Simple method for measuring the linewidth enhancement factor of semiconductor lasers

A simple method for measuring the linewidth enhancement factor (LEF) of semiconductor lasers (SLs) is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. This method is based on the self-mixing effect when a small portion of optical signal intensity emitted by the SL reflected by the moving target re-enters the SL cavity, leading to a modulation in the SL\u27s output power intensity, in which the modulated envelope shape depends on the optical feedback strength as well as the LEF. By investigating the relationship between the light phase and power from the well-known Lang and Kobayashi equations, it was found that the LEF can be simply measured from the power value overlapped by two SLs\u27 output power under two different optical feedback strengths. Our proposed method is verified by both simulations and experiments. (C) 2015 Optical Society of Americ

Features of a Self-Mixing Laser Diode Operating Near Relaxation Oscillation

When a fraction of the light reflected by an external cavity re-enters the laser cavity, both the amplitude and the frequency of the lasing field can be modulated. This phenomenon is called the self-mixing effect (SME). A self-mixing laser diode (SM-LD) is a sensor using the SME. Usually, such LDs operate below the stability boundary where no relaxation oscillation happens. The boundary is determined by the operation condition including the injection current, optical feedback strength and external cavity length. This paper discovers the features of an SM-LD where the LD operates beyond the stability boundary, that is, near the relaxation oscillation (RO) status. We call the signals from such a SM-LD as RO-SM signals to differentiate them from the conventional SM signals reported in the literature. Firstly, simulations are made based on the well-known Lang and Kobayashi (L-K) equations. Then the experiments are conducted on different LDs to verify the simulation results. It shows that a RO-SM signal exhibits high frequency oscillation with its amplitude modulated by a slow time varying envelop which corresponds to the movement of the external target. The envelope has same fringe structure (half-wavelength displacement resolution) with the conventional SM signals. However, the amplitudes of the RO-SM signals are much higher compared to conventional SM signals. The results presented reveal that an SM-LD operating near the RO has potential for achieving sensing with improved sensitivity

Engineering zinc oxide hybrid selenium nanoparticles for synergetic anti-tuberculosis treatment by combining Mycobacterium tuberculosis killings and host cell immunological inhibition

IntroductionAs a deadly disease induced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), tuberculosis remains one of the top killers among infectious diseases. The low intracellular Mtb killing efficiency of current antibiotics introduced the long duration anti-TB therapy in clinic with strong side effects and increased drug-resistant mutants. Therefore, the exploration of novel anti-TB agents with potent anti-TB efficiency becomes one of the most urgent issues for TB therapies. MethodsHere, we firstly introduced a novel method for the preparation of zinc oxide-selenium nanoparticles (ZnO-Se NPs) by the hybridization of zinc oxide and selenium to combine the anti-TB activities of zinc oxide nanoparticles and selenium nanoparticles. We characterized the ZnO-Se NPs by dynamic laser light scattering and transmission electron microscopy, and then tested the inhibition effects of ZnO-Se NPs on extracellular Mtb by colony-forming units (CFU) counting, bacterial ATP analysis, bacterial membrane potential analysis and scanning electron microscopy imaging. We also analyzed the effects of ZnO-Se NPs on the ROS production, mitochondrial membrane potential, apoptosis, autophagy, polarization and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway of Mtb infected THP-1 macrophages. At last, we also tested the effects of ZnO-Se NPs on intracellular Mtb in THP-1 cells by colony-forming units (CFU) counting. ResultsThe obtained spherical core-shell ZnO-Se NPs with average diameters of 90 nm showed strong killing effects against extracellular Mtb, including BCG and the virulent H37Rv, by disrupting the ATP production, increasing the intracellular ROS level and destroying the membrane structures. More importantly, ZnO-Se NPs could also inhibit intracellular Mtb growth by promoting M1 polarization to increase the production of antiseptic nitric oxide and also promote apoptosis and autophagy of Mtb infected macrophages by increasing the intracellular ROS, disrupting mitochondria membrane potential and inhibiting PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. DiscussionThese ZnO-Se NPs with synergetic anti-TB efficiency by combining the Mtb killing effects and host cell immunological inhibition effects were expected to serve as novel anti-TB agents for the development of more effective anti-TB strategy

High-Pitch, Low-Voltage and Low-Iodine-Concentration CT Angiography of Aorta: Assessment of Image Quality and Radiation Dose with Iterative Reconstruction

Objective: To assess the image quality of aorta obtained by dual-source computed tomography angiography (DSCTA), performed with high pitch, low tube voltage, and low iodine concentration contrast medium (CM) with images reconstructed using iterative reconstruction (IR). Methods: One hundred patients randomly allocated to receive one of two types of CM underwent DSCTA with the electrocardiogram-triggered Flash protocol. In the low-iodine group, 50 patients received CM containing 270 mg I/mL and were scanned at low tube voltage (100 kVp). In the high-iodine CM group, 50 patients received CM containing 370 mg I/mL and were scanned at the tube voltage (120 kVp). The filtered back projection (FBP) algorithm was used for reconstruction in both groups. In addition, the IR algorithm was used in the low-iodine group. Image quality of the aorta was analyzed subjectively by a 3-point grading scale and objectively by measuring the CT attenuation in terms of the signal- and contrast-to-noise ratios (SNR and CNR, respectively). Radiation and CM doses were compared.Results: The CT attenuation, subjective image quality assessment, SNR, and CNR of various aortic regions of interest did not differ significantly between two groups. In the low-iodine group, images reconstructed by FBP and IR demonstrated significant differences in image noise, SNR, and CNR (p<0.05). The low-iodine group resulted in 34.3% less radiation (4.4 ± 0.5 mSv) than the high-iodine group (6.7 ± 0.6 mSv), and 27.3% less iodine weight (20.36 ± 2.65 g) than the high-iodine group (28 ± 1.98 g). Observers exhibited excellent agreement on the aortic image quality scores (κ = 0.904). Conclusions: CT images of aorta could be obtained within 2 s by using a DSCT Flash protocol with low tube voltage, IR, and low-iodine-concentration CM. Appropriate contrast enhancement was achieved while maintaining good image quality and decreasing the radiation and iodine doses

Self-mixing interferometry and its applications

This paper reviews the self-mixing interference (SMI) in terms of its operation principle, the features of SMI signals and its configuration. SMI refers to a phenomenon that occurs when a small fraction of the light emitted by a laser is backscattered or reflected by an external target and re-enters the laser active cavity, thus leading to the modulation of the laser output power. This is a remarkably universal phenomenon, occurring in lasers regardless of type. A few application examples are presented based on the research work done in our group, including SMI sensing for displacement measurement, material parameters and laser parameters. An SMI with the laser operating at the relaxation oscillation is introduced which has potential for achieving more sensitive sensing

Dynamic stability analysis for a self-mixing interferometry system

A self-mixing interferometry (SMI) system is a laser diode (LD) with an external cavity formed by a moving external target. The behavior of an SMI system is governed by the injection current J to the LD and the parameters associated with the external cavity mainly including optical feedback factor C , the initial external cavity length ( L0 ) and the light phase (∅0) which is mapped to the movement of the target. In this paper, we investigate the dynamic behavior of an SMI system by using the Lang-Kobayashi model. The stability boundary of such system is presented in the plane of (C , ∅0), from which a critical C (denoted as Ccritical) is derived. Both simulations and experiments show that the stability can be enhanced by increasing either L0 or J . Furthermore, three regions on the plane of (C , ∅0) are proposed to characterize the behavior of an SMI system, including stable, semi-stable and unstable regions. We found that the existing SMI model is only valid for the stable region, and the semi-stable region has potential applications on sensing and measurement but needs remodeling the system by considering the bandwidth of the detection components

Influence of the nonlinear gain on the stability limit of a semiconductor laser with optical feedback

This paper presents the results revealing the influence of the nonlinear gain on the stability limit of a semiconductor laser (SL) with external optical feedback (EOF). A new system determinant is derived from the original Lang and Kobayashi (L-K) equations. By making analysis on the locus of the roots of the system determinant, the stability limit of the system is obtained, from which a number of important and interesting phenomenon revealed by the nonlinear gain is uncovered. The correctness of results is verified by numerical simulations

Improving the measurement performance for a self-mixing interferometry-based displacement sensing system

Approaches that are, to our knowledge, novel, are proposed in this paper to improve the accurancy performance of self-mixing interferometruy (SMI). First the characteristics associated with signals observed in SMI systems are studied, based on which a new procedure is proposed for achieving accurate estimation of the laser phase

FPGA based filter design for self-mixing interferometry signals

Self-mixing interferometry (SMI) signals are observed from a sensing system consisting of a laser diode with external optical feedbacks. SMI signals carry the information associated to both of the displacement and parameters of the SL. To retrieve the information precisely, pre-processing of SMI signals is the first key step. For achieving real-time, and high quality sensing, this paper proposes a Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) based filtering and normalizing processing for SMI signals. According to the noise features contained in SMI signal, a median filter and a wavelet transform based filter are combined for our design. Hardware co-simulation verified that the performance for this FPGA used filter design

An estimation method for feedback level factor C of a self-mixing interferometry system

This paper presents a fast estimation method for feedback level factor C of a self-mixing interferometry (SMI) system. The reconstruction of a displacement waveform using a SMI signal needs to know a C value. However, it is difficult to maintain a constant C value during the reconstruction process. We study the features of the reconstructed displacement waveforms incorporating different pre-set C values and classify waveforms into two types. Bisection method is introduced in our method for fast estimating C value. The effectiveness of our proposed method has been verified by both simulation and experimental data