Self‐focusing of laser light in the isotropic phase of a nematic liquid crystal

Self‐focusing of ruby laser light is studied as a function of sample length and temperature in the isotropic phase of nematic liquid‐crystal MBBA. The critical power for self‐focusing, 0.36 kW, observed near the phase transition temperature is a factor of 20 times less than that for CS2. The corresponding nonlinear index 4.4 × 10−10 esu is the largest value known so far for any material

Common-path multimodal optical microscopy

We have developed a common-path multimodal optical microscopy system that is capable of using a single optical source and a single camera to image amplitude, phase, and fluorescence features of a biological specimen. This is achieved by varying either contrast enhancement filters at the Fourier plane and/or neutral density/fluorescence filters in front of the CCD camera. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated by obtaining brightfield, fluorescence, phase-contrast, spatially filtered, brightfield + fluorescence, phase +fluorescence, and edge-enhanced+fluorescence images of the same Drosophila embryo without the need for image registration and fusion. This comprehensive microscope has the capability of providing both structural and functional information and may be used for applications such as studying live-cell dynamics and in high throughput microscopy and automated microscopy

Optical pulse compression in a cholesteric liquid crystal

A 20‐ns laser pulse is compressed to nearly 2.5 ns in a 10‐cm‐long sample of liquid‐crystal cholesteryl oleate in the isotropic phase. Pulse compression in a length as short as only 5 cm has been observed. A semiquantitative explanation is given in terms of stimulated Brillouin scattering

Medical image processing using transient Fourier holography in bacteriorhodopsin films

Real time image processing is demonstrated by recording and reconstructing the transient photoisomerizative grating formed in the bR film using Fourier holography. Desired spatial frequencies including both high and low band in the object beam are reconstructed by controlling the reference beam intensity. The results are in agreement with a theoretical model based on photoisomerization grating. We exploit this technique to process mammograms in real-time for identification of microcalcifications buried in the soft tissue for early detection of breast cancer. A feature of the technique is the ability to transient display of selected spatial frequencies in the reconstructing process which enables the radiologists to study the features of interest

Passive all-optical diode using asymmetric nonlinear absorption

Saturable and reverse saturable absorptions are well-known phenomena, originating from the imaginary component of the third order nonlinear optical susceptibility. We note that structures with an axially asymmetric nonlinear absorption can be easily realized from saturable and reverse saturable absorption materials arranged in tandem. In this paper, the basic transmission behavior of such a structure is worked out. Detailed numerical simulations demonstrate passive all-optical diode behavior, and the results are verified experimentally. The principle will work for all light polarizations, has no phase-matching restrictions, and can be extended to a large number of available nonlinear media for possible applications

Third‐order, nonlinear optical interactions of some benzporphyrins

We measured third‐order, nonlinear optical susceptibility χ(3) for a series of tetrabenzporphyrins in solution in tetrahydrofuran at 532 nm using degenerate four‐wave mixing with picosecond pulses and obtained values of molecular second hyperpolarizability 〈γ〉. The corresponding macroscopic χ(3) values calculated for nine compounds with different substituent groups are four to five orders larger than CS2. For five of the compounds the χ(3) values are in the range 1.2–2.8×10−8 esu. Our experiments indicate that the nonlinearity is predominately electronic in origin with a response time faster than the 15 ps resolution of our system

Nonvolatile grating in an azobenzene polymer with optimized molecular reorientation

We demonstrated a nonvolatile grating using an azobenzene polymer film with polarized two color beams. The reorientation of azobenzene molecules can be optimized when the two color light beams are polarized perpendicularly. The stored information can be read repeatedly without volatility with the same wavelength as the writing beam

Enhancement of photoinduced anisotropy and all-optical switching in Bacteriorhodopsin films

Large enhancement of photoanisotropic effects is demonstrated in thin films of the biomaterial Bacteriorhodopsin by using two exciting beams of orthogonal polarization. The mechanism of the enhancement originates from optimization of direction-selected photoisomerization of the biomaterial controlled by the polarized exciting beams. The technique is applied for achieving an all-optical switch with the additional feature of output sign control

Mirrorless all‐optical bistability in bacteriorhodopsin

We report direct observations of all‐optical mirrorless bistability associated with saturable absorption in three kinds of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) samples: wild‐type BR in water solution and dispersed in thin films of a polymer matrix as well as water solution of the genetically engineered mutant BRD96N. The experiments are carried out with picosecond pulses at 532 nm. The values measured for the saturation intensity are explained in terms of the relaxation of the excited M state population to the B state of the BR photocycle for the three kinds of samples studied

Phase contrast imaging using photothermally induced phase transitions in liquid crystals

Phase contrast imaging is performed for live biological species using photothermal induced birefringence in dye doped liquid crystals. Using typical 4-f configuration, when liquid crystal cell is at back focal plane of Fourier lens, low spatial frequencies at center of Fourier spectrum are intense enough to induce local liquid crystal molecules into isotropic phase, whereas high spatial frequencies on the edges are not intense enough and remain in anisotropic phase. This results in π/2 phase difference between high and low spatial frequencies. This simple, inexpensive, all-optical, user-friendly, self-adaptive phase contrast imaging technique using low-power laser offers several distinct advantages