1,720,964 research outputs found
Electro-optic photonic circuits from linear and nonlinear waves in nanodisordered photorefractive ferroelectrics
Full text linkThe work presented in this thesis addresses different aspects of three main physical issue belonging to the eld of nonlinear optics, quantum optics and optical microscopy. We analyze how photorefraction can be used to photoinduced a tapered ber index of refraction patterns in the bulk of nano-disordered crystals, and we observe how these patterns are able to modulate the phase of Gaussian beams converting them to Bessel-Gauss beams, enhancing their depth of eld and their ability to self-heal after an obstacle. These properties suggest the use of Bessel beam in microscopy. In our investigations we proposed and experimentally demonstrated, in turbid media, the idea of using the interference between multiple Bessel beams to generate a light field that is non diffracting, self-healing, but also localized along the propagation axis. Our study on superimposed Bessel beams reveals how the interference between their side lobes has the overall effect of reducing the amount of energy possessed by the beam outer structures, practically enhancing their localization in the radial direction as well as in the axial. At present we are studying how to implement these findings in a light sheet microscope to improve optical sectioning. Also described in this thesis are a number of intriguing experiments carried out on disordered ferroelectrics and their giant response, these including negative intrinsic mass dynamics, ferroelectric supercrystals, rogue wave dynamics driven by enhanced disorder and first evidence of spatial optical turbulence. Lastly, relying on the necessarily reversible nature of the microscopic process, we demonstrate how a single photon is not able to entangle two distant atoms because of conservation laws, clarifying the long standing debate on the nature of single-photon nonlocality and introducing fundamental limitation, in the use of linear optics for quantum technology
Cancellation of Bessel beam side lobes for high-contrast light sheet microscopy
Full text linkAn ideal illumination for light sheet fluorescence microscopy entails both a localized and a propagation invariant optical field. Bessel beams and Airy beams satisfy these conditions, but their non-diffracting feature comes at the cost of the presence of high-energy side lobes that notably degrade the imaging contrast and induce photobleaching. Here, we demonstrate the use of a light droplet illumination whose side lobes are suppressed by interfering Bessel beams of specific k-vectors. Our droplet illumination readily achieves more than 50% extinction of the light distributed across the Bessel side lobes, providing a more efficient energy localization without loss in transverse resolution. In a standard light sheet fluorescence microscope, we demonstrate a two-fold contrast enhancement imaging micron-scale fluorescent beads. Results pave the way to new opportunities for rapid and deep in vivo observations of large-scale biological systems
Breaking the Contrast Limit in Single-Pass Fabry-Pérot Spectrometers
Full text linkThe development of high-resolution Fabry-Pérot interferometers has enabled a wide range of scientific and technological advances—ranging from the characterization of material properties to the more fundamental studies of quasi particles in condensed matter. Spectral contrast is key to measuring weak signals and can reach a 103 peak-to-background ratio in a single-pass assembly.At its heart, this limit is a consequence of an unbalanced field amplitude across multiple interfering paths, with an ensuing reduced fringe visibility. Using a high-resolution, high-throughput virtually imaged phased array spectrometer, we demonstrate an intensity-equalization method to achieve an unprecedented 1000-fold increase in spectral contrast in a single-stage, single-pass configuration. To validate the system, we obtain the Brillouin spectrum of water at high scattering concentrations where, unlike with the standard scheme, the inelastic peaks are highly resolved. Our method brings the interferometer close to its ultimate limits and allows rapid high-resolution spectral analysis in a wide range of fields, including Brillouin spectroscopy, mechanical imaging, and molecular fingerprinting
Diffraction-free light droplets for axially-resolved volume imaging
Full text linkAn ideal direct imaging system entails a method to illuminate on command a single diffraction-limited region in a generally thick and turbid volume. The best approximation to this is the use of large-aperture lenses that focus light into a spot. This strategy fails for regions that are embedded deep into the sample, where diffraction and scattering prevail. Airy beams and Bessel beams are solutions of the Helmholtz Equation that are both non-diffracting and self-healing, features that make them naturally able to outdo the effects of distance into the volume but intrinsically do not allow resolution along the propagation axis. Here, we demonstrate diffraction-free self-healing three-dimensional monochromatic light spots able to penetrate deep into the volume of a sample, resist against deflection in turbid environments, and offer axial resolution comparable to that of Gaussian beams. The fields, formed from coherent mixtures of Bessel beams, manifest a more than ten-fold increase in their undistorted penetration, even in turbid milk solutions, compared to diffraction-limited beams. In a fluorescence imaging scheme, we find a ten-fold increase in image contrast compared to diffraction-limited illuminations, and a constant axial resolution even after four Rayleigh lengths. Results pave the way to new opportunities in three-dimensional microscopy
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Turbulent Transitions in Optical Wave Propagation
No full textWe report the direct observation of the onset of turbulence in propagating one-dimensional optical waves. The transition occurs as the disordered hosting material passes from being linear to one with extreme nonlinearity. As the response grows, increased wave interaction causes a modulational unstable quasihomogeneous flow to be superseded by a chaotic and spatially incoherent one. Statistical analysis of high-resolution wave behavior in the turbulent regime unveils the emergence of concomitant rogue waves. The transition, observed in a photorefractive ferroelectric crystal, introduces a new and rich experimental setting for the study of optical wave turbulence and information transport in conditions dominated by large fluctuations and extreme nonlinearity
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
A Fast Multi-objective Evolutionary Approach for Designing Large-Scale Optical Mode Sorter
No full textSpatial mode division de-multiplexing of optical signals has many real-world applications, such as quantum computing and both classical and quantum optical communication. In this context, it is crucial to develop devices able to efficiently sort optical signals according to the optical mode they belong to and route them on different paths. Depending on the mode selected, this problem can be very hard to tackle. Recently, researchers have proposed using multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) ---and NSGA-II in particular--- combined with Linkage Learning (LL) to automate the process of design mode sorter. However, given the very large-search scale of the problem, the existing evolutionary-based solutions have a very slow convergence rate. In this paper, we proposed a novel approach for mode sorter design that combines (1) stochastic linkage learning, (2) the adaptive geometry estimation-based MOEA (AGE-MOEA-II), and (3) an adaptive mutation operator. Our experiments with two- and three-objectives (beams) show that our approach is faster (better convergence rate) and produces better mode sorters (closer to the ideal solutions) than the state-of-the-art approach. A direct comparison with the vanilla NSGA-II and AGE-MOEA-II also further confirms the importance of adopting LL in this domain.Software Engineerin
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