Design, fabrication, and characterization of an optofluidic phase modulator array based on the piezoelectric effect.

In this paper, an optofluidic phase modulator array based on the piezoelectric effect is designed, fabricated, and characterized. This array is composed of three piezoelectric ceramics arranged on the vertices of an equilateral triangle. A transparent liquid fills the inner cavity of the ceramics. Due to the inverse piezoelectric effect, the length of the transparent liquid is changed at different voltages, which contributes to the optical phase modulation. According to experiment results, it is found that our modulator arrays exert continuous optical phase adjustment ability. When the voltage ranges from 0 to 135 V, the relative length variation reaches up to 9.286 µm, and consequently our proposed modulator arrays perform about 9.685 π optical phase modulation.

A bifocal compound liquid lens with continuous zoom based on selective wettability.

In this paper, a tunable zoom bifocal liquid lens based on selective wettability is proposed. This lens consists of internal and external immiscible coaxial droplets surrounded by immiscible ambient liquid. Since curvatures and refractive indexes of the internal and external droplets are different, the system forms a long focus and a short focus, respectively. By applying different voltages, the curvatures of the internal and external droplets change exerting continuous movement of a long/short focal point in a certain range. To verify the feasibility and practicability of this concept, a prototype of the bifocal compound lens is fabricated in experiment, and the modulation ability of its long/short focal length is detected. The short focal length of our proposed lens varies from 15.46 mm to 17.47 mm, while the relative long focal length ranges from 96.25 mm to 70.31 mm driven by 200 V.

Focusing characteristics of cylindrical vector beams through a multi-focal all-dielectric grating lens.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, type of multi-focal all-dielectric grating lens is proposed in this work, and focusing characteristics of cylindrical vector beams through the lens are investigated in detail. Based on the negative refraction mechanism of negative-first-order diffraction and Fermat's principle, a multi-focal lens is designed. By analyzing the diffraction effect of the grating, the essential factor that affects the focus quality is found. Through a two-step optimization process, secondary foci and the focal displacement of primary foci caused by high-order diffractions are overcome, and the quality of the focal field is significantly improved. This work provides a reference for micro-lens design for focus modulation, and the research results also have potential applications in the fields of light-field manipulation and optical tweezers.

Compact and low-loss TM-pass polarizer based on a hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a semiround arch Si core.

A compact and low loss TM-pass polarizer based on a hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPW) has been demonstrated. By introducing the hollow HPW with a semiround arch (SRA) Si core, the unwanted TE mode can be effectively cut off and the TM mode can pass through by hybrid plasmonic mode with excellent transmission characteristics. The hollow structure realizes lower index with n=1 due to the air region, and the SRA construction effectively suppresses the energy loss of the TM mode caused by the corner effect. Thus, TM modes pass through with negligible loss and exhibit the characteristic of strong mode limitation. By optimizing the width of metal, the width of the HPW, and the length of the tapered mode converter, an optimum performance with a high polarization extinction ratio of 67.87 dB and a low insert loss of 0.029 dB at the work wavelength=1550nm is achieved. Detailed analysis also proves that the proposed polarizer has a compact size of only 7 µm and a great fabrication tolerance. This work offers a simple and effective scheme of polarization control on-chip.

Electrowetting-actuated optofluidic phase modulator.

In this paper, an optofluidic phase modulator based on electrowetting is presented. The modulator consists of an inner and outer chamber. Two immiscible liquids are filled into the chambers, and a transparent sheet is fixed between the liquid-liquid interface to obtain a flat interface. By applying different voltages to the modulator, the flat interface moves up and down leading to the change of optical path length. Consequently, the variation of the optical path in the proposed modulator exploits the ability to alter the optical phase. To prove the concept, a prototype of the phase modulator is fabricated in experiment, and the ability of phase modulation is detected. Our proposed modulator performs optical phase shift up to ∼6.68 π driven with 150 V. Widespread applications of such an optofluidic phase modulator is foreseeable.

Design and Characteristics of an Optofluidic Phase Modulator Based on Dielectrowetting.

In this paper, an optofluidic phase modulator based on dielectrowetting is designed and fabricated to adjust the optical phase. Two liquids are filled in the device, and a transparent sheet is employed at the liquid interface to keep the interface flat. When different voltages are applied to the modulator, the flat interface moves up and down, leading to the variation of the optical phase. A theoretical model is constructed to predict the optical phase shift quantitatively, and the phase regulation ability is also tested experimentally. Our modulator realizes continuous adjustment of the optical phase in a certain range by the operation of voltage adjustment. When the voltage is increased to 150 V, the optical phase modulation range of our proposed modulator can reach 9.366 π.

Field-enhanced nanofocusing of radially polarized light by a tapered hybrid plasmonic waveguide with periodic grooves.

This study reports the field-enhanced nanofocusing of radially polarized light by tapered hybrid plasmonic waveguide (THPW) with periodic grooves. The THPW consists of a conical high-index dielectric cone, a sandwiched low-index dielectric thin layer, and a metal cladding. The axially symmetric 3D finite element method is used to investigate the nanofocusing effect. Under radially polarized illumination at 632.8 nm, strongly enhanced nanofocusing occurs. The hybrid plasmonic structure effectively reduces the energy loss and improves the field enhancement nearly 554 times. Furthermore, periodic grooves are constructed on the metallic surface of the THPW, satisfying the phase-matching condition, and they couple the light energy from the inside to the outside. Finally, an optimized nanofocusing performance with field enhancement of approximately 1810 times is obtained. The results offer an important reference for designing related photonic devices, and the proposed scheme could be potentially exploited in the application of light-matter interactions.

Multilayered optical memory with bits stored as refractive index change. II. Numerical results of a waveguide multilayered optical memory.

In terms of the electromagnetic theory described in Part I of our current investigations [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A24, 1776 (2007)], the numerical method for and results of numerical computations corresponding to the electromagnetic theory of a waveguide multilayered optical memory are presented. Here the characteristics of the cross talk and the modulation contrast, the power of readout signals, the variation of the power of the readout signals with the scanning position along the track, and the distribution of the light intensity at the detector are investigated in detail. Results show that the polarization of the reading light, the feature sizes of bits, and the distances between the two adjacent tracks and the two adjacent bits on the same track have significant effects on the distribution of the light intensity at the detector, the power of the readout signals, the cross talk, and the modulation contrast. In addition, the optimal polarization of the reading light is also suggested.

Multilayered optical memory with bits stored as refractive index change. III. Numerical results of a conventional multilayered optical memory.

In terms of the electromagnetic theories described in Part I of our current investigations [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A24, 1776 (2007)] and in [Opt. Express 16, 2797 (2008)], the characteristics of the cross talk and the modulation contrast and the variation of the power of the readout signals with the scanning position along the track are investigated in detail by computer simulations for a conventional multilayered optical memory (CMOM), where the two cases, i.e., the storage medium being homogenous and planar stratified homogenous, are considered. Results show that the feature sizes of bits, the distances between the two adjacent tracks, and the thickness of layers have significant effects on the cross talk and the modulation contrast. The polarization of the reading light also has significant effects on the cross talk, whereas it has only slight effects on the modulation contrast. Moreover, for a CMOM, the optimal polarization of the reading light is suggested.

Multilayered optical memory with bits stored as refractive index change. I. Electromagnetic theory.

With the Lippman-Schwinger equation, dyadic Green's functions, and the vector coherent transfer function method, an electromagnetic theory of a waveguide multilayered optical memory is first developed for the static case, from which a theory describing a conventional multilayered optical memory with bits stored as a refractive index change is also derived. In addition, the formulas for readout signals and cross talk are given, and some problems of numerical calculations are discussed. The theories can be used effectively for optimum design of a multilayered optical memory with bits stored as a refractive index change.

Imaging theory of an aplanatic system with a stratified medium based on the method for a vector coherent transfer function.

A simple formalism relating image fields to object fields, similar to that of the scalar and paraxial case, is presented for an aplanatic system obeying the sine condition, which shows that the vector plane-wave spectrum of image fields is equal to the product of the vector coherent transfer function due to the x- and y-polarized point electric field source and the scalar spectrum of the corresponding transverse object fields. Utilizing this formula and dyadic Green's function, a rigorous imaging theory of an aplanatic system for the point electric current source through a stratified medium is readily developed.