Numerical reconstruction of an infrared wavefront utilizing an optical phase modulation device

We utilize nitroanisole, that absorbs infrared(IR) radiation as heat, as an optical modulation device based on a thermal process. The nitroanisole exhibits a thermal lens effect, i.e. a temperature dependent refractive index. Hence, the nitroanisole can induce phase modulation to visible light, in direct response to intensity of the incident IR radiation. The proposed method can be used to obtain the phase modulation distribution that corresponds to the IR intensity distribution, i.e. the IR hologram itself, on the nitroanisole by examining the phase map of visible light that is modulated upon passing through the nitroanisole. The IR wavefront can be reconstructed by calculating extracted IR holograms through the Fresnel transform. It is verified that both the amplitude and the phase of the IR wavefront can be reconstructed accurately by proposed method

Application of the nitroanisole as an infrared detector used in middle infrared interferometer

We propose the application of nitroanisole as a detector for middle infrared (mid-IR) interferometry or holography. The present experiment utilizes the liquid form of nitroanisole, which has a thermal lens effect, i.e. a temperature dependent refractive index. Since the nitroanisole absorbs IR radiation as heat, it is possible to estimate the IR intensity distribution on the nitroanisole from the diffraction pattern made by visible laser light that is transmitted through the nitroanisole. In this study, the time resolution and the diffraction efficiency of the nitroanisole was measured under various conditions. The experimental results show that the nitroanisole has a time resolution as high as that of a standard video camera, as well as a high diffraction efficiency and the spatial resolution equivalent to that of a conventional IR camera. Furthermore, we confirmed that the phase shift in mid-IR region can be estimated by analyzing the change in the visible diffraction pattern

Analysis of microstructural images of dry and water-saturated compacted bentonite samples observed with X-ray micro CT

Compacted bentonite, of which the major clay mineral is montmorillonite, is a candidate buffer material for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. In this study, a microfocus X-ray computed tomography (micro-CT, X-ray micro-scope), which enables non-destructive, three-dimensional observation of the interior microstructure of a sample with high resolution (several microns), examined compacted montmorillonite samples under dry and water-saturated states. The images thus obtained were analyzed by a computer code developed for this study to obtain the information on the size and shape of montmorillonite grains in the samples before and after the water saturation. From the results of the image analysis, it can be supposed that the outer montmorillonite sheets of grains swelled and formed a gel, whereas the inner montmorillonite sheets did not change significantly in the water-saturation process