A Remote Raman System and Its Applications for Planetary Material Studies.

A remote Raman prototype with a function of excitation energy adjusting for the purpose of obtaining a Raman signal with good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), saving power consumption, and possibly avoiding destroying a target by high energy pulses, which may have applications for Chinese planetary explorations, has been setup and demonstrated for detecting different minerals. The system consists of a spectrograph equipped with a thermoelectrically cooled charge-coupled device (CCD) detector, a telescope with 150 mm diameter and 1500 mm focus length, and a compact 1064 nm Nd:YAG Q-switched laser with an electrical adjusted pulse energy from 0 to 200 mJ/pulse. A KTP crystal was used for second harmonic generation in a 1064 nm laser to generate a 532 nm laser, which is the source of Raman scatting. Different laser pulse energies and integration time were used to obtain distinguishable remote Raman spectra of various samples. Results show that observed remote Raman spectra at a distance of 4 m enable us to identify silicates, carbonates, sulfates, perchlorates, water/water ice, and organics that have been found or may exist on extraterrestrial planets. Detailed Raman spectral assignments of the measured planetary materials and the feasible applications of remote Raman system for planetary explorations are discussed.

Double D-shaped hole optical fiber coated with graphene as a polarizer.

A double D-shaped hole optical fiber coated with graphene is proposed as a polarizer at the wavelength of 1.55 µm. As the planar surfaces of D-shaped holes are both coated with graphene, the interaction between the core and graphene can be doubled. Moreover, the interaction can be further improved by introducing functional materials into the holes. The proposed fiber provides a high extinction ratio (ER) and low insertion loss, and it operates in the single polarization mode. The ER of 42.5 dB with a 2.5-mm-long optical fiber can be achieved for a transverse-electric-pass polarizer, and the insertion loss is approximately 1.08 dB. Specifically, the proposed fiber can achieve simultaneously dual-band polarization at 1.55 µm and 1.31 µm. The proposed fiber is feasible for seamless integration in existing fiber systems. We hope our work benefits high-efficiency polarizers, and we believe that the proposed fiber has some potential applications in photonic integrated circuits.

Two-core single-polarization optical fiber with a large hollow coated bimetallic layer.

A two-core hollow optical fiber for a polarizer based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is proposed and studied by the full-vector finite-element method. The proposed fiber consists of two circular cores, inner cladding, outer cladding, and a large central air hole. The two cores are arranged symmetrically in inner cladding and couple weakly with the air hole. There is no cross talk between cores because they are insulated by the air hole. A nanodimension Ag/Au bimetallic layer can be coated on the inner surface of the central air hole to support SPR. The numerical results show that single polarization of two cores is achieved simultaneously at the wavelength of 1.310 µm, due to strong coupling between the TM mode and the surface plasmon polariton mode. The extinction ratio 40.90 dB with 3 mm length is obtained, and the confinement loss of TE mode is 0.19 dB/cm. Moreover, the resonance wavelength is tunable by varying the refractive index of materials in the central air hole. The scheme is helpful for coupling an all-fiber polarizer with multicore polarization maintaining fibres (PMFs) and makes possible application in in-fiber integrated interferometric sensors while maintaining polarization.

Design and numerical analysis of a THz square porous-core photonic crystal fiber for low flattened dispersion, ultrahigh birefringence.

We propose a kind of square porous-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) for polarization-maintaining terahertz (THz) wave guidance. An asymmetry is introduced by implementing rectangular array air holes in the porous core of the PCF, and ultrahigh birefringence and low effective material loss (EML) can be achieved simultaneously. The properties of THz wave propagation are analyzed numerically in detail. The numerical results indicate that the proposed fiber offers a high birefringence of 0.063 and a low EML of 0.081 cm-1 at 1 THz. Moreover, a very low flattened dispersion profile is observed over a wide frequency domain of 0.85-1.9 THz. The zero flattened dispersion can be controlled. It is predicted that this PCF would be used potentially in polarization maintaining and dispersion management of THz waves.