Generation of programmable 3D optical vortex structures through devil’s vortex-lens arrays
Different spatial distributions of optical vortices have been generated and characterized by implementing arrays of devil's vortex lenses in a reconfigurable spatial light modulator. A simple design procedure assigns the preferred position and topological charge value to each vortex in the structure, tuning the desired angular momentum. Distributions with charges and momenta of the opposite sign have been experimentally demonstrated. The angular velocity exhibited by the phase distribution around the focal plane has been visualized, showing an excellent agreement with the simulations. The practical limits of the method, with interest for applications involving particle transfer and manipula…
Diffractive pulse-front tilt for low-coherence digital holography
We use a diffractive lens to generate the proper pulse-front-tilt to record full-field off-axis holograms with a 10fs laser source. We experimentally demonstrate optical sectioning of three-dimensional samples with a resolution of about 5 microns.
Free-motion beam propagation factor measurement by means of a liquid crystal SLM
We propose a compact and robust method to measure beam propagation factor (M2) of continuous wave (cw) laser beams. In contrast to the conventional scanning procedure described in the ISO/DIS 11146 standard, our proposal takes advantage of the features of programmable liquid crystal spatial light modulators (SLMs) where a lens is codified. Then, by using a CCD at a fixed position, the beam width according to the second order moment of the irradiance is determined for each focal length of the codified lenses. After adjusting the measured data to the theoretical focusing behavior of a real laser beam, the beam propagation factor is obtained. The proposed method was successfully validated in t…
Diffractive optics for high-resolution low-coherence digital holography
We study the properties of the recording of off-axis holograms when a 10 fs pulsed laser is used as illumination source. A proper optical design involving one diffractive lens outside a Michelson interferometer enables the recording of full-field off-axis holograms with high resolution and optical sectioning. We demonstrate our approach with some experimental results that show optical sectioning with a maximum resolution of 3.5 µm. We note that the axial resolution of the technique is reduced up to 9 µm when the object beam travels through a few millimeters of glass due to the pulse broadening along dispersive media.
Spatio-temporal control of ultra-short pulses by using diffractive optical elements
Diffractive optical elements (DOEs) have shown their applicability to control the spatio-temporal characteristics of ultra-short laser pulses. DOEs can provide high efficiency, compactness, very low material dispersion and, when implemented with spatial light modulators, real-time pulse engineering. In this communication, we report management of temporal and spectral profiles of ultra-short pulses by means of a quasi-direct space-to-time (QDST) pulse shaper. Moreover, we present spatio-temporal control, including dispersion compensation, by DOEs, and applications for activating nonlinear processes. On the other hand, we have achieved complete spatial control of ultra-short pulses, overcomin…
Single-shot color digital holography based on the fractional Talbot effect
We present a method for recording on-axis color digital holograms in a single shot. Our system performs parallel phase-shifting interferometry by using the fractional Talbot effect for every chromatic channel simultaneously. A two-dimensional binary amplitude grating is used to generate Talbot periodic phase distributions in the reference beam. The interference patterns corresponding to the three chromatic channels are captured at once at different axial distances. In this scheme, one-shot recording and digital reconstruction allow for real-time measurement. Computer simulations and experimental results confirm the validity of our method.
Dispersion Compensation in Holograms Reconstructed by Femtosecond Light Pulses
This chapter describes how the spatiotemporal dispersion associated with the diffraction of broadband femtosecond light pulses through computer generated holograms (CGHs) can be compensated to a first order with a properly designed dispersion compensation module (DCM). The angular dispersion of the beam associated to CGHs leads to both spatial and temporal distortion of the pulse. Some experiments in one-shot second harmonic generation, wide-field two-photon microscopy, and parallel micromachining are shown to study the quality of the compensation performed with the DCM.
Single-shot digital holography by use of the fractional Talbot effect
We present a method for recording in-line single-shot digital holograms based on the fractional Talbot effect. In our system, an image sensor records the interference between the light field scattered by the object and a properly codified parallel reference beam. A simple binary two-dimensional periodic grating is used to codify the reference beam generating a periodic three-step phase distribution over the sensor plane by fractional Talbot effect. This provides a method to perform single-shot phase-shifting interferometry at frame rates only limited by the sensor capabilities. Our technique is well adapted for dynamic wavefront sensing applications. Images of the object are digitally recon…
A frequency-output fiber optic voltage sensor with temperature compensation for power systems
Abstract We present a frequency-output fiber optic voltage sensor for power systems with temperature compensated response. The sensor employs PZT-type ceramic tubes, which are interrogated by a length of single-mode fiber coiled onto the tubes and a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The combination of piezoelectric tubes with properties exhibiting opposite behavior to temperature changes is successfully exploited to passively compensate the temperature sensitivity of the sensor. The prototype reported here exhibits a resolution of 13 mV rms and the deviations of the sensor’s response due to temperature changes are within 1% over the temperature range between −30 and 70 °C. The device presented h…
One-shot color digital holography based on the fractional talbot effect
We present a simple method for recording on-axis color digital holograms in a single shot. Our system performs parallel phase-shifting interferometry by using the fractional Talbot effect for every chromatic channel simultaneously. Experimental results are also shown.
Simultaneous temperature and ac-current measurements for high voltage lines using fiber Bragg gratings
We present an optical ac-current sensor, based on a fiber Bragg grating stretched by a magnetostrictive material, which enables a simultaneous measurement of high ac-currents and temperature. The proposed system is appropriated to monitor high voltages lines and can be installed without interrupting the current line, being characterized by an inherent electrical isolation.
Parallel phase-shifting digital holography based on the fractional Talbot effect
A method for recording on-axis single-shot digital holograms based on the self-imaging phenomenon is reported. A simple binary two-dimensional periodic amplitude is used to codify the reference beam in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, generating a periodic three-step phase distribution with uniform irradiance over the sensor plane by fractional Talbot effect. An image sensor records only one shot of the interference between the light field scattered by the object and the codified parallel reference beam. Images of the object are digitally reconstructed from the digital hologram through the numerical evaluation of the Fresnel diffraction integral. This scheme provides an efficient way to perfo…
High-visibility interference fringes with femtosecond laser radiation.
We propose and experimentally demonstrate an interferometer for femtosecond pulses with spectral bandwidth about 100 nm. The scheme is based on a Michelson interferometer with a dispersion compensating module. A diffractive lens serves the purpose of equalizing the optical-path-length difference for a wide range of frequencies. In this way, it is possible to register high-contrast interference fringes with micrometric resolution over the whole area of a commercial CCD sensor for broadband femtosecond pulses.