Density of turbulence-induced phase dislocations

Under certain conditions, light-wave propagation through turbulent media causes a specific type of phase distortion: so-called phase dislocations. A salient feature of phase dislocations is an appearance of zones where the phase turns out to be a multivalued function of coordinates. The problem of turbulence-induced phase dislocations is considered. Both a theoretical treatment and simulations based on the numerical solution of a parabolic equation are used for estimation of the dislocation density. Various turbulence conditions, ranging from weak to very strong ones, are considered as well as the dependences on wavelength, and the inner scales of turbulence are presented. An empirical formula for the dislocation density suitable for a wide range of turbulent and propagation conditions is derived. The results obtained can be useful for both atmospheric and adaptive optics.     

Direct numerical inversion method for kinetic ellipsometric data. I. Presentation of the method and numerical evaluation

A direct numerical inversion method for the determination of the refractive index and the thickness of the outermost layer of a thin transparent film on top of a multilayer has been developed. This method is based on a second-order Taylor decomposition of the coefficients of the Abelès matrices of the newly grown layer. The variations of the real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry data are expressed as polynomial fuctions depending on the dielectric constant and the thickness of the newly grown layer. The method is fast, capable of single-wavelength and multiwavelength inversion of continuous as well as discontinuous-index profiles, and can be adapted to many different polarimetric instruments.     

Method of random wave vectors in simulation of anisoplanatic effects

A generalization of the method of random wave vectors [Appl. Opt. 36, 464 (1997)] that is suitable for a simulation of turbulence-induced anisoplanatic effects is proposed. A simulation of the cross-correlated phase fluctuations produced by two initially plane waves propagating through weak turbulence is considered. The variation of C(n)(2) along a propagation path and an effect of the finite outer scale of the turbulence are included in the simulation. The validity of the simulation method is verified by comparison of theoretical and simulated results. The simulation approach developed can be used in the problems related to adaptive optics, speckle inteferometry, guide stars, and imaging through turbulence.     

Comments on “Study of the Complex Atomic Susceptibility of Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers”

This comment aims to report and correct a mistake in the paper by Desurvire (J. Lightw. Technol., vol. 8, no. 10, pp. 1517-1527, Oct. 1990) with regard to the expression of the complex susceptibility of quasi-three-level laser systems. The derived susceptibility formula contradicts the assumption of thermal equilibrium between sublevels within each manifold and leads to the wrong conclusion that the real and imaginary parts of the susceptibility of saturated materials do not verify the Kramers-Kronig relations (KKR). The corrected formula for the susceptibility is hereby proposed. The poles of the susceptibility obtained with the new formula are all located in the upper half plane of the complex plane, in accordance with the principle of causality. Hence, the KKR should be valid in the saturated regime.     

Slab delivery of incoherent pump light to double-clad fiber amplifiers: an analytic approach

Delivery of incoherent diode bar pump power via a tapered slab into a double-clad fiber amplifier allows for compact and efficient devices. We provide analytic estimates of system parameters for robust slab coupled configurations.     

Direct numerical inversion method for kinetic ellipsometric data. II. Implementation and experimental verification

A direct numerical inversion method is applied to the monitoring of thin-film growth. Several improvements of the method, including a correction for weakly absorbing materials, are presented. The method has been successfully applied to the inversion of the growth of constant-refractive-index layers andused for the process calibration of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silicon oxynitrides. The validity of this calibration has been successfully tested on a linear index gradient and quintic matching layer between a polycarbonate substrate and a scratch-resistant coating.     

LCD applications of thin‐crystal‐film polarizers

Abstract— We have developed a new technique for the production of thin crystal film (TCF) by deposition, molecular alignment, and the drying of water‐based lyotropic‐liquid‐crystal (LLC) materials. TCF exhibits high optical anisotropy and birefringence. This paper presents liquid‐crystal‐display (LCD) applications and opportunities for TCF plastic sheet polarizers, retarders, and color‐correction films as well as LCD designs with TCF internal polarizers.     

Highly efficient, high-gain, short-length, and power-scalable incoherent diode slab-pumped fiber amplifier/laser

We propose a new geometry of a clad-pumped fiber amplifier/laser that includes at least one doped core which guides the signal wave and at least one clad region that guides the incoherent pump. Our proposed geometry enables the incoherent diode pump light to be efficiently absorbed by the doped glass core over very short lengths on the order of a few to tens of centimeters. The transparent cladding is realized as a narrow slab with refractive index higher than that of the core. The slab is designed to effectively capture all of the incoherent pump light and is tapered to force the highly moded incoherent guided light into the strongly absorbing core. Modes of this composite waveguide structure are analyzed. Criteria are established in terms of the refractive indices of the core, slab, and cladding that ensure efficient absorption of the pump light in the core while ensuring that only a single or few lowest order signal modes can propagate in the amplifying core. Numerical simulations with the beam propagation method and a modal expansion technique confirm that a significant enhancement of the absorption efficiency of the pump in the core can be realized by tapering the slab waveguide. Assuming a local absorption rate of 10 m/sup -1/ of the intensity of the pump in a core of radius 4.3 /spl mu/m and a realistic multimode diode pump distributed over a 100-/spl mu/m aperture, an absorption efficiency of 94% can be realized over an amplifier length of 2 cm. The geometry is scalable to longer lengths and multiple incoherent diode-pumped slab claddings.     

Measuring the deposited energy by the scintillation calorimeter in the ATIC experiment

The purpose of the ATIC balloon experiment is to measure the energy spectra of primary cosmic rays with individual charge resolution from protons to iron over the energy range from ～50 GeV to 200 TeV. The particle energy is measured by a bismuth germanate (BGO) scintillation calorimeter. The procedure of calorimeter calibration is described, in particular, calibration of the temperature dependence of the calorimeter sensitivity using the data of in-flight measurements. A technique for determining the energy deposited in the calorimeter in view of the temperature dependence of its sensitivity is presented. The maximum systematic error in determining the deposited energy by the calorimeter is 10% or less, and the probable error is estimated at 6%.