4,133 research outputs found
Bragg-induced orbital angular-momentum mixing in paraxial high-finesse cavities
Numerical calculation of vector electromagnetic modes of plano-concave
microcavities reveals that the polarization-dependent reflectivity of a flat
Bragg mirror can lead to unexpected cavity field distributions for nominally
paraxial modes. Even in a rotationally symmetric resonator, certain pairs of
orbital angular momenta are necessarily mixed in an excitation-independent way
to form doublets. A characteristic mixing angle is identified, which even in
the paraxial limit can be designed to have large values. This correction to
Gaussian theory is zeroth-order in deviations from paraxiality. We discuss the
resulting nonuniform polarization fields. Observation will require small
cavities with sufficiently high Q. Possible applications are proposed.Comment: Corrected typos in Fig. 2 and text. Added Journal Ref. For
higher-quality figures, see
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~noeckel/papers.php#xref3
Spatial and polarization structure in micro-dome resonators: effects of a Bragg mirror
Micro-domes based on a combination of metallic and dielectric multilayer
mirrors are studied using a fully vectorial numerical basis-expansion method
that accurately accounts for the effects of an arbitrary Bragg stack and can
efficiently cover a large range of dome shapes and sizes. Results are examined
from three different viewpoints: (i) the ray-optics limit, (ii) the (semi-)
confocal limit for which exact wave solutions are known, and (iii) the paraxial
approximation using vectorial Gaussian beams.Comment: For higher-quality figures, see
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~noeckel/papers.php#xref2
Does colour constancy exist?
For a stable visual world, the colours of objects should appear the same under different lights. This property of colour constancy has been assumed to be fundamental to vision, and many experimental attempts have been made to quantify it. I contend here, however, that the usual methods of measurement are either too coarse or concentrate not on colour constancy itself, but on other, complementary aspects of scene perception. Whether colour constancy exists other than in nominal terms remains unclear
Goos-Haenchen induced vector eigenmodes in a dome cavity
We demonstrate numerically calculated electromagnetic eigenmodes of a 3D dome
cavity resonator that owe their shape and character entirely to the
Goos-Haenchen effect. The V-shaped modes, which have purely TE or TM
polarization, are well described by a 2D billiard map with the Goos-Haenchen
shift included. A phase space plot of this augmented billiard map reveals a
saddle-node bifurcation; the stable periodic orbit that is created in the
bifurcation corresponds to the numerically calculated eigenmode, dictating the
angle of its "V". A transition from a fundamental Gaussian to a TM V mode has
been observed as the cavity is lengthened to become nearly hemispherical.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Uniformity and asymmetry of rapid curved-line detection explained by parallel categorical coding of contour curvature
AbstractThe aim of this work was to elucidate several characteristic phenomena associated with rapid curved-line detection in multi-element arrays and to provide a unified account of the underlying curvature-sensitive mechanisms. To this end, a parametric experiment was performed in which the detectability of a curved-line target in a briefly presented planar array of curved-line distractors was measured for a range of target and distractor curvatures and distractor numbers. For both vertically oriented and randomly oriented curved lines, it was found that (1) the dependence of target detectability on target curvature was independent of distractor number for small distractor curvatures but not for medium-to-large distractor curvatures; (2) an asymmetry in target detectability with respect to interchange of target and distractor curvatures occurred only with large distractor numbers; and (3) with small distractor numbers, target detectability depended only on the difference between target and distractor curvatures. These properties of spatial parallelism, asymmetry, and uniformity were explained quantitatively by a minimal model of rapid curved-line detection in which contour curvature was coded in terms of just two or three curvature categories, depending on curved-line orientation
Orientation contrast vs orientation in line-target detection
AbstractThis study concerns the roles of absolute and relative orientation in determining detectability of a line-element target in a background field of uniformly oriented line elements. Target detectability was determined as a function of background-field orientation, sampled at 5 deg intervals, for three levels of orientation contrast—the difference between target and background orientations—sampled at 10, 20 and 30 deg. Stimulus displays were presented briefly and followed by a mask. There were 10 observers, whose detection performance was quantified by the discrimination indexd′ from signal detection theory. Target detectability was found to depend both on absolute orientation, represented by background-field orientation, and on orientation contrast. At each level of orientation contrast, performance was best when the background field, not the target element, was vertical or horizontal. These data are difficult to explain by general models of orientation discrimination based on simple orientation opponency between local line-sensitive filter units; three other models specifically concerned with target detection are briefly considered
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