Antireflective Paraboloidal Microlens Film for Boosting Power Conversion Efficiency of Solar Cells.

Microlens arrays can improve light transmittance in optical devices or enhance the photoelectrical conversion efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Their surface morphology (aspect ratio and packed density) is vital to photon management in solar cells. Here, we report a 100% packed density paraboloidal microlens array (PMLA), with a large aspect ratio, fabricated by direct-write UV laser photolithography coupled with soft imprint lithography. Optical characterization shows that the PMLA structure can remarkably decrease the front-side reflectance of solar cell device. The measured electrical parameters of the solar cell device clearly and consistently demonstrate that the PMLA film can considerably improve the photoelectrical conversion efficiency. In addition, the PMLA film has superhydrophobic properties, verified by measurement of a large water contact angle, and can enhance the self-cleaning capability of solar cell devices.

Tuning the resonance of polarization-degenerate LP1,l cladding mode in excessively tilted long period fiber grating for highly sensitive refractive index sensing.

This work presents a sensitive refractive index sensor based on the dual resonance of an excessively tilted long period fiber grating (Ex-TLPFG). The Ex-TLPFG is tuned to couple the guided core mode with only the polarization-degenerate cladding mode LP1,l, which consists of TE/TM0,l and HE2,l vector modes. It is found that the p-polarized LP1,lp mode exhibits a higher sensitivity than that of the s-polarized LP1,ls mode. An optimized sensitivity as high as 12182.9 nm/RIU is achieved for the p-polarized LP1,2p mode at the low refractive index region by tuning the initial resonance condition. The sensing performance is also evaluated through the power measurement method for a single resonance band. It is demonstrated that the improved sensitivity in this work for diameter-reduced Ex-TLPFG is much higher than that for the conventional LPFG based devices, which makes this sensing platform very attractive for a variety of index sensing applications.

Compact self-cascaded KTA-OPO for 2.6 µm laser generation.

We reported a compact self-cascaded KTA-OPO source for 2.6 µm coherent light generation. The OPO is driven in a diode end-pumped and Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser cavity. Two OPO processes occurred in the same KTA crystal with non-critical phase matching. At an incident diode pump power of 8.7 W and a pulse repetition frequency of 60 kHz, the OPO can generate a maximum average output power of 445 mW at 2.59 µm. The slope efficiency was about 12.7%, and the power fluctuation was less than 8%. Therefore, the self-cascade OPO based on KTA offers a promise scheme for the rugged and compact mid-infrared 2.6 µm laser generation.

RbTiOPO4 cascaded Raman operation with multiple Raman frequency shifts derived by Q-switched Nd:YAlO3 laser.

An intra-cavity RbTiOPO4 (RTP) cascade Raman laser was demonstrated for efficient multi-order Stokes emission. An acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YAlO3 laser at 1.08 µm was used as the pump source and a 20-mm-long x-cut RTP crystal was used as the Raman medium to meet the X(Z,Z)X Raman configuration. Multi-order Stokes with multiple Raman shifts (~271, ~559 and ~687 cm-1) were achieved in the output. Under an incident pump power of 9.5 W, a total average output power of 580 mW with a pulse repetition frequency of 10 kHz was obtained. The optical conversion efficiency is 6.1%. The results show that the RTP crystal can enrich laser spectral lines and generate high order Stokes light.

Accurate method for computing correlated color temperature.

For the correlated color temperature (CCT) of a light source to be estimated, a nonlinear optimization problem must be solved. In all previous methods available to compute CCT, the objective function has only been approximated, and their predictions have achieved limited accuracy. For example, different unacceptable CCT values have been predicted for light sources located on the same isotemperature line. In this paper, we propose to compute CCT using the Newton method, which requires the first and second derivatives of the objective function. Following the current recommendation by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) for the computation of tristimulus values (summations at 1 nm steps from 360 nm to 830 nm), the objective function and its first and second derivatives are explicitly given and used in our computations. Comprehensive tests demonstrate that the proposed method, together with an initial estimation of CCT using Robertson's method [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58, 1528-1535 (1968)], gives highly accurate predictions below 0.0012 K for light sources with CCTs ranging from 500 K to 106 K.

Comparison of 1.15 µm Nd:YAG\KTA Raman lasers with 234 and 671 cm-1 shifts.

Nd:YAG/KTA intra-cavity Raman lasers with two different Raman shifts are experimentally compared for eradiating around 1.15 µm. The different Raman processes are attributed to polarization dependent Raman gain of KTA crystal and nearly linear polarization of Nd:YAG fundamental light with Q-switch operation. Under an incident pump power of 10.2 W and a pulse repetition frequency of 15 kHz, 1.24 W output for the third-Stokes at 1150 nm in X(ZZ)X Raman configuration with the Raman shifts of 234 cm-1 and 1.21 W output for the first-Stokes at 1146 nm in X(YY)X Raman configuration with the Raman shifts of 671 cm-1were achieved by rotating the KTA crystal. The conversion efficiency in both Raman configurations were about 12% respect to the same incident pump power. The slight differences of spectra and pulses are investigated.

Diffraction in a stratified region of a high numerical aperture Fresnel zone plate: a simple and rigorous integral representation.

An algorithm for calculating the field distribution of a high numerical aperture Fresnel zone plate (FZP) in stratified media is presented, which is based on the vector angular spectrum method. The diffraction problem of FZP is solved for the case of a multilayer film with planar interfaces perpendicular to the optical axis. The solution is obtained in a rigorous mathematical manner and it satisfies the homogeneous wave equations. The electric strength vector of the transmitted and reflected field in the multilayer media is obtained for any polarized beam normally incident onto a binary phase circular FZP. For radially-, azimuthally- and linearly-polarized beam, the electric field in the focal region can be simplified as double or single integral, which can be readily used for numerical computation.

Diffraction theory of high numerical aperture subwavelength circular binary phase Fresnel zone plate.

An analytical model of vector formalism is proposed to investigate the diffraction of high numerical aperture subwavelength circular binary phase Fresnel zone plate (FZP). In the proposed model, the scattering on the FZP's surface, reflection and refraction within groove zones are considered and diffraction fields are calculated using the vector Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral. The numerical results obtained by the proposed phase thick FZP (TFZP) model show a good agreement with those obtained by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method within the effective extent of etch depth. The optimal etch depths predicted by both methods are approximately equal. The analytical TFZP model is very useful for designing a phase and hybrid amplitude-phase FZP with high-NA and short focal length.

Generation of three-dimensional dark spots with a perfect light shell with a radially polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beam.

The theoretical analyses in this paper show that a highly focused double-ring radially polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beam with a topological charge of 1 (R-LG(11)) can generate a small three-dimensional (3D) dark spot surrounded by an almost 100% uniform light shell in all directions. The cleanness and size of the 3D dark spot, the uniformity and strength of the light shell surrounding the dark spot, and the light efficiency all depend on the truncation parameter ß of the R-LG(11) beam and the numerical aperture (NA) of the system. When ß=1.6 and the NA is close to its utmost, an almost 100% uniform light shell surrounding the 3D dark spot can be achieved and the dark spot is very clean. If the NA is lowered but ß is increased to 1.95, we can also achieve an almost 100% uniform light shell and light efficiency can reach 90%, but the disadvantage is that the center of the dark spot is not too clean. A not-too-clean 3D dark spot, if the light shell surrounding it is very uniform, is acceptable for many applications. Therefore, 3D dark spots surrounded by a high uniform light shell, generated by simply adjusting the truncation parameter of the R-LG(11) beam and the NA of the system, are useful for superresolution fluorescence microscopy, dark spot microscopy, and the dark spot trap.

Longer axial trap distance and larger radial trap stiffness using a double-ring radially polarized beam.

The optical trapping forces acting on a metallic Rayleigh particle are calculated for the case where a double-ring-shaped radially polarized beam is applied. The influence of the off-focus distance and the off-axis distance of a trapping particle on the trapping force is investigated. Compared with the use of the conventional single-ring-shaped radially polarized beam, the longer axial trap distance and the larger radial trap stiffness are predicted using a double-ring-shaped radially polarized beam in an optical trap. These features are useful for improving the trapping ability of an optical trap system where a longer axial trap distance is needed.

Magnetic field distribution of a highly focused radially-polarized light beam.

A simple expression for the magnetic filed of a highly focused radially polarized light is derived and the incorrect results for the time averaged Poynting vector and the trapping stability for a gold particle presented in the paper "Trapping metallic Rayleigh particles with radial polarization" by Zhan (Opt. Express 12, 3377-3382 (2004)) are corrected.

Improving the recording ability of a near-field optical storage system by higher-order radially polarized beams.

Distributions of the optical field in a solid immersion lens recording system are calculated for higher-order radially polarized modes of the incidence. Results show that two higher-order radially polarized modes of R-TEM(11) (* )and R-TEM(21) * are useful to near-field optical recording, but further higher-order modes such as R-TEM(31) (* ), R-TEM(41) (* ), and R-TEM(51) (* ) are not useful due to the strong side-lobe intensity. Compared with R-TEM(01) (* ) beam focusing, the full width at half-maximum of the recording spot is decreased markedly and the focal depth is increased substantially by using R-TEM(11) (* )beam focusing. The effect of the beam width of the R-TEM(11) (* ) mode is also discussed.

Simple and rigorous analytical expression of the propagating field behind an axicon illuminated by an azimuthally polarized beam.

A simple and rigorous analytical expression of the propagating field behind an axicon illuminated by an azimuthally polarized beam has been deduced by use of the vector interference theory. This analytical expression can easily be used to calculate accurately the propagation field distribution of azimuthally polarized beams throughout the whole space behind an axicon with any size base angle, not just restricted inside the geometric focal region as does the Fresnel diffraction integral. The numerical results show that the pattern of the beam produced by the azimuthally polarized Gaussian beam that passes through an axicon is a multiring, almost-equal-intensity, and propagation-invariant interference beam in the geometric focal region. The number of bright rings increases with the propagation distance, reaching its maximum at half of the geometric focal length and then decreasing. The intensity of bright rings gradually decreases with the propagation distance in the geometric focal region. However, in the far-field (noninterference) region, only one single-ring pattern is produced and the dark spot size expands rapidly with propagation distance.

Optical intensity distribution of a plano-convex solid immersion mirror.

Ignoring the effect of the small aperture, we deduce the optical field distribution of the so-called plano-convex solid immersion mirror with a small aperture on the apex (PC-SIM) by using the vector diffraction theory. The simulation results show that a PC-SIM, like a solid immersion lens (SIL), can achieve high resolution. Unlike the SIL, the PC-SIM can effectively reduce the spreading of the spot size with increasing distance from the interface. The size and intensity of the spot are related not only to the refractive index of the solid immersion medium but also to the structure parameter of the PC-SIM. The size of a spot smaller than a quarter wavelength can be obtained simply by optimizing the structure parameter of a PC-SIM but not by decreasing the size of the small aperture.

Optical data storage system with a planoellipsoidal solid immersion mirror illuminated directly by a point light source.

A new solid immersion mirror called the planoellipsoidal (PE) solid immersion mirror (SIM) for the near-field optical storage is proposed and developed. The PE SIM has a small aperture on the apex of the ellipsoidal surface. The intensity distribution of the transmitted field is calculated by using the vector diffraction theory. Compared with a conventional solid immersion lens (SIL), the proposed PE SIM has the following features. A PE SIM replaces three optical elements of the collimator, objective, and SIL in a conventional SIL optical storage system, so that the optical system equipped with the PE SIM is not only simple in its assembly but is also effective in making an optical head unit. The PE SIM obtains light from a point light source and focuses it directly on the recording layer, which may be useful for a compact optical data storage system. The convex ellipsoidal surface of the PE SIM can reduce the risk of the SIM touching the surface of the recording medium. In addition, the spreading of the spot size with the increase of distance is very small in the PE SIM.

Theoretical study of near-field optical storage with a solid immersion lens.

Both the reflection inside a hemisphere solid immersion lens (SIL) and the reflection inside the gap between the SIL and the optical recording medium are considered. The near-field SIL imaging theory for high numerical aperture is developed by using the vector diffraction and thin-film optics. Numerical results show that the spot size, Strehl ratio, and sidelobe intensity have an oscillatory behavior with the change of thickness of the air gap, which results from the interference effect of the transmitted field. We find that for smaller spot size, the Strehl ratio is smaller but the sidelobe intensity is larger. A certain thickness of air gap is useful for optical storage, which is less than 63 nm for the system in the simulated examples.

Design of high-performance supersphere solid immersion lenses.

Two types of novel solid immersion lens are designed and investigated theoretically using the vector diffraction theory. The advantages of these so-called high-performance supersphere solid immersion lenses (HPSILs) are that they can improve the Strehl ratio of the focused spot and increase the focal depth of near-field optical systems. Both the spot size and the sidelobe intensity are not increased, however, compared with those of the standard Weierstrass solid immersion lens. These HPSILs will be useful for near-field optical data storage and photolithography.

Vector propagation of radially polarized Gaussian beams diffracted by an axicon.

On the basis of the vectorial Rayleigh diffraction integrals and stationary-phase method, the analytic expression describing the vectorial field distribution of radially polarized Gaussian beams diffracted by an axicon is derived. The theoretical analysis and simulation calculation show that the radial component of the diffraction field is the propagation-invariant first-order Bessel beam when the radially polarized Gaussian beam illuminates the axicon. However, the longitudinal component possesses no such behavior because of its intrinsic r dependence, and its central intensity is the maximum. The longitudinal component is related to the open angle and index of the axicon, which has to be considered when the open angle and index are large. For a small open angle and index, the longitudinal component can be neglected, and the scalar approximation is valid.