Synthesis and Characterization of Silver-Gold Bimetallic Nanoparticles for Random Lasing.

We developed rough silver-gold bimetallic nanoparticles for random lasing. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized based on a citrate-reduction method and the gold (III) chloride trihydrate was added to produce bimetallic nanoparticles. Gold atoms were deposited on the surface of the silver (Ag) through galvanic replacement reactions after the solution was stored at room temperature. Sample characterization and a spectrometry experiment were performed where bimetallic nanoparticles with nanogaps and the extinction of the nanoparticles were observed. The aim of this research is to synthesize nanoparticles for random dye laser in a weakly scattering regime. The novel bimetallic nanoparticles were added to Rhodamine 640 solution to produce random lasing. We found that random dye laser with bimetallic nanoparticles produced spectral narrowing and lasing threshold compared to random dye laser with silver nanoparticles. We attribute that to the localized surface plasmon effects which increase local electromagnetic field to provide sufficient optical gain for random lasing. The rough surface of bimetallic nanoparticles also contributes to the properties of random lasing. Thus, we suggest that the rough bimetallic nanoparticles can be used to develop random lasers.

Nanophotonics shines light on hyperbolic metamaterials.

Hyperbolic metamaterials with a unique hyperbolic dispersion relation allow propagating waves with infinitely large wavevectors and a high density of states. Researchers from Korea and Singapore provide a comprehensive review of hyperbolic metamaterials, including artificially structured hyperbolic media and natural hyperbolic materials. They explain key nanophotonic concepts and describe a range of applications for these versatile materials.

Lifetime-Engineered Ruby Nanoparticles (Tau-Rubies) for Multiplexed Imaging of µ-Opioid Receptors.

To address the growing demand for simultaneous imaging of multiple biomarkers in highly scattering media such as organotypic cell cultures, we introduce a new type of photoluminescent nanomaterial termed "tau-ruby" composed of ruby nanocrystals (Al2O3:Cr3+) with tunable emission lifetime. The lifetime tuning range from 2.4 to 3.2 ms was achieved by varying the Cr3+ dopant concentration from 0.8% to 0.2%, affording facile implementation of background-free detection. We developed inexpensive scalable production of tau-ruby characterized by bright emission, narrow spectrum (693 ± 2 nm), and virtually unlimited photostability upon excitation with affordable excitation/detection sources, noncytotoxic and insensitive to microenvironmental fluctuations. By functionalizing the surface of tau-rubies with targeting antibodies, we obtained different biomarkers suitable for multiplexed lifetime imaging. As a proof of principle, three tau-ruby bioprobes, characterized by three mean lifetimes, were deployed to label three µ-opioid receptor species expressed on transfected cancer cells, each fused to a unique epitope, so that three types of cells were lifetime-encoded. Robust decoding of photoluminescent signals that report on each cell type was achieved by using a home-built lifetime imaging system and resulted in high-contrast multiplexed lifetime imaging of the cells.

Channel Waveguides in Lithium Niobate and Lithium Tantalate.

Low-loss photonic waveguides in lithium niobate offer versatile functionality as nonlinear frequency converters, switches, and modulators for integrated optics. Combining the flexibility of laser processing with liquid phase epitaxy we have fabricated and characterized lithium niobate channel waveguides on lithium niobate and lithium tantalate. We used liquid phase epitaxy with K2O flux on laser-machined lithium niobate and lithium tantalate substrates. The laser-driven rapid-prototyping technique can be programmed to give machined features of various sizes, and liquid phase epitaxy produces high quality single-crystal, lithium niobate channels. The surface roughness of the lithium niobate channels on a lithium tantalate substrate was measured to be 90 nm. The lithium niobate channel waveguides exhibit propagation losses of 0.26 ± 0.04 dB/mm at a wavelength of 633 nm. Second harmonic generation at 980 nm was demonstrated using the channel waveguides, indicating that these waveguides retain their nonlinear optical properties.

Asia-Pacific Optical Sensors Conference: focus issue introduction.

This feature issue of Optics Express contains 17 articles expanding on recent advances in optical sensors presented at the eighth Asia-Pacific Optical Sensors Conference (APOS 2019) held in Auckland, New Zealand, from November 19 to 22, 2019. These articles span sensing for real-time positioning, refractive indices, strain, gas, and temperature using a variety of methods including photoacoustic computed tomography, coherent optical frequency-modulated continuous-wave interferometry, enhanced Bragg gratings, and phase-sensitive optical frequency-domain reflectometry.

Opal-templated films for optical strain sensing.

A polydimethylsiloxane film patterned by a self-assembled array has been demonstrated as a strain sensor. A monolayer of 580 nm polystyrene spheres prepared by convective deposition was the template to transfer a periodic pattern to a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film. Optical diffraction through the stretched PDMS film, enabled strain sensing perpendicular and parallel to the stretching direction, with sensitivities of 1.7 nm/% strain and 4.0 nm/% strain, respectively. The PDMS film was used as a vibration sensor at 50 Hz.

Digital waveguide adiabatic passage part 2: experiment.

Using a femtosecond laser writing technique, we fabricate and characterise three-waveguide digital adiabatic passage devices, with the central waveguide digitised into five discrete waveguidelets. Strongly asymmetric behaviour was observed, devices operated with high fidelity in the counter-intuitive scheme while strongly suppressing transmission in the intuitive. The low differential loss of the digital adiabatic passage designs potentially offers additional functionality for adiabatic passage based devices. These devices operate with a high contrast (>90%) over a 60 nm bandwidth, centered at ∼ 823 nm.

Dopamine sensing and measurement using threshold and spectral measurements in random lasers.

We developed a novel dopamine sensing and measurement technique based on aggregation of gold nanoparticles in random lasers. Dopamine combined with copper ions triggers the aggregation of gold nanoparticles and thus affects the performance of random lasers. Dopamine sensing can be achieved using four parameters which are sensitive to the presence of dopamine, that is emission peak shift, emission linewidth, signal-to-noise ratio (peak emission intensity / noise) and random lasing threshold. The dopamine is most sensitively detected by a change in the emission linewidth with a limit of detection of 1 × 10(-7) M, as well as by an increase in the lasing threshold. The dopamine concentration from 1 × 10(-7) M to 1 × 10(-2) M can be determined by calibrating with the laser threshold.

Practical implementation, characterization and applications of a multi-colour time-gated luminescence microscope.

Time-gated luminescence microscopy using long-lifetime molecular probes can effectively eliminate autofluorescence to enable high contrast imaging. Here we investigate a new strategy of time-gated imaging for simultaneous visualisation of multiple species of microorganisms stained with long-lived complexes under low-background conditions. This is realized by imaging two pathogenic organisms (Giardia lamblia stained with a red europium probe and Cryptosporidium parvum with a green terbium probe) at UV wavelengths (320-400 nm) through synchronization of a flash lamp with high repetition rate (1 kHz) to a robust time-gating detection unit. This approach provides four times enhancement in signal-to-background ratio over non-time-gated imaging, while the average signal intensity also increases six-fold compared with that under UV LED excitation. The high sensitivity is further confirmed by imaging the single europium-doped Y2O2S nanocrystals (150 nm). We report technical details regarding the time-gating detection unit and demonstrate its compatibility with commercial epi-fluorescence microscopes, providing a valuable and convenient addition to standard laboratory equipment.

Single-nanocrystal sensitivity achieved by enhanced upconversion luminescence.

Upconversion nanocrystals convert infrared radiation to visible luminescence, and are promising for applications in biodetection, bioimaging, solar cells and three-dimensional display technologies. Although the design of suitable nanocrystals has improved the performance of upconversion nanocrystals, their emission brightness is limited by the low doping concentration of activator ions needed to avoid the luminescence quenching that occurs at high concentrations. Here, we demonstrate that high excitation irradiance can alleviate concentration quenching in upconversion luminescence when combined with higher activator concentration, which can be increased from 0.5 mol% to 8 mol% Tm(3+) in NaYF4. This leads to significantly enhanced luminescence signals, by up to a factor of 70. By using such bright nanocrystals, we demonstrate remote tracking of a single nanocrystal with a microstructured optical-fibre dip sensor. This represents a sensitivity improvement of three orders of magnitude over benchmark nanocrystals such as quantum dots.

Upconversion luminescence with tunable lifetime in NaYF4:Yb,Er nanocrystals: role of nanocrystal size.

Despite recent achievements to reduce surface quenching in NaYF(4):Yb,Er nanocrystals, a complete understanding of how the nanocrystal size affects the brightness of upconversion luminescence is still incomplete. Here we investigated upconversion luminescence of Yb,Er-doped nanocrystals in a broad range of sizes from 6 nm to 45 nm (cubic or hexagonal phases), displaying an increasing red-to-green luminescence intensity ratio and reduced luminescence lifetimes with decreasing size. By analyzing the upconversion process with a set of rate equations, we found that their asymptotic analytic solutions explain lower decay rates of red compared to green upconversion luminescence. Furthermore, we quantified the effect of the surface on luminescence lifetime in a model where nanocrystal emitters are divided between the near-surface and inside regions of each nanocrystal. We clarify the influence of the four nonradiative recombination mechanisms (intrinsic phonon modes, vibration energy of surface ligands, solvent-mediated quenching, and surface defects) on the decay rates for different-size nanocrystals, and find that the defect density dominates decay rates for small (below 15 nm) nanocrystals. Our results indicate that a defect-reduction strategy is a key step in producing small upconversion nanocrystals with increased brightness for a variety of bioimaging and biosensing applications.

Effect of gain anisotropy on low-frequency dynamics in four-level solid-state lasers.

Our anisotropic rate equation model outlines the relationship between the relaxation dynamics in a four-level solid-state laser and its anisotropic gain properties. Anisotropic pump rates and stimulated emission cross-sections were included to account for specific atom orientations in the gain material. The model is compared with experimental measurements of two relaxation oscillation frequencies which are related to the anisotropic atom-laser interaction in orthogonally polarized dual-mode lasers. The model predicts that crystal orientation and pump polarization affect the laser operation characteristics, as found experimentally. The gain anisotropy influences the fast laser dynamics, as in single-mode relaxation oscillations.

Femtosecond laser modification of fused silica: the effect of writing polarization on Si-O ring structure.

A femtosecond laser with a 1 kHz repetition rate and two different polarization states was used to fabricate low-loss waveguides in fused silica. Investigations of chemically-mechanically polished waveguide regions using near-field scanning optical microscopy revealed the presence of modifications outside the glass regions directly exposed to a circularly polarized writing laser. These waveguides also exhibited refractive index contrast up to twice as large as that of waveguides written with linearly polarized radiation. The observed differences in refractive index were shown by Raman spectroscopy to correlate to an increased concentration of 3-member silicon-oxygen ring structures. We propose that the observed differences in material properties are due to the polarization dependence of photo-ionization rates in fused silica.

Polarisation-mode coupling in (100)-cut Nd:YAG.

We investigate the polarisation-mode dynamics and Lamb's mode coupling constant for orthogonally polarised laser states in a dual-mode (100)-cut Nd:YAG laser with feedback, and compare with an anisotropic rate equation model. The anisotropic (100)-cut Nd:YAG exhibits thermally-induced depolarisation and polarisation-mode coupling dependent on the pump polarisation, crystal angle and laser polarisation directions. Here, the links between the depolarisation and polarisation-mode coupling are discussed with reference to a rate equation model which includes gain anisotropy in a quasi-isotropic laser cavity.