In this study, a novel and simple diffractive spectrographic method for real-time measurements of circular dichroism (CD) is considered from a theoretical and experimental approach. A demonstrator prototype of the CD spectrograph has been developed and its performance has been compared with a commercial phase-modulation CD spectrometer. The main element of the device is a polarization holographic grating, recorded in a thin photosensitive organic film, by two interfering opposite circularly polarized beams. A peculiarity of this grating is that the amplitude of the +1 (-1) order of diffraction is proportional to the right (left) circular polarization component of the incoming beam. Here we demonstrate that the CD spectrum of a specimen can be easily evaluated from the intensities of the diffracted beams. A white light beam passing through the specimen is diffracted from the grating and the intensities of the +/-1 orders of diffraction are measured. Due to the spectral selectivity of the grating, the CD at each wavelength can be evaluated at the same time using two linear array detectors.     

Acousto-optic tunable filter as a polychromator and its application in multidimensional fluorescence spectrometry.

Acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is an electronically driven dispersive device which operates on the principle of acousto-optic interaction in an anisotropic medium. Incident white light will be diffracted by the AOTF into a specific wavelength when a specific rf is applied to it. The diffracted light needs not be a monochromatic light. Multiwavelength light can be diffracted from the AOTF when several rf signals are simultaneously applied into the filter. Compared to conventional polychromators, advantages of this electronic AOTF polychromator include its ability to individually amplitude-modulate each wavelength of the diffracted multiwavelength light at different frequency. This is accomplished by individually and sinusoidally modulating each applied rf signal at the desired frequency. This feature makes it possible to develop a novel AOTF-based multidimensional fluorimeter in which the sample was simultaneously excited by two different wavelengths (514.5 and 488.0 nm) whose amplitudes were sinusoidally modulated at two different frequencies (100 and 66 Hz). Multicomponent samples, e.g., mixtures of rhodamine 6G and rhodamine B, were successfully analyzed using this novel fluorimeter and the developed data analysis.     

Near-infrared thermal lens spectrometer based on an erbium-doped fiber amplifier and an acousto-optic tunable filter, and its application in the determination of nucleotides

A novel spectrometer that is based on the use of the thermal lens effect for sensitive measurements of absorption in the near-IR region has been developed. In this instrument the near-IR excitation light (from 1515 to 1590 nm) was provided by an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). An acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) was used to spectrally disperse the light from the EDFA. The AOTF was used in a new configuration in which, instead of the diffracted light, the transmitted light was used. The heat generated as a consequence of the absorption of the near-IR excitation beam by the sample was monitored by a He-Ne laser. The sensitivity of this spectrometer was found to be at least two to three times higher than that of conventional transmission measurements. Its application in the sensitive determination of nucleotides (adenosine, cytidine, guanosine, and thymidine) is described.     

Double refraction of a Gaussian beam into a uniaxial crystal

For a linearly polarized three-dimensional Gaussian beam in air that is normally incident upon a plane interface with a uniaxial crystal with optic axis in an arbitrary direction, we present integral representations for the transmitted field suitable for asymptotic analysis and efficient numerical evaluation and derive analytical expressions for transmitted nontruncated Gaussian beams for the cases in which the incident beam is polarized parallel to the plane containing the optic axis and the interface normal and transverse to it. The general solution for an arbitrary polarization state of an incident Gaussian beam follows by superposition of these two solutions.     

Wide angular aperture holograms in photorefractive crystals by the use of orthogonally polarized write and read beams

We demonstrate a method of simultaneous holographic recording and readout in photorefractive crystals that provides high write-read beam isolation and wide angular bandwidth. The method uses orthogonally polarized read and write beams and parallel tangent diffraction geometry near the equal curvature condition to provide spatially separable, orthogonally polarized diffracted output beams with high isolation and wide Bragg-matched angular bandwidth. The available angular bandwidth of this read-write technique is analyzed, simulated, and experimentally investigated. The measured angular bandwidth internal to the crystal is approximately 18° × 6° for our 45°-cut BaTiO(3) crystal, yet the entire hologram still demonstrates high Bragg selectivity. In contrast, traditional nonparallel-tangent geometries yield angular apertures of the order of 1° × 4°.     

Optical Transmission in Polycrystals

Optical transmission in a polycrystalline aggregate consisting of randomly oriented anisotropic transparent crystals has been worked using Mueller matrices. The interesting results are: (1) A completely polarized beam of light emerges as partially polarized light. (2) The completely polarized part of the emergent beam is in the same state of polarization as the incident light for optically inactive crystallites. (3) The intensity of the completely polarized part not only depends on the optical and the geometrical parameters of the crystallite but also on the polarization state of the incident light. (4) For optically active crystallites the medium behaves as an isotropic optically active solid with a rotatory power equal to the mean rotatory power of the single crystal. This helps one in extracting most of the gyration tensor components in enantiomorphic optically active crystals.     

Multiwavelength thermal lens spectrophotometer based on an acousto-optic tunable filter.

The instrumentation development of a novel, all solid-state, nonmoving parts, fast-scanning and wide-tuning range multiwavelength thermal lens spectrophotometer based on the acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is described. Initially, the essential electronic driver was developed to facilitate the systematic characterization of the paratellurite (TeO2) AOTF and to demonstrate that this filter can be successfully and uniquely used as an all solid-state, nonmoving parts dispersive device to rapidly diffract white incident light into a selected color beam, to amplitude modulate the diffracted monochromatic light, and to keep its intensity constant. The multiwavelength thermal lens instrument was subsequently constructed using this AOTF, and preliminary results on advantages of this spectrophotometer such as its ability to characterize trace chemicals and to analyze multicomponent samples are delineated.     

General solution of the coupled-wave equations of acousto-optics

The basic problem of the diffraction of an optical plane wave by an acoustic plane wave in an anisotropic homogeneous medium is considered. The acousto-optical interaction is considered indifferently of the isotropic or of the birefringent type. Coupled-wave equations are obtained rigorously and cast into an eigenvalue value problem. A general solution is obtained for the diffraction efficiency of diffracted orders, for any interaction length and diffraction regime. The theory includes the Bragg regime, the Raman-Nath regime, and all intermediate situations in the same formulation. The method of solution is both exact and computationally efficient. It is similar in character to the rigorous coupled-wave analysis of Moharam and Gaylord but differs by the choice of basis functions adapted to propagating rather than static gratings. Examples are given for acousto-optical interaction in paratellurite, TeO2.     

Beam dynamics of two modes propagating along the optic axis in a uniaxial crystal

The Gaussian beam propagation in the direction of the optic axis of a uniaxial crystal is treated by the complex-source-point technique. At the input plane the electric field is linearly polarized. A particular superposition of the ordinary-mode and the extraordinary-mode beams is generated. The electrodynamics of the composite beam has features that are different from those of the two constituent beams. As a result of the anisotropy, on propagation, the cross-polarized component of the electric field is generated except along the beam axis; the cross section of the beam, which is circular at the input plane, becomes elliptical; and the mean squared width of the beam departs from the usual quadratic dependence on the distance from the waist in the direction of propagation.     

运用ASAP光学软件模拟单轴晶体的锥光干涉

为了模拟不同光轴取向、光束发散角、晶体厚度或入射波长等参数下的单轴晶体锥光干涉,在 ASAP中定义起偏器、晶体、检偏器和接收屏的几何形状和光学特性,产生一组锥状高斯光束并设置其相干性和波动性,进行光线追迹、计算并显示接收屏上的干涉场能量分布。所得模拟结果表明,光轴与晶体表面垂直时,干涉条纹是 1组以光轴为圆心且被十字分割的内疏外密、明暗相间的同心圆环;平行时,是 2组分别以光轴的平行和垂直方向为对称轴的、内疏外密、明暗相间的双曲线;既不垂直也不平行时,条纹特征因光轴取向而异;当增大发散角、晶体厚度或减小波长时,干涉条纹都向内移动且条纹数增多,反之亦然;起、检偏器正交时的干涉条纹都和它们平行时的条纹互补。     

Polarization-splitting common-path interferometer based on a zero-twist liquid crystal display

We present a compact optical polarization-splitting common-path interferometer based on a zero-twist liquid crystal display (LCD). The LCD is encoded with a diffraction grating pattern and illuminated with a polarization state with both horizontal and vertical components. The polarization component perpendicular to the director axis of the liquid crystal molecules is not affected by the LCD and forms the reference beam. However, the polarization component parallel to the director axis is diffracted at an angle determined by the period of the grating. By imposing an analyzer polarizer, these two beams create an interferogram that can either display retardance patterns encoded onto the LCD or analyze external birefringent optical elements. The programmability of the system allows new ways of increasing the utility of the interferograms. Experimental results are provided, including the visualization of optical vortices with different and opposite topological charges.