Photon-number squeezing with a noisy femtosecond fiber laser amplifier source using a collinear balanced detection technique.

We experimentally demonstrate photon-number squeezing at 1.55 μm using a noisy erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). We employ a collinear balanced detection (CBD) technique, where the intensity noise at a specific radio frequency is canceled between two pulse trains.

Generation of radially polarized Ti:sapphire laser beam using a c-cut crystal.

First, it is demonstrated that with a c-cut Ti:sapphire crystal the generation of a nonpolarized laser beam is possible, in contrast to the conventional a-cut Ti:sapphire crystal, which produces a linearly polarized beam. Second, the generation of a radially polarized Ti:sapphire laser beam is demonstrated in combination with a c-cut YVO(4) crystal used as a selector of radial polarization.

Simultaneous generation of helical beams with linear and radial polarization by use of a segmented half-wave plate.

Simultaneous generation of helical beams with linear and radial polarization is demonstrated by use of a segmented half-wave plate in a Ti:sapphire laser cavity. A linearly polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beam is converted to a radially polarized beam with a spiral phase shift and vice versa. In addition, these two beams coexist in the cavity, and the cavity emits one of these two beams from an output coupler.

Calculation of optical trapping forces on a dielectric sphere in the ray optics regime produced by a radially polarized laser beam.

We calculated the optical trapping forces on a microscopic particle in the ray optics regime for the case where a radially polarized laser beam is applied. A higher axial trapping efficiency than for a circularly polarized doughnut beam was predicted due to the large p polarization component. Three-dimensional optical trapping was expected for particles with a larger index of refraction and for objectives with a smaller numerical aperture.