Polymorphic beams and Nature inspired circuits for optical current

Laser radiation pressure is a basis of numerous applications in science and technology such as atom cooling, particle manipulation, material processing, etc. This light force for the case of scalar beams is proportional to the intensity-weighted wavevector known as optical current. The ability to design the optical current according to the considered application brings new promising perspectives to exploit the radiation pressure. However, this is a challenging problem because it often requires confinement of the optical current within tight light curves (circuits) and adapting its local value for a particular task. Here, we present a formalism to handle this problem including its experimental demonstration. It consists of a Nature-inspired circuit shaping with independent control of the optical current provided by a new kind of beam referred to as polymorphic beam. This finding is highly relevant to diverse optical technologies and can be easily extended to electron and x-ray coherent beams

Phase-space rotations and orbital Stokes parameters

We introduce the orbital Stokes parameters as a linear combination of a beam's second-order moments. Similar to the ones describing the field polarization and associated with beam energy and its spin angular momentum, the orbital Stokes parameters are related to the total beam width and its orbital angular momentum. We derive the transformation laws for these parameters during beam propagation through first-order optical systems associated with phase-space rotations. The values of the orbital Stokes parameters for Gaussian modes and arbitrary fields expressed as their linear superposition are obtained

Signal representation on the angular Poincare sphere, based on second-order moments

Based on the analysis of second-order moments, a generalized canonical representation of a two-dimensional optical signal is proposed, which is associated with the angular Poincare sphere. Vortex-free ( or zero-twist) optical beams arise on the equator of this sphere, while beams with a maximum vorticity ( or maximum twist) are located at the poles. An easy way is shown how the latitude on the sphere, which is a measure for the degree of vorticity, can be derived from the second-order moments. The latitude is invariant when the beam propagates through a first-order optical system between conjugate planes. To change the vorticity of a beam, a system that does not operate between conjugate planes is needed, with the gyrator as the prime representative of such a system. A direct way is derived to find an optical system ( consisting of a lens, a magnifier, a rotator, and a gyrator) that transforms a beam with an arbitrary moment matrix into its canonical form

Vector polymorphic beam

A scalar polymorphic beam is designed with independent control of its intensity and phase along a strongly focused laser curve of arbitrary shape. This kind of beam has been found crucial in the creation of freestyle laser traps able to confine and drive the motion of micro/nano-particles along reconfigurable 3D trajectories in real time. Here, we present and experimentally prove the concept of vector polymorphic beam adding the benefit of independent design of the light polarization along arbitrary curves. In particular, we consider polarization shaped tangential and orthogonal to the curve that are of high interest in optical manipulation and laser micromachining. The vector polymorphic beam is described by a surprisingly simple closed-form expression and can be easily generated by using a computer generated hologram

Design and implementation of flexible laboratory system for beam propagation study through weak atmospheric turbulence

Different applications such as astronomy, remote optical sensing and free space optical communications, among others, require both numerical and laboratory experimental simulations of beam propagation through turbulent atmosphere prior to an outdoor test. While rotating phase plates or hot chambers can be applied to such studies, they do not allow changing the atmospheric conditions and the propagation distance in situ. In contrast, the spatial light modulators (SLMs) are a flexible alternative for experimental turbulence simulation. In this work we consider an experimental setup comprising two SLMs for studying laser beam propagation in weak atmospheric turbulence. The changes of atmospheric conditions and propagation distances are properly achieved by the adjustment of the phase screens and the focal distances of digital lenses implemented in both SLMs. The proposed system can be completely automatized and all its elements are in fixed positions avoiding mechanical misalignment. Its design, propagation distance and atmospheric condition adjustment are provided. The setup performance is verified by numerical simulation of Gaussian beam propagation in the weak turbulence regime. The obtained parameters: scintillation index, beam wander and spreading are compared to their theoretical counterparts for different propagation distances and atmospheric conditions

Light-driven transport of plasmonic nanoparticles on demand

Laser traps provide contactless manipulation of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) boosting the development of numerous applications in science and technology. The known trapping configurations allow immobilizing and moving single NPs or assembling them, but they are not suitable for massive optical transport of NPs along arbitrary trajectories. Here, we address this challenging problem and demonstrate that it can be handled by exploiting phase gradients forces to both confine and propel the NPs. The developed optical manipulation tool allows for programmable transport routing of NPs to around, surround or impact on objects in the host environment. An additional advantage is that the proposed confinement mechanism works for off-resonant but also resonant NPs paving the way for transport with simultaneous heating, which is of interest for targeted drug delivery and nanolithography. These findings are highly relevant to many technological applications including micro/nano-fabrication, micro-robotics and biomedicine

Fast control of temporal and spatial coherence properties of microscope illumination using DLP projector

We present a novel technique for coherence engineering of the microscope illumination based on a DLP projector providing fast (millisecond range) switchable both temporal and spatial coherence design. Its performance is experimentally demonstrated for speckle-noise free quantitative phase imaging with different spatial coherence states. Strategies for design and control of the light coherence are discussed

Closed-form expression for mutual intensity evolution of Hermite -Laguerre -Gaussian Schell-model beams

We derive a comprehensive closed-form expression for the evolution of themutual intensity (MI) ofHermite -Laguerre Gaussian Schell-model beams (HLG-SMBs) during propagation through rotationally symmetric optical systems. We demonstrate that the MI of the beam associated with a given HLG mode at any transverse plane can be presented as a linear superposition of the MIs of the SMBs associated with the equal and lower index modes of the same type, but of complex argument. The obtained expression allows easy analysis of the evolution of the intensity distribution and the CCF of such beams and, in particular, an understanding of the coherence singularity formation and modification during the beam propagation. (C) 2017 Optical Society of Americ