Optical fibre nanowire technology and applications

A review of optical fibre nanowires and their applications is presented

Frequency stability of a self-phase-locked degenerate continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator

The properties of a self-phase-locked by-2-divider optical parametric oscillator are presented. A locking range of up to 156 MHz is measured, and the divider's relative frequency stability is shown to be better than 6/spl times/10/sup -14/

Fiber distributed feedback laser

Utilizing round optical fibers as communication channels in optical communication networks presents the problem of obtaining a high efficiency coupling between the optical fiber and the laser. A laser is made an integral part of the optical fiber channel by either diffusing active material into the optical fiber or surrounding the optical fiber with the active material. Oscillation within the active medium to produce lasing action is established by grating the optical fiber so that distributed feedback occurs

The Dark Side of ROTSE-III Prompt GRB Observations

We present several cases of optical observations during gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which resulted in prompt limits but no detection of optical emission. These limits constrain the prompt optical flux densities and the optical brightness relative to the gamma-ray emission. The derived constraints fall within the range of properties observed in GRBs with prompt optical detections, though at the faint end of optical/gamma flux ratios. The presently accessible prompt optical limits do not require a different set of intrinsic or environmental GRB properties, relative to the events with prompt optical detections

Optical memory disks in optical information processing

We describe the use of optical memory disks as elements in optical information processing architectures. The optical disk is an optical memory devicew ith a storage capacity approaching 1010b its which is naturally suited to parallel access. We discuss optical disk characteristics which are important in optical computing systems such as contrast, diffraction efficiency, and phase uniformity. We describe techniques for holographic storage on optical disks and present reconstructions of several types of computer-generated holograms. Various optical information processing architectures are described for applications such as database retrieval, neural network implementation, and image correlation. Selected systems are experimentally demonstrated

Imaging with Pairs of Skew Lenses

Many of the properties of thick lenses can be understood by considering these as a combination of parallel ideal thin lenses that share a common optical axis. A similar analysis can also be applied to many other optical systems. Consequently, combinations of ideal lenses that share a common optical axis, or at least optical-axis direction, are very well understood. Such combinations can be described as a single lens with principal planes that do not coincide. However, in recent proposals for lens-based transformation-optics devices the lenses do not share an optical-axis direction. To understand such lens-based transformation-optics devices, combinations of lenses with skew optical axes must be understood. In complete analogy to the description of combinations of pairs of ideal lenses that share an optical axis, we describe here pairs of ideal lenses with skew optical axes as a single ideal lens with sheared object and image spaces. The transverse planes are no longer perpendicular to the optical axis. We construct the optical axis, the direction of the transverse planes on both sides, and all cardinal points. We believe that this construction has the potential to become a powerful tool for understanding and designing novel optical devices