Light-induced dynamics of liquid-crystalline droplets on the surface of iron-doped lithium niobate crystals

We investigated the effect of a photovoltaic field generated on the surface of iron-doped lithium niobate crystals on droplets of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystalline and a standard nematic liquid crystalline material deposited on this surface. When such assembly is illuminated with a laser beam, a wide range of dynamic phenomena are initiated. Droplets located outside the laser spot are dragged in the direction of the illuminated area, while droplets located inside the illuminated region tend to bridge each other and rearrange into tendril-like structures. In the ferroelectric nematic phase (NF) these processes take place via the formation of conical spikes evolving into jet streams, similar to the behavior of droplets of conventional dielectric liquids exposed to overcritical electric fields. However, in contrast to conventional liquids, the jet streams of the NF phase exhibit profound branching. In the nematic phase (N) of both the ferroelectric nematic and the standard nematic material, dynamic processes occur via smooth-edged continuous features typical for conventional liquids subjected to under-critical fields. The difference in dynamic behavior is attributed to the large increase of dielectric permittivity in the ferroelectric nematic phase with respect to the dielectric permittivity of the nematic phase.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Čerenkov third-harmonic generation in χ⁽²⁾ nonlinear photonic crystal

We report on the observation of Čerenkov emission of a third-harmonic frequency in a two-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystal, where the second-order nonlinearity χ⁽²⁾ is spatially modulated by the reversal of ferroelectric domains. We analyze both spatial and polarization properties of the emitted radiation and find the results in agreement with our theoretical predictions.The authors acknowledge the financial supports from Australian Research Council and Israeli Science Foundation Grant No. 774/09

Recent Advances in the Photorefraction of Doped Lithium Niobate Crystals

The recent advances in the photorefraction of doped lithium niobate crystals are reviewed. Materials have always been the main obstacle for commercial applications of photorefractive holographic storage. Though iron-doped LiNbO3 is the mainstay of holographic data storage efforts, several shortcomings, especially the low response speed, impede it from becoming a commercial recording medium. This paper reviews the photorefractive characteristics of different dopants, especially tetravalent ions, doped and co-doped LiNbO3 crystals, including Hf, Zr and Sn monodoped LiNbO3, Hf and Fe, Zr and Fe doubly doped LiNbO3, Zr, Fe and Mn, Zr, Cu and Ce triply doped LiNbO3, Ru doped LiNbO3, and V and Mo monodoped LiNbO3. Among them, Zr, Fe and Mn triply doped LiNbO3 shows excellent nonvolatile holographic storage properties, and V and Mo monodoped LiNbO3 has fast response and multi-wavelength storage characteristics

Collaborative Inversion of Soil Water Content in Alpine Meadow Area Based on Multitemporal Polarimetric SAR and Optical Remote Sensing Data

Soil water content is a critical environmental parameter in research and practice, though various technological and contextual constraints limit its estimation in arid areas with vegetation cover. This study combined the multitemporal remote sensing data of Sentinel-1 and Landsat 8 to conduct an inversion study on surface soil water content under low vegetation cover in Nagqu, central Tibetan Plateau. Four vegetation indices (NDVI, ARVI, EVI, and RVI) were extracted from optical remote sensing data. A water cloud model was used to eliminate the influence of the vegetation layer on the backscattering coefficient associated with vegetation cover, and a predictive model suitable for the Nagqu area was constructed. The water cloud model effectively incorporated a vegetation index instead of vegetation water content. We found that VV polarization was more suitable for soil water content inversion than VH polarization. Among the four vegetation indices, the soil water content inversion model constructed with RVI under VV polarization had the best fit (R2 = 0.8212; RMSE = 6.30). The second-best fit was observed for vegetation water content-NDVI (R2 = 0.8201). The soil water content inversion models all had an R2 > 0.6, regardless of the vegetation index used, though the RVI had the best fitting effect, indicating that this vegetation index is highly applicable in the water cloud model, as a substitute for vegetation water content, and is expected to perform well in similar study sites

Multiple Čerenkov second-harmonic waves in a two-dimensional nonlinear photonic structure

We report simultaneous generation of multiple conical second-harmonic waves in a two-dimensional nonlinear photonic structure when illuminated by two overlapping noncollinear fundamental beams. We show that this phenomenon is caused by the nonlinear Čerenkov radiation emitted due to the interaction of photons from each constituent fundamental beam as well as the virtual one propagating along the bisector of the two beams. In addition, by studying the asymmetric geometry of the interaction, we uniquely verify the effects of reciprocal vectors on the Čerenkov-type second-harmonic generation in nonlinear photonic structures.The authors acknowledge a financial support from the Australian Research Council and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (grant No. 774/09)