Heterodyne interferometer with unequal path lengths

Laser interferometry is an extensively used diagnostic for plasma experiments. Existing plasma interferometers are designed on the presumption that the scene and reference beam path lengths have to be equal, a requirement that is costly in both the number of optical components and the alignment complexity. It is shown here that having equal path lengths is not necessary - instead what is required is that the path length difference be an even multiple of the laser cavity length. This assertion has been verified in a heterodyne laser interferometer that measures typical line-average densities of $\sim 10^{21}/\textrm{m}^2$ with an error of $\sim 10^{19}/\textrm{m}^2$.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77 (2006

The Relation Between Optical beams Propagation in Free Space and in Strongly Nonlocal Nonlinear Media

The relation between optical beams propagation in strongly nonlocal nonlinear (SNN) media and {propagation} in free space is {demonstrated using} the technique of variable transformation. The governing equation, integral and analytical solutions, and propagation properties in free space can be directly transferred to their counterparts in SNN media through a one-to-one correspondence. The one-to-one correspondence together with the Huygens-Fresnel integral yields an efficient numerical method to describe SNN propagation. The existence conditions and possible structures of solitons and breathers in SNN media are described in a unified manner by comparing propagation properties in SNN media with those in free space. The results can be employed in other contexts in which the governing equation for the evolution of waves is equivalent to that in SNN media, such as for quadratic graded-index media, or for harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates in the noninteracting limit.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, published in EP

Nonlinear Spin Dynamics in Ferromagnets with Electron-Nuclear Coupling

Nonlinear spin motion in ferromagnets is considered with nonlinearity due to three factors: (i) the sample is prepared in a strongly nonequilibrium state, so that evolution equations cannot be linearized as would be admissible for spin motion not too far from equilibrium, (ii) the system considered consists of interacting electron and nuclear spins coupled with each other via hyperfine forces, and (iii) the sample is inserted into a coil of a resonant electric circuit producing a resonator feedback field. Due to these nonlinearities, coherent motion of spins can develop, resulting in their ultrafast relaxation. A complete analysis of mechanisms triggering such a coherent motion is presented. This type of ultrafast coherent relaxation can be used for studying intrinsic properties of magnetic materials.Comment: 1 file, LaTex, 23 page

Imaging Chromophores With Undetectable Fluorescence by Stimulated Emission Microscopy

Fluorescence, that is, spontaneous emission, is generally more sensitive than absorption measurement, and is widely used in optical imaging. However, many chromophores, such as haemoglobin and cytochromes, absorb but have undetectable fluorescence because the spontaneous emission is dominated by their fast non-radiative decay. Yet the detection of their absorption is difficult under a microscope. Here we use stimulated emission, which competes effectively with the nonradiative decay, to make the chromophores detectable, and report a new contrast mechanism for optical microscopy. In a pump-probe experiment, on photoexcitation by a pump pulse, the sample is stimulated down to the ground state by a time-delayed probe pulse, the intensity of which is concurrently increased. We extract the miniscule intensity increase with shot-noise-limited sensitivity by using a lock-in amplifier and intensity modulation of the pump beam at a high megahertz frequency. The signal is generated only at the laser foci owing to the nonlinear dependence on the input intensities, providing intrinsic three-dimensional optical sectioning capability. In contrast, conventional one-beam absorption measurement exhibits low sensitivity, lack of three-dimensional sectioning capability, and complication by linear scattering of heterogeneous samples. We demonstrate a variety of applications of stimulated emission microscopy, such as visualizing chromoproteins, non-fluorescent variants of the green fluorescent protein, monitoring lacZ gene expression with a chromogenic reporter, mapping transdermal drug distributions without histological sectioning, and label-free microvascular imaging based on endogenous contrast of haemoglobin. For all these applications, sensitivity is orders of magnitude higher than for spontaneous emission or absorption contrast, permitting nonfluorescent reporters for molecular imaging.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Parametric oscillation in a vertical microcavity: a polariton condensate or micro-OPO

Semiconductor microcavities can support quasiparticles which are half-light and half-matter with interactions possessed by neither component alone. We show that their distorted dispersion relation forms the basis of a quasiparticle "trap" and elicits extreme enhancements of their nonlinear optical properties. When driven by a continuous wave laser at a critical angle, the quasiparticles are sucked into the trap, condensing into a macroscopic quantum state which efficiently emits light. This device is thus an optical parametric oscillator based on quasiparticle engineering. In contrast to a laser, macroscopic coherence is established in the electronic excitations as well as the light field. This paves the way to new techniques analogous to those established in atomic and superconducting condensates, such as ultrasensitive solid-state interferometers