Search results for "Physics::Optics"
showing 10 items of 1958 documents
Visualizing a protein quake with time-resolved X-ray scattering at a free-electron laser
2014
We describe a method to measure ultrafast protein structural changes using time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering at an X-ray free-electron laser. We demonstrated this approach using multiphoton excitation of the Blastochloris viridis photosynthetic reaction center, observing an ultrafast global conformational change that arises within picoseconds and precedes the propagation of heat through the protein. This provides direct structural evidence for a 'protein quake': the hypothesis that proteins rapidly dissipate energy through quake-like structural motions. peerReviewed
Comprehensive formulation of the temperature dependent dispersion of optical materials; illustration with the case of temperature tuning of a mid-IR …
2009
International audience; The temperature dependence of refractive indices of optical materials is characterized in this work by what we call their normalized thermo-optic coefficients. These ones are determined experimentally through interferometric measurements of thermal expansion, and changes in optical thickness at a few laser wavelengths as function of temperature. A suitable vectorial formalism applied to these data allows predicting the thermal evolution of the refractive index all over the useful range of transparency. The validity and reliability of our methodology is demonstrated through temperature tuning of a mid-IR HgGa2S4 OPO, pumped at 1.0642 μm by a Nd:YAG laser. Measured the…
Electrical excitation of surface plasmons
2011
We exploit a plasmon mediated two-step momentum down-conversion scheme to convert low-energy tunneling electrons into propagating photons. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along an extended gold nanowire are excited on one end by low-energy electron tunneling and are then converted to free-propagating photons at the other end. The separation of excitation and outcoupling proves that tunneling electrons excite gap plasmons that subsequently couple to propagating plasmons. Our work shows that electron tunneling provides a nonoptical, voltage-controlled, and low-energy pathway for launching SPPs in nanostructures, such as plasmonic waveguides.
Enhanced effects of variation of the fundamental constants in laser interferometers and application to dark matter detection
2015
We outline new laser interferometer measurements to search for variation of the electromagnetic fine-structure constant $\alpha$ and particle masses (including a non-zero photon mass). We propose a strontium optical lattice clock -- silicon single-crystal cavity interferometer as a novel small-scale platform for these new measurements. Multiple passages of a light beam inside an interferometer enhance the effects due to variation of the fundamental constants by the mean number of passages ($N_{\textrm{eff}} \sim 10^2$ for a large-scale gravitational-wave detector, such as LIGO, Virgo, GEO600 or TAMA300, while $N_{\textrm{eff}} \sim 10^5$ for a strontium clock -- silicon cavity interferomete…
Efficient surface plasmon field confinement in one-dimensional crystal line-defect waveguides
2006
International audience; The authors operate a near-field optical microscope to investigate surface plasmon polariton (SPP) propagation along linear waveguides opened into one-dimensional (1D) plasmonic crystals, i.e., crystals featuring a single lattice plane orientation. They show that efficient SPP field confinement can be achieved by this type of waveguide although no band gap exists in the direction perpendicular to the waveguide axis. From computed wave-vector diagrams, they show that 1D plasmonic crystals can open a wide range of prohibited propagation directions preventing from a significant coupling of the waveguide SPP modes with the crystal Bloch modes. Finally, the authors demons…
An Ultrasonic Lens Design Based on Prefractal Structures
2016
The improvement in focusing capabilities of a set of annular scatterers arranged in a fractal geometry is theoretically quantified in this work by means of the finite element method (FEM). Two different arrangements of rigid rings in water are used in the analysis. Thus, both a Fresnel ultrasonic lens and an arrangement of rigid rings based on Cantor prefractals are analyzed. Results show that the focusing capacity of the modified fractal lens is better than the Fresnel lens. This new lens is believed to have potential applications for ultrasonic imaging and medical ultrasound fields.
Real-Time Measurements of Ultrafast Instabilities in Nonlinear Fiber Optics: Recent Advances
2019
Recent years have seen renewed interest in the study of nonlinear fibre laser and propagation dynamics through the use of real-time measurement techniques for non-repetitive ultrafast optical signals. In this paper we review our recent work in this field using dispersive Fourier Transform and Time Lens techniques.
Remitted photon path lengths in human skin: in-vivo measurement data
2020
The remitted photon path lengths in human skin can be estimated by modelling; however, there are very few experimental data available to validate the simulations. This study exploited the photon time of flight method where picosecond laser pulses at seven wavelength bands in the spectral range 560-800 nm were launched into in-vivo forearm skin of 10 volunteers via an optical fiber. The pulses of back-scattered light were detected via another optical fiber placed at variable distance (1, 8, 12, 16 or 20 mm) from the input fiber, with subsequent analysis of their shapes for all 35 spectral-spatial combinations. Using a deconvolution algorithm, the distribution functions of remitted photon arr…
Optomechanical oscillations in microbubble resonators: Enhancement, suppression and chaotic behaviour
2019
We report on the experimental and theoretical analysis of parametrical optomechanical oscillations in hollow spherical PhoXonic whispering gallery mode resonators due to radiation pressure. The optically excited acoustic eigenmodes of the PhoXonic cavity oscillate regeneratively leading to parametric oscillation instabilities.
A perfect Fresnel acoustic reflector implemented by a Fano-resonant metascreen
2018
We propose a perfectly reflecting acoustic metasurface which is designed by replacing the curved segments of the traditional Fresnel reflector by flat Fano-resonant sub-wavelength unit cells. To preserve the original Fresnel focusing mechanism, the unit cell phase follows a specific phase profile which is obtained by applying the generalized Snell's law and Fermat's principle. The reflected curved phase fronts are thus created at the air-metasurface boundary by tailoring the metasurface dispersion as dictated by Huygens' principle. Since the unit cells are implemented by sub-wavelength double slit-shaped cavity resonators, the impinging sound waves are perfectly reflected producing acoustic…