Efficient optical energy harvesting in self-accelerating beams

We report the experimental observation of energetically confined self-accelerating optical beams propagating along various convex trajectories. We show that, under an appropriate transverse compression of their spatial spectra, these self-accelerating beams can exhibit a dramatic enhancement of their peak intensity and a significant decrease of their transverse expansion, yet retaining both the expected acceleration profile and the intrinsic self-healing properties. We found our experimental results to be in excellent agreement with the numerical simulations. We expect further applications in such contexts where power budget and optimal spatial confinement can be important limiting factors

Cherenkov radiation control via self-accelerating wave-packets

Cherenkov radiation is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature. It describes electromagnetic radiation from a charged particle moving in a medium with a uniform velocity larger than the phase velocity of light in the same medium. Such a picture is typically adopted in the investigation of traditional Cherenkov radiation as well as its counterparts in different branches of physics, including nonlinear optics, spintronics and plasmonics. In these cases, the radiation emitted spreads along a “cone”, making it impractical for most applications. Here, we employ a self-accelerating optical pump wave-packet to demonstrate controlled shaping of one type of generalized Cherenkov radiation - dispersive waves in optical fibers. We show that, by tuning the parameters of the wave-packet, the emitted waves can be judiciously compressed and focused at desired locations, paving the way to such control in any physical system

Multi-photon attenuation-compensated light-sheet fluorescence microscopy

We thank the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for funding (grants EP/P030017/1 and EP/R004854/1), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (H2020) (675512, BE-OPTICAL), the Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF FTP grant 7017-00021), and the Otto Mønsted Foundation (grant 19-70-0109).Attenuation of optical fields owing to scattering and absorption limits the penetration depth for imaging. Whilst aberration correction may be used, this is difficult to implement over a large field-of-view in heterogeneous tissue. Attenuation-compensation allows tailoring of the maximum lobe of a propagation-invariant light field and promises an increase in depth penetration for imaging. Here we show this promising approach may be implemented in multi-photon (two-photon) light-sheet fluorescence microscopy and, furthermore, can be achieved in a facile manner utilizing a graded neutral density filter, circumventing the need for complex beam shaping apparatus. A “gold standard” system utilizing a spatial light modulator for beam shaping is used to benchmark our implementation. The approach will open up enhanced depth penetration in light-sheet imaging to a wide range of end users.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Optically mediated particle clearing using Airy wavepackets

The Airy wavepacket solution for a free particle exhibits propagation invariance and, surprisingly, acceleration transverse to the propagation direction(1). Discovered as a solution of the free-particle Schrodinger equation, Airy wavepackets have been predicted(2), and in a recent major step forward, realized(3) in the optical domain, but have never been used in any application. In this Letter we demonstrate the first use of the Airy light beam in optical micromanipulation(4,5). Based on the characteristic intensity pattern, the beam drags particles into the main intensity maximum, which guides particles vertically along a parabolic trajectory. This unusual property of Airy beams leads to a new feature in optical micromanipulation-the removal of particles and cells from a section of a sample chamber. We term this highly robust and efficient process 'optically mediated particle clearing', which enables novel microfluidic applications within the colloidal and biological sciences.</p

Airy beam optical parametric oscillator

Airy beam, a non-diffracting waveform, has peculiar properties of self-healing and self-acceleration. Due to such unique properties, the Airy beam finds many applications including curved plasma wave-guiding, micro-particle manipulation, optically mediated particle clearing, long distance communication, and nonlinear frequency conversion. However, many of these applications including laser machining of curved structures, generation of curved plasma channels, guiding of electric discharges in a curved path, study of nonlinear propagation dynamics, and nonlinear interaction demand Airy beam with high power, energy, and wavelength tunability. Till date, none of the Airy beam sources have all these features in a single device. Here, we report a new class of coherent sources based on cubic phase modulation of a singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO), producing high-power, continuous-wave (cw), tunable radiation in 2-D Airy intensity profile existing over a length >2 m. Based on a MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal pumped at 1064 nm, the Airy beam OPO produces output power more than 8 W, and wavelength tunability across 1.51–1.97 μm. This demonstration gives new direction for the development of sources of arbitrary structured beams at any wavelength, power, and energy in all time scales (cw to femtosecond).by A. Aadhi, et.al