Imaging through extreme scattering in extended dynamic media

Critical to navigation, situational awareness, and object identification is the ability to image through turbid water and fog. To date, the longest imaging ranges in such environments rely on active illumination and selection of ballistic photons by means of time gating. Here we show that the imaging range can be extended by using time-gated holography in combination with multi-frame processing. Instead of simply summing the intensity of the frames, we use the complex fields retrieved through digital holographic processing and coherently add the frames. We demonstrate imaging through extended bodies of turbid water and fog at one-way attenuation lengths of 13 and 13.6, respectively. Compared to equivalent traditional time-gated systems, gated holography and coherent processing require 20× less laser illumination power for the same imaging range.

Gated holographic imaging for structured illumination through obscurations

We describe a pulsed phase conjugator system that projects a laser beam possessing a scene-dependent energy distribution. We expand upon the inherent properties of optical phase conjugation (OPC) to include not only corrections for phase aberrations but to provide targeted laser beam illumination of partially obscured objects. For instance, if incorporated into a foliage-penetrating lidar system, OPC could significantly enhance performance. We demonstrate this OPC beam projection concept experimentally.

Mechanisms of the Nonlinear Optical Response in Tetraras(Cumylphenoxy)Phthalocyanines

The third order nonlinear optical (NLO) response of metal free tetrakis(cumylphenoxy)-phthalocyanine, (H2Pc(CP)4) was investigated at 597 nm, near resonance with the strong Q band. The second hyperpolarizability, γ, and the figure of merit, χ(3)/α, measured with a 1.2 ps pulse. was approximately independent of concentration between a 4.6×10−4 M solution and a neat thin film. The decay of the nonlinear response, however, depended substantially on the concentration and physical state of the material.

Nonunear Absorption in Phthalocyanines and Naphthalocyanines

The wavelength dependence of the nonlinear absorption for lead tetrakis (cumyl-phenoxy) phthalocyanine (PbPc(CP)4) and lead octa (α-pentoxy) napthalocyanine (PbNc(α-PO)8) are reported. The ground state absorption and the reverse saturable absorption are substantially red shifted in PbNc (α-PO)8 as expected. Such control over the reverse saturable absorption is crucial to design optical limiting materials for specific wavelength ranges.

Effect of Side Chain Substitution on the Field-Dependent Birefringence in a Series Of Chiral Smectic a Liquid Crystals

The field dependent birefringence and the tilt angle are measured for a series of four electroclinic liquid crystals. The zero-field birefringence decreased significantly and monotonically with the length of the siloxane side chain. For all four samples, the birefringence and the electroclinic tilt angle increased substantially with the application of a field. At 10 V/µm, the electroclinic tilt angle in DSiKN65 and TSiKN105 exceeded 22.5 degrees and the phase retardation due to the change in the birefringence exceeded a quarter wave. In all four liquid crystals, the electroclinic tilt angle and the field-dependent birefringence were shown to be strongly correlated, suggesting a common origin. Moreover, this correlation persists even at high fields where both processes undergo saturation. A simple orientational model, based on a distribution in the molecular optical axis, was developed to explain the large change in birefringence in the substituted compounds as well as the dependence of δn on electric field.

An integrated surface-plasmon source

A compact and versatile source of coherent surface-plasmon polaritions (SPPs) is demonstrated by end-coupling a laser diode operating at 1.46 microm to a plasmonic waveguide integrated on the same microchip. With an optimized overlap between the spatial-modes of the laser and a planar-stripe waveguide, a high coupling efficiency of approximately 36% is achieved, that computations show could approach approximately 60% with smaller, readily achievable gaps between laser and waveguide. This integrated and electrically-activated source, with an available SPP power limited only by the laser diode, appears ideally suited for directly driving plasmonic circuitry or surface-enhanced sensors.