Optical magnetism in planar metamaterial heterostructures.

Harnessing artificial optical magnetism has previously required complex two- and three-dimensional structures, such as nanoparticle arrays and split-ring metamaterials. By contrast, planar structures, and in particular dielectric/metal multilayer metamaterials, have been generally considered non-magnetic. Although the hyperbolic and plasmonic properties of these systems have been extensively investigated, their assumed non-magnetic response limits their performance to transverse magnetic (TM) polarization.

Spectroscopic measurement of absorptive thin films by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

A non-invasive method for measuring the refractive index, extinction coefficient and film thickness of absorptive thin films using spectral-domain optical coherent tomography is proposed, analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. Such an optical system employing a normal-incident beam of light exhibits a high spatial resolution. There are no mechanical moving parts involved for the measurement except the transversal scanning module for the measurement at various transversal locations.

Direct near-field phase measurement of laser diodes employing a single-mode fiber interferometer.

A method of direct measurement of near-field phase and intensity distribution of laser diodes employing a single-mode fiber interferometer is proposed and demonstrated. The phase and intensity of the output beam of the laser in the vicinity of the output facet are measured directly via interferometry. Using a 980 nm laser diode as an example, we obtained a beam width of 0.

Wavefront measurements of diode laser beams with large dynamic ranges.

We propose and demonstrate a method for the measurement of the wavefronts of high-power diode laser beams with large dynamic ranges. Our wavefront sensor consists of a movable pinhole and a wavefront-slope detector. The measurement results show that the wavefront sensor exhibits a large dynamic range of pi/2 to -pi/2 and a high precision on the measured average wavefront slope.

Mode matching and insertion loss in ultrabroadband Cr-doped multimode fibers.

We investigate the fundamental insertion loss due to mode mismatch in an optical link involving a single-mode fiber-optic (SMF) transmission with the insertion of a segment of a multimode Cr(4+)-doped fiber (MMCDF). With an MMCDF core diameter of approximately 15.5 microm that matches the SMF, we obtained coupling efficiencies of 60.

Sagnac interferometer based flat-top birefringent interleaver.

We propose and demonstrate a novel Sagnac interferometer based flat-top birefringent optical interleaver employing a ring-cavity as a phase-shift element. The Sagnac interferometer with birefringent crystals provides the optical path difference for interference between the two orthogonal polarization components and the ring-cavity provides the phase shifts needed to achieve a flat-top spectral passband at the output. Fresnel reflections at the prism-air interface of the ring cavity are employed to obtain the desired phase shifts so that highly accurate thin-film coatings are not needed.

Birefringent interleaver with a ring cavity as a phase-dispersion element.

We propose and demonstrate a novel ring-cavity-based flat-top birefringent interleaver. A single ring cavity provides the two phase shifts needed, each for a polarization state, to achieve a flat-top spectral passband at the output. Fresnel reflectivities (for s- and p-polarization states) at the prism interface of the ring cavity are employed so that highly accurate thin-film coatings are not needed for the phase shifts.