Quasi three-dimensional, n-bit optical memory based on the ellipsometric principle: model calculations

Model calculations on the ellipsometric memory are presented. The ellipsometric memory is an n-bit optical memory whose information is extracted by use of the ellipsometric principle. The memory cells of the device consist of thin-film multilayer structures, and the information of each memory cell is contained in the optical properties of the thin films. Several thin-film multilayer structures were examined in order to find out how different choices of layer materials and other system parameters such as layer thicknesses and wavelength affect resolutions and limitations of the ellipsometric memory. Such calculations are also useful for optimizing the readout resolution. It was found that it is possible to use memory cells having up to at least eight layers, which would permit 8-bit words to be stored at each location. It was also found that, in principle, several types of materials can be used as layer materials, and various aspects of different choices of materials are discussed.     

Thermal lensing in silver gallium selenide parametric oscillator crystals

We performed an experimental investigation of thermal lensing in silver gallium selenide (AgGaSe(2)) optical parametric oscillator crystals pumped by a 2-μm laser at ambient temperature. We determined an empirical expression for the effective thermal focusing power in terms of the pump power, beam diameter, crystal length, and absorption coefficient. This relation may be used to estimate average power limitations in designing AgGaSe(2) optical parametric oscillators. We also demonstrated an 18% slope efficiency from a 2-μm pumped AgGaSe(2) optical parametric oscillator operated at 77 K, at which temperature thermal lensing is substantially reduced because of an increase in the thermal conductivity and a decrease in the thermal index gradient dn/dT. Cryogenic cooling may provide an additional option for scaling up the average power capability of a 2-μm pumped AgGaSe(2) optical parametric oscillator.