Wide-angle narrow-bandpass optical detection system optimally designed to have a large signal-to-noise ratio

A method for achieving optimal design of a wide-angle narrow-bandpass optical detection system composed of a spherical interference filter and a circular photodetector is introduced. It was found that there is an optimal photodetector diameter that maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for a given filter configuration. We show how to optimize optical detection systems based on spherical interference filters for all the important parameters simultaneously. The SNR values of these systems are compared with the SNR values of spherical-step-filter-based detection systems. When large silicon photodetectors are used, the two systems have equal SNR values so that the more economical step-filter systems are preferable. The results given here in the near-infrared region can be used for the optimization of any configuration of a detection system based on a spherical interference filter and a silicon photodetector working at the same wavelength range, without further calculations.     

Experimental study of a model digital space optical communication system with new quantum devices

We report a digital space optical communication system with new features both in the transmitting and in the receiving ends. The diode laser source is stabilized to within ±100 kHz by locking its frequency to the transmission peak of a Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter (FADOF). The optical filter in the receiver uses two FADOF's that are linked to eliminate the multipeak structure and achieve a single-peak bandwidth of ~1 GHz. The detection sensitivity of this system is 23 times higher than that of a system with a traditional interference filter.     

Optical resonant ultrasound spectroscopy for fluid properties measurement

The properties of fluids are studied using unusually small containment spherical resonators. Proper identification of resonant fluid signatures allows determination of pressure and density of the internal gas with great accuracy using an appropriate equation of state (EOS). Low noise and high sensitivity detection of vibration are critical parameters to characterizing the contained gas when its pressure approaches 1 atm. or less. The benefits of using spherical resonators to determine fluid properties are discussed, and some example calculations of sound speed are presented. In addition to measuring fluids, a comparative experimental approach is taken to explore and, eventually, to optimize vibration detection. In the experiments, two detection methods, a contact piezoelectric transducer (PZT) device and a non-contact optical device, are compared simultaneously and quantitatively. This is done in a unique manner without change in vibration coupling to the sample between tests. A commercially available resonant ultrasound spectroscopy system is used as the contact system, while another commercial device (used as the non-contact vibration detector) combined with the same excitation source (used in the contact system) comprises the other system. The non-contact detector is an optical interferometric receiver that provides adaptation to optically rough surfaces and high sensitivity to acoustic displacements through optical interference in photorefractive GaAs. Both vibration detection systems are compared with particular emphasis on displacement sensitivity, frequency response, and noise level. Furthermore, the results from comparing detection modalities are presented, and their effects on fluid properties measurement are discussed     

Ultraviolet Rayleigh-Mie lidar for daytime-temperature profiling of the troposphere

A UV Rayleigh-Mie scattering lidar has been developed for daytime measurement of temperature and aerosol optical properties in the troposphere. The transmitter is a narrowband, injection-seeded, pulsed, third-harmonic Nd:YAG laser at an eye-safe wavelength of 355 nm. Two Fabry-Perot etalons (FPEs) with a dual-pass optical layout filter the molecular Rayleigh scattering components spectrally for retrieval of the temperature and provide a high rejection rate for aerosol Mie scattering in excess of 43 dB. The Mie signal is filtered with a third FPE filter for direct profiling of aerosol optical properties. The Mie scattering component in the Rayleigh signals, which will have influence on temperature measurements, is corrected by using a measure of aerosol scattering because of the relative insufficiency of Mie rejection of Rayleigh filters in the presence of dense aerosols or clouds, and the Mie rejection capability of system is thus improved. A narrowband interference filter is incorporated with the FPEs to block solar radiation. Also, the small field of view (0.1 mrad) of the receiver and the UV wavelength used enhance the ability of the lidar to suppress the solar background signal in daytime measurement. The system is relatively compact, with a power-aperture product of 0.18 W m(-2), and has a high sensitivity to temperature change (0.62%/K). Lidar measurements taken under different weather conditions (winter and summer) are demonstrated. Good agreement between the lidar and the radiosonde measurements was obtained in terms of lapse rates and inversions. Statistical temperature errors of less than 1 K up to a height of 2 km are obtainable, with an averaging time of approximately 12 min for daytime measurements.     

Evaluation and optimization of the optical performance of low-concentrating dielectric compound parabolic concentrator using ray-tracing methods

We present a detailed design concept and optical performance evaluation of stationary dielectric asymmetric compound parabolic concentrators (DiACPCs) using ray-tracing methods. Three DiACPC designs, DiACPC-55, DiACPC-66, and DiACPC-77, of acceptance half-angles (0° and 55°), (0° and 66°), and (0° and 77°), respectively, are designed in order to optimize the concentrator for building fa?ade photovoltaic applications in northern latitudes (>55 °N). The dielectric concentrator profiles have been realized via truncation of the complete compound parabolic concentrator profiles to achieve a geometric concentration ratio of 2.82. Ray-tracing simulation results show that all rays entering the designed concentrators within the acceptance half-angle range can be collected without escaping from the parabolic sides and aperture. The maximum optical efficiency of the designed concentrators is found to be 83%, which tends to decrease with the increase in incidence angle. The intensity is found to be distributed at the receiver (solar cell) area in an inhomogeneous pattern for a wide range of incident angles of direct solar irradiance with high-intensity peaks at certain points of the receiver. However, peaks become more intense for the irradiation incident close to the extreme acceptance angles, shifting the peaks to the edge of the receiver. Energy flux distribution at the receiver for diffuse radiation is found to be homogeneous within ±12% with an average intensity of 520 W/m2.     

Remote sensing of wind velocity and strength of refractive turbulence using a two-spatial-filter receiver

Wind velocity across an optical path and refractive turbulence strength can be measured by observing a light source through the atmosphere with a receiver that contains two spatial filters. The frequency of the detected signal gives the transverse velocity of the turbulent structure, whereas signal intensity is proportional to refractive turbulence strength. The size of turbulent eddies that produce signals is determined by the optical setup. The position along the detector's field of view at which the measurement is made depends on the separation of the filters, and profiles can be made by varying the separation and using a telescope. The system requires longer integration times than one which uses a spatial filter at each end of the optical path, but it has the advantage of being able to use a natural source such as the Sun or a planet. An analysis of the system is presented along with numerical simulations and results from a short-range (several meters) laboratory experiment. The analysis assumes a single layer of refractive turbulence. Scales of the refractive turbulence in the inertial subrange from 5 to 20 cm will be of primary interest for this method.     

Adaptive optical transmitter and receiver for space communication through thin clouds

Optical space communication from satellite to ground or air to air consists of clouds as part of communication channels. Propagation of optical pulses through clouds causes widening and deformation in the time domain and attenuation of the pulse radiant power. These effects decrease the received signal and limit the information bandwidth of the communication system. Having dealt with the other effects previously, here we concentrate on pulse broadening in the time domain. We derive a mathematical model of an adaptive optical communication system with a multiscattering channel (atmospheric cloud). We use knowledge about the impulse response function of the cloud to adapt the communication parameters to the transfer function of the cloud. The communication system includes a receiver and a transmitter. We adapted the transmitter to atmospheric conditions by changing the bit error rate. One can adapt the receiver to the atmospheric condition by changing the parameters of the detector and the filter. An example for a practical communication system between a low Earth orbit satellite and a ground station cover by cloud is given. Comparison and analysis of an adaptive and semiadaptive system with cloud channels are presented. Our conclusion is that in some cases only by such adaptive methods is optical communication possible.     

Engineering the nonlinear phase shift with multistage autoregressive moving-average optical filters

We propose and demonstrate the application of concepts from digital filter design in order to optimize artificial optical resonant structures to produce a nearly ideal nonlinear phase shift response. Multistage autoregressive moving average (ARMA) optical filters (ring-resonator-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer lattices) are designed and studied. The filter group delay is used as a measure instead of finesse or quality factor to study the nonlinear sensitivity for multiple resonances. The nonlinearity of a four-stage ARMA filter is 17 times higher than that of the intrinsic material of the same group delay. We demonstrate that the nonlinear sensitivity can be increased within constant bandwidth by allocating more in-band phase or by using higher-order filter structures and that the nonlinear sensitivity enhancement improves with increasing group delay. We also investigate methods to precompensate the nonlinear response to reduce the occurrence of optical bistabilities. The effect of optical loss, including linear absorption and two-photon absorption, is discussed in postanalysis. In addition, we discuss how the improvement in nonlinear response scales with respect to various filter parameters.     

Optical eigenmodes of a multilayered spherical microcavity

Abstract

The optical mode structure of a spherical microcavity has been investigated using a transfer matrix approach. We derive exact algebraic equations from which the frequencies of the optical eigenmodes of the two polarizations can be obtained, as well as approximate explicit algebraic expressions for those frequencies. The spatial variation of the electric field in the dipole mode is discussed. It is found that the electric field at the centre of a spherical microcavity is non-zero for only one optical eigenmode.     

Optical filters with prescribed optical thickness and refined refractive indices

We propose to refine the refractive index of the layers composing optical filters while keeping their optical thicknesses constant. Using this technique, one can optimize filters made of quarter-wave layers using conventional optimization techniques, while preserving the possibility to use turning-point monitoring during their fabrication. Application of this method to the design of a dual narrowband filter and a tilted edge filter demonstrates its effectiveness.     

Nanoscopic volume trapping and transportation using a PANDA ring resonator for drug delivery

A novel design of nanoscopic volume transmitter and receiver for drug delivery system using a PANDA ring resonator is proposed. By controlling some suitable parameters, the optical vortices (gradient optical fields/wells) can be generated and used to form the trapping tools in the same way as the optical tweezers. By using the intense optical vortices generated within the PANDA ring resonator, the nanoscopic volumes (drug) can be trapped and moved (transport) dynamically within the wavelength router or network. In principle, the trapping force is formed by the combination between the gradient field and scattering photons, which is reviewed. The advantage of the proposed system is that a transmitter and receiver can be formed within the same system (device), which is called a transceiver, which is available for nanoscopic volume (drug volume) trapping and transportation (delivery).     

Imaging phase objects by means of thermocapillary self-action

Transparent phase objects have been visualized for the first time using laser radiation reflected from an absorbing liquid layer situated in the Fourier plane of an optical system operating as a nonlinear Zernike filter. The radiation beam power necessary for the system operation is below 500 μW.     

Spatial distribution of doubly scattered polarized laser radiation in the focal plane of a lidar receiver

Depolarization lidars are widely used to study clouds and aerosols because of their ability to discriminate between spherical particles and particles of irregular shape. Depolarization of cloud backscattered radiation can be caused also by multiple scattering events. One of the ways to gain information about particle parameters in the presence of strong multiple scattering is the measurement of radial and azimuthal dependence of the polarization patterns in the focal plane of receiver. We present an algorithm for the calculation of corresponding polarized patterns in the frame of double scattering approximation. Computations are performed for various receiver field of views, for different parameters of the scattering geometry, e.g., cloud base and sounding depth, as well as for different values of cloud particle size and refractive index. As the spatial distribution of cross-polarized radiation is of cross shape and rotated at 45 degrees with respect to laser polarization, the use of a properly oriented cross-shaped mask in the receiver focal plane allows the removal of a significant portion of the depolarized component of the backscattered radiation produced by double scattering. This has been verified experimentally based on cloud depolarization measurements performed at different orientations of the cross-shaped mask. Results obtained from measurements are in agreement with model predictions.     

Experimental implementation of fiber optic bundle array wide FOV free space optical communications receiver

A gimbal-free wide field-of-regard (FOR) optical receiver has been built in a laboratory setting for proof-of-concept testing. Multiple datasets are presented that examine the overall FOR of the system and the receiver's ability to track and collect a signal from a moving source. The design is not intended to compete with traditional free space optical communication systems, but rather offer an alternative design that minimizes the number and complexity of mechanical components required at the surface of a small mobile platform. The receiver is composed of a micro-lens array and hexagonal bundles of large core optical fibers that route the optical signal to remote detectors and electronics. Each fiber in the bundle collects power from a distinct solid angle of space and a piezo-electric transducer is used to translate the micro-lens array and optimize coupling into a given fiber core in the bundle. The micro-lens to fiber bundle design is scalable, modular, and can be replicated in an array to increase aperture size.     

Optic systems with spherical, cylindrical, and toric surfaces

A simple analytical method for tracing rays in an optical system that is made up of spherical, cylindrical, and toric surfaces with an arbitrary rotation of its meridian plane with respect to the reference system is described. An analytical procedure is also given for obtaining the spot diagram on an arbitrarily oriented section, as well as for relating the diagram obtained for the plane of this section as a plane z = 0. Finally, as an application of this procedure, several graphic representations of the spot diagrams in the planes perpendicular or nonperpendicular to the axis are presented.     

The Use of Annular Pupil Plane Filters to Tune the Imaging Properties in Confocal Microscopy

Abstract

We consider the use of pupil plane filters to modify the imaging properties of confocal optical systems. We specialize to the annular filter as it is useful in itself and as part of a more complex filter. We show, inter alia, that by changing the size of the annular obscuration we can tune the strength of the optical sectioning. The question of spherical aberration is considered and it is found both theoretically and experimentally that the effects are reduced in the annular case. We also discuss the problem of where best to place the filters in reflection systems where different filter functions are required for the two imaging lenses. The use of filters in both bright-field and fluorescence imaging modes is considered.     

On Arbitrarily Perfect Imagery with a Finite Aperture

In theory, an optical system with a finite aperture can be coated to produce arbitrarily perfect imagery over a limited field. When the object is of limited extent, this field can be made the optical conjugate to the object, so that the whole object is imaged with arbitrary precision. The required pupil coating approximates low-contrast cosine fringes over its central region, with a frequency and amplitude that rapidly accelerate as the aperture edge is approached. Here the maximum occurs as a narrow spike. The frequency near the central region varies directly with the total extent of the conjugate field, and inversely with the required central core width Δ in the point amplitude response. As Δ is made arbitrarily narrow, the point amplitude response approaches the form of a sinc function over the field of view. This function is precisely the point amplitude for a diffraction-limited pupil with a magnified aperture of 1/Δ times the given pupil aperture ! The only image property that is not in compliance with this effective aperture magnification is that of total illumination. This is severely reduced from that of the original, uncoated aperture, and is the major restriction on practical use of the derived pupil. Applications to microscopy and telescopy are discussed.     

Analytical study of binary differential impulse radio-ultra wide band over single-mode fibre systems using two receiver structures

A binary differential impulse radio-ultra wide band (IR-UWB) communication scheme over a singlemode optical fibre is examined. For a receiver structure, the conventional electrical receiver as well as an optical receiver structure, which is similar to the optical receiver used for digital, optically phase-modulated differential phase shift keying, are considered. The optical receiver can alleviate the IR-UWB receiver implementation challenges and it is studied for the first time in the context of IR-UWB. Considering various important noises, for example, phase noise, laser intensity noise, thermal noise and shot noise, analytical expressions for the error probability of the aforementioned receivers are derived. The mathematical models for optical components including laser diode and single-mode fibre, along with the analytical expressions for the receiver?s error probability, are used to evaluate the overall performance of an UWB communication system over a fibre transmission medium. Furthermore, the electrical receiver is compared with the optical receiver and it is shown that the performance of the optical receiver can be as good as that of the electrical receiver and even better. The impact of wireless channel fading, bias current of laser diode and the coherence time of laser diode on the UWB over fibre system performance is also examined.     

Forward average path-length parameter in four-flux radiative transfer models

The optical properties of films containing spherical particles in a nonabsorbing matrix have been modeled by using a four-flux radiative transfer theory. The forward average path-length parameter takes into account the different path lengths for collimated and diffuse components of the radiation field. This parameter, whose value was known only in special cases, has been used previously as a fitting quantity. We establish a method for evaluating the forward average path-length parameter in a rigorous way. Single-scattering parameters are evaluated from the Lorenz-Mie theory, and multiple-scattering effects are taken into account by means of an extended Hartel's theory.     

Beam width and transmitter power adaptive to tracking system performance for free-space optical communication

The basic free-space optical communication system includes at least two satellites. To communicate between them, the transmitter satellite must track the beacon of the receiver satellite and point the information optical beam in its direction. Optical tracking and pointing systems for free space suffer during tracking from high-amplitude vibration because of background radiation from interstellar objects such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, and stars in the tracking field of view or the mechanical impact from satellite internal and external sources. The vibrations of beam pointing increase the bit error rate and jam communication between the two satellites. One way to overcome this problem is to increase the satellite receiver beacon power. However, this solution requires increased power consumption and weight, both of which are disadvantageous in satellite development. Considering these facts, we derive a mathematical model of a communication system that adapts optimally the transmitter beam width and the transmitted power to the tracking system performance. Based on this model, we investigate the performance of a communication system with discrete element optical phased array transmitter telescope gain. An example for a practical communication system between a Low Earth Orbit Satellite and a Geostationary Earth Orbit Satellite is presented. From the results of this research it can be seen that a four-element adaptive transmitter telescope is sufficient to compensate for vibration amplitude doubling. The benefits of the proposed model are less required transmitter power and improved communication system performance.