Design of a photowritten cavity neodymium-doped fiber laser tunable around an absorption molecular line

Experiments have shown that it is possible to realize laser cavities photowritten within rare-earth-doped silicate fibers. Experimental results on a particular application, namely, the detection of gas traces by identification of one of the gas's absorption lines, are presented. Experiments on an absorption line of atmospheric water have been carried out to illustrate this purpose. Two lasers have been designed with particular characteristics (spectral linewidths, slope efficiencies, thresholds). Preliminary experimental results on the detection of an absorption line of atmospheric water have been obtained with fiber lasers and optoacoustic detection.     

Spatial performance with perspective displays as a function of computer graphics eyepoint elevation and geometric field of view

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of varying the elevation of the computer graphics eyepoint and the geometric field of view on judgements of spatial information using a stereoscopic perspective display. Twelve subjects judged the elevation and azimuth angle separating two computer-generated objects viewed using an eyepoint elevation that ranged between -15 degrees and 45 degrees and a geometric field of view that ranged between 40 degrees and 80 degrees. The results of the study indicated that judgements of elevation were affected by the compression of the vertical axis resulting from the raised eyepoint elevation. Furthermore, azimuth judgements were influenced by both the eyepoint elevation and the geometric field of view. Implications of the results for the design of displays and for spatial performance using stereoscopic displays are discussed.     

Packing products for customers: an ergonomics evaluation of three supermarket checkouts

The introduction of laser scanners at supermarket checkout areas has resulted in previous ergonomics studies focusing specifically on the scanning process and associated cumulative trauma disorders in the hands and arms. Few studies have evaluated the increased musculoskeletal load and exertion of checkout staff when they are also expected to pack the products into bags for the customers. This paper describes an ergonomics evaluation of three different designs of checkout workstation, which require the operator to stand when they scan the products, pack them into plastic bags and transfer the packed bags to the customer. Musculoskeletal load and exertion associated with the different checkouts were measured using OWAS, heart rate recordings and ratings of perceived exertion. In addition, subjective rankings of the workstations were obtained and the productivity associated with each design examined as part of the evaluation. Some of the variables measured showed significant differences in postural load between the workstations. The results of the evaluation formed the basis of recommendations for an improved workstation design. Some of the suggestions made to reduce postural load and increase productivity include positioning the weigh scale to the side and the bag frame beneath the scanner.     

Absorption effect in the calculation of a second-order nonlinear coefficient from the data of a maker fringe experiment

The effect of light absorption by sample in the analysis of Makerfringe data for estimating a second-order nonlinear coefficient hasbeen studied experimentally. Two theories, one by Jerphagnon andKurtz that neglects the absorption effect and one by Herman and Haydenthat takes into account the absorption effect, were compared with theexperimental results. It was found that Jerphagnon and Kurtz'sformula was unable to predict correctly not only the magnitude but alsothe incident angle dependence or the sample thickness dependence of thesecond harmonic signal generated by the sample with strong absorption, whereas the theory by Herman and Hayden was able to make thosepredictions fairly well. It was also found that the error in theestimated nonlinear coefficient when one uses Jerphagnon and Kurtz'sformula could be as large as 2-4 times the true value, depending onsample thickness.     

Highly efficient, widely tunable, 10-Hz parametric amplifier pumped by frequency-doubled femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser pulses

We report a 10-Hz, highly efficient, widely tunable (from the visible to the IR), broadband femtosecond optical parametric generator and optical parametric amplifier (OPA) in BBO, LBO, and CBO crystals pumped by the frequency-doubled output of a regeneratively amplified Ti:sapphire laser at 400 nm. The output of the system is continuously tunable from 440 nm to 2.5 mum with a maximum overall efficiency of ~25% at 670 nm and an optical conversion efficiency of more than 36% in the OPA stage. The effects of the seed beam energy, the type of the crystal and the crystal length, and the pumping energy of the output of the OPA, such as the optical efficiency, the bandwidth, the pulse duration, and the group velocity mismatch between the signal and the idler and between the seeder and the pump, are investigated. The results provide useful information for optimization of the design of the system.     

Fabrication and characterization of optical-fiber nanoprobes for scanning near-field optical microscopy

The current scanning near-field optical microscopy has been developed with optical-fiber probes obtained by use of either laser-heated pulling or chemical etching. For high-resolution near-field imaging, the detected signal is rapidly attenuated as the aperture size of the probe decreases. It is thus important to fabricate probes optimized for both spot size and optical transmission. We present a two-step fabrication that allowed us to achieve an improved performance of the optical-fiber probes. Initially, a CO(2) laser-heated pulling was used to produce a parabolic transitional taper ending with a top thin filament. Then, a rapid chemical etching with 50% buffered hydrofluoric acid was used to remove the thin filament and to result in a final conical tip on the top of the parabolic transitional taper. Systematically, we obtained optical-fiber nanoprobes with the apex size as small as 10 nm and the final cone angle varying from 15 degrees to 80 degrees . It was found that the optical transmission efficiency increases rapidly as the taper angle increases from 15 degrees to 50 degrees , but a further increase in the taper angle gives rise to important broadening of the spot size. Finally, the fabricated nanoprobes were used in photon-scanning tunneling microscopy, which allowed observation of etched double lines and grating structures with periods as small as 200 nm.     

Optimization of a predictive controller for closed-loop adaptive optics

For closed-loop adaptive optics systems limited by time delay and measurement noise, we demonstrate that the ideal rejection transfer function is proportional to the frequency signal-to-noise ratio of the wave-front input. We describe a new modal linear predictive controller that approaches this ideal transfer function. Its parameters are optimized by minimization of the residual wave-front error with a modified recursive least-squares algorithm. The optimization can be performed with closed-loop data in the case of evolving turbulent conditions. We present numerical simulations to show the significant improvements brought by the predictor.