3,611 research outputs found
Three-dimensional imaging of direct-written photonic structures
Third harmonic generation microscopy has been used to analyze the morphology
of photonic structures created using the femtosecond laser direct-write
technique. Three dimensional waveguide arrays and waveguide-Bragg gratings
written in fused-silica and doped phosphate glass were investigated. A
sensorless adaptive optical system was used to correct the optical aberrations
occurring in the sample and microscope system, which had a lateral resolution
of less than 500 nm. This non-destructive testing method creates volume
reconstructions of photonic devices and reveals details invisible to other
linear microscopy and index profilometry techniques.Comment: 8 pages, 3 color figures, 2 hyper-linked animation
A Directly-Written Monolithic Waveguide-Laser Incorporating a DFB Waveguide-Bragg Grating
We report the fabrication and performance of the first C-band
directly-written monolithic waveguide-laser. The waveguide-laser device was
created in an Erbium and Ytterbium doped phosphate glass host and consisted of
an optical waveguide that included a distributed feedback Bragg grating
structure. The femtosecond laser direct-write technique was used to create both
the waveguide and the waveguide-Bragg grating simultaneously and in a single
processing step. The waveguide-laser was optically pumped at approximately 980
nm and lased at 1537nm with a bandwidth of less than 4 pm.Comment: 6 pages, 13 references, 4 figure
A 100 mW monolithic Yb waveguide laser fabricated using the femtosecond laser direct-write technique
A femtosecond laser-written monolithic waveguide laser (WGL) oscillator based
on a distributed feedback (DFB) architecture and fabricated in ytterbium doped
phosphate glass is reported. The device lased at 1033 nm with an output power
of 102 mW and a bandwidth less than 2 pm when bidirectionally pumped at 976 nm.
The WGL device was stable and operated for 50 hours without degradation. This
demonstration of a high performance WGL opens the possibility for creating a
variety of narrow-linewidth laser designs in bulk glasses.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted journal manuscrip
The Structure of High Strehl Ratio Point-Spread Functions
We describe the symmetries present in the point-spread function (PSF) of an
optical system either located in space or corrected by an adaptive o to Strehl
ratios of about 70% and higher. We present a formalism for expanding the PSF to
arbitrary order in terms of powers of the Fourier transform of the residual
phase error, over an arbitrarily shaped and apodized entrance aperture. For
traditional unapodized apertures at high Strehl ratios, bright speckles pinned
to the bright Airy rings are part of an antisymmetric perturbation of the
perfect PSF, arising from the term that is first order in the residual phase
error. There are two symmetric second degree terms. One is negative at the
center, and, like the first order term, is modulated by the perfect image's
field strength -- it reduces to the Marechal approximation at the center of the
PSF. The other is non-negative everywhere, zero at the image center, and can be
responsible for an extended halo -- which limits the dynamic range of faint
companion detection in the darkest portions of the image. In regimes where one
or the other term dominates the speckles in an image, the symmetry of the
dominant term can be exploited to reduce the effect of those speckles,
potentially by an order of magnitude or more. We demonstrate the effects of
both secondary obscuration and pupil apodization on the structure of residual
speckles, and discuss how these symmetries can be exploited by appropriate
telescope and instrument design, observing strategies, and filter bandwidths to
improve the dynamic range of high dynamic range AO and space-based
observations. Finally, we show that our analysis is relevant to high dynamic
range coronagraphy.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 20 pages, 4 figure
Isolation of microsatellite loci in the Capricorn silvereye, Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus (Aves : Zosteropidae)
The Capricorn silvereye (Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus
) is ideally suited to investigating the genetic basis of body size evolution. We have isolated and characterized a set of microsatellite markers for this species. Seven out of 11 loci were polymorphic. The number of alleles
detected ranged from two to five and observed heterozygosities between 0.12 and 0.67. One locus, ZL49, was found to be sex-linked. This moderate level of diversity is consistent with that expected in an isolated, island population
Point-by-point inscription of apodized fiber Bragg gratings
We demonstrate apodized fiber Bragg gratings inscribed with a point-by-point
technique. We tailor the grating phase and coupling amplitude through precise
control over the longitudinal and transverse position of each laser-inscribed
modification. This method of apodization is facilitated by the
highly-localized, high-contrast modifications generated by focussed IR
femtosecond laser inscription. Our technique provides a simple method for the
design and implementation of point-by-point fiber Bragg gratings with complex
apodization profiles.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, article in revie
Performance, Politics and Media: How the 2010 British General Election leadership debates generated ‘talk’ amongst the electorate.
During the British General Election 2010 a major innovation was introduced in part to improve engagement: a series of three live televised leadership debates took place where the leader of each of the three main parties, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative, answered questions posed by members of the public and subsequently debated issues pertinent to the questions. In this study we consider these potentially ground breaking debates as the kind of event that was likely to generate discussion. We investigate various aspects of the ‘talk’ that emerged as a result of watching the debates. As an exploratory study concerned with situated accounts of the participants experiences we take an interpretive perspective. In this paper we outline the meta-narratives (of talk) associated with the viewing of the leadership debates that were identified, concluding our analysis by suggesting that putting a live debate on television and promoting and positioning it as a major innovation is likely to mean that is how the audience will make sense of it – as a media event
Active Temporal Multiplexing of Photons
Photonic qubits constitute a leading platform to disruptive quantum
technologies due to their unique low-noise properties. The cost of the photonic
approach is the non-deterministic nature of many of the processes, including
single-photon generation, which arises from parametric sources and negligible
interaction between photons. Active temporal multiplexing - repeating a
generation process in time and rerouting to single modes using an optical
switching network - is a promising approach to overcome this challenge and will
likely be essential for large-scale applications with greatly reduced resource
complexity and system sizes. Requirements include the precise synchronization
of a system of low-loss switches, delay lines, fast photon detectors, and
feed-forward. Here we demonstrate temporal multiplexing of 8 'bins' from a
double-passed heralded photon source and observe an increase in the heralding
and heralded photon rates. This system points the way to harnessing temporal
multiplexing in quantum technologies, from single-photon sources to large-scale
computation.Comment: Minor revision
An Analysis of Fundamental Waffle Mode in Early AEOS Adaptive Optics Images
Adaptive optics (AO) systems have significantly improved astronomical imaging
capabilities over the last decade, and are revolutionizing the kinds of science
possible with 4-5m class ground-based telescopes. A thorough understanding of
AO system performance at the telescope can enable new frontiers of science as
observations push AO systems to their performance limits. We look at recent
advances with wave front reconstruction (WFR) on the Advanced Electro-Optical
System (AEOS) 3.6 m telescope to show how progress made in improving WFR can be
measured directly in improved science images. We describe how a "waffle mode"
wave front error (which is not sensed by a Fried geometry Shack-Hartmann wave
front sensor) affects the AO point-spread function (PSF). We model details of
AEOS AO to simulate a PSF which matches the actual AO PSF in the I-band, and
show that while the older observed AEOS PSF contained several times more waffle
error than expected, improved WFR techniques noticeably improve AEOS AO
performance. We estimate the impact of these improved WFRs on H-band imaging at
AEOS, chosen based on the optimization of the Lyot Project near-infrared
coronagraph at this bandpass.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, 1 table; to appear in PASP, August 200
An integrated cryogenic optical modulator
Integrated electrical and photonic circuits (PIC) operating at cryogenic
temperatures are fundamental building blocks required to achieve scalable
quantum computing, and cryogenic computing technologies. Optical interconnects
offer better performance and thermal insulation than electrical wires and are
imperative for true quantum communication. Silicon PICs have matured for room
temperature applications but their cryogenic performance is limited by the
absence of efficient low temperature electro-optic (EO) modulation. While
detectors and lasers perform better at low temperature, cryogenic optical
switching remains an unsolved challenge. Here we demonstrate EO switching and
modulation from room temperature down to 4 K by using the Pockels effect in
integrated barium titanate (BaTiO3)-based devices. We report the nonlinear
optical (NLO) properties of BaTiO3 in a temperature range which has previously
not been explored, showing an effective Pockels coefficient of 200 pm/V at 4 K.
We demonstrate the largest EO bandwidth (30 GHz) of any cryogenic switch to
date, ultra-low-power tuning which is 10^9 times more efficient than thermal
tuning, and high-speed data modulation at 20 Gbps. Our results demonstrate a
missing component for cryogenic PICs. It removes major roadblocks for the
realisation of novel cryogenic-compatible systems in the field of quantum
computing and supercomputing, and for interfacing those systems with the real
world at room-temperature
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