Peculiarities of propagation of femtosecond pulses through a focusing diffractive optical element (DOE) are considered. It is shown that the time delay between the pulse and phase wavefronts can be decreased by fabricating the DOE on the optimal curvilinear surface.

A flat-topped etched diffraction grating (EDG) demultiplexer with a low polarization-dependent loss (PDL) is designed. A design and simulation method based on the method of moment (MoM) is proposed. A 65-channel EDG demultiplexer with channel spacing of 100 GHz is considered as a design example. A tapered multi-mode interferometer (MMI) is used to flatten the passband of the EDG demultiplexer. The numerical results show that the exit width of the tapered waveguide impacts the loss of the TE case more than that of the TM case. Based on this fact, the exit width of the taper is optimized to obtain the lowest PDL. The tapering angle is also optimized where the minimal ripple is obtained. The designed EDG demultiplexer has an excellent flat-topped spectral response and a very low PDL.

A novel numerical method for fiber Raman amplifier (FRA) from standard propagation equations is presented and derived based on the one-step method for ordinary differential equation (ODE). The proposed algorithm is effective in solving FRA equations including all the interactions among pumps, signals, and noises. Applications of the numerical analysis to practical FRA-based systems show a great reduction in computation time in comparison with the average power method and the fourth-order Runge-Kutta (RK) method, under the same condition. Also the proposed method can decrease the computing time over three orders of magnitude with excellent accuracy promises in comparison with the direct integration method.

Experimental research of simultaneous tunable chromatic dispersion (CD) and adaptive polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensations in optical fiber communication system was reported. Two different nonlinearly chirped fiber Bragg gratings fabricated through the equivalent chirp technology were adopted in the experiment. One of the gratings was used as CD compensator, with a tunable dispersion range from 300 to 600 ps/nm. The other made of photosensitive polarization maintaining fiber was used as a tunable delay line of PMD compensator, which provided a varying amount of differential group delay (DGD) from 40 to 110 ps. Our experiment was operated at 10-Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) system and the results showed that the eye pattern recovery is excellent after both PMD and CD are compensated. Especially, the power penalty at a bit error rate (BER) of 10^(-9) is about 1 dB.

In a wavelength routing optical network (WRON), the optimal allocation of wavelength converters (WCs) is very important to minimize the number of WCs, enhance the fiber utilization, reduce the blocking probability, etc.. In this paper, a novel simplified network model with shared WCs has been proposed. An effective algorithm for optimal allocation of shared WCs has been presented by using a revised Dijkstra algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA). The effectiveness of the revised algorithm was verified through the simulation on Nature and Science Foundation (NSF) net of USA. This revised algorithm can achieve blocking probability 36% less than the algorithm in previous work, and the calculating time of the minimum blocking probability can be reduced dramatically.

The imagequality evaluation in fiber-optic image bundles was addressed by the modulation transfer function (MTF). With the definition of the contrast transfer function (CTF), the MTF model of line-array fiber-optic image bundles was established and analyzed numerically. The average MTF was carefully evaluated by considering the influence of phase match on the MTF between input pattern and fiber-optic image bundles. In this paper, the average MTF is mean arithmetical value on the MTFs of eight different phases. The results show that, for certain fiber diameter and spatial frequency, the relationship between the core diameter and the average MTF is inverse proportion; for certain fiber cladding thickness, the relationship between the core diameter and the average MTF is also inverse proportion. And at Nyquist frequency, the MTF value is near 0.5.

A new fabrication technology for three-dimensionally buried silica on silicon optical waveguide based on deep etching and thermal oxidation is presented. Using this method, a silicon layer is left at the side of waveguide. The stress distribution and effective refractive index are calculated by using finite element method and finite different beam propagation method, respectively. The results indicate that the stress of silica on silicon optical waveguide fabricated by this method can be matched in parallel and vertical directions and stress birefringence can be effectively reduced due to the side-silicon layer.

We proposed a new kind of cascade Y-branch splitter with a branching region and a fan-out region. The length of the new device are analyzed in detail and compared with ordinary ones. The results show that the new splitter can be 10%-30% shorter than the ordinary splitters. We designed and fabricated a 1*16 splitter in K+/Na+ ion-exchanged BK7 glass. The length of the new designed splitter is 30-mm, which is 85% of the length of an ordinary splitter.

The intracavity photon density is assumed to be of Gaussian spatial distributions and its longitudinal variation is also considered in the rate equations for a laser diode (LD) end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser with GaAs saturable absorber. These space-dependent rate equations are solved numerically. The dependences of pulse width, pulse repetition rate, single-pulse energy, and peak power on incident pump power are obtained. In the experiment, the LD end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser with GaAs saturable absorber is realized and the experimental results are consistent with the numerical solutions.

A passive mode-locked diode-pumped self-frequency-doubling Yb:YAB laser with a low modulation depth semiconductor saturable absorber mirror operating at 374 MHz is demonstrated. The measured pulse duration is 1.98 ps at the wavelength of 1044 nm. The maximum average power reaches 45 mW.

The distribution of pump light and signal light in Yb^(3+)-doped double-cladding fiber laser is analyzed based on a rate equation model. Numerical simulation results are obtained. The numerical solution of the rate equation is shown to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data.

Experimental results demonstrate that the band gap of colloidal suspension crystal changes with both the thickness of crystal and the dispersity of micro-spheres. As the thickness decreases, a red shift of band gap is observed, and there is a maximum of red shift. The values of the maximum red shifts are dependent on the standard deviations of micro-spheres. The experimental results are consistent with theoretical calculation. As the colloidal suspension crystal is assembled from micro-spheres with a standard deviation of 8.4% in a thick cell, an incident angles independent broadband is observed, which is explained as an amorphous structure. Two amorphous models are discussed.

Parallel optical coherence tomography is demonstrated using a 12-bit scientific-grade charge-coupled device array. A superluminescent diode in combination with a free-space Michelson interferometer was employed to achieve 10-μm axial resolution and 1.1-μm transverse resolution on a 902*575 μm2 field of view. We imaged a test mirror and bovine retinal tissue using a four-step phase shift method.

The aim of this study is to further measure the effect of 632.8-nm helium-neon laser on fast excitatory postsynaptic potential (f-EPSP) of postganglionic neurons in isolated rat superior cervical ganglia by means of intracellular recording techniques. The neurons with f-EPSP were irradiated by different power densities (1-5 mW/cm2) laser. Irradiated by the 2-mW/cm2 laser, the amplitude of the f-EPSP could augment (P<0.05, paired t test) and even cause action potential at the end of the first 1-2 minutes, the f-EPSP could descend and last for 3-8 minutes. But the amplitude of the f-EPSP of neurons irradiated by the 5-mW/cm2 laser could depress for the irradiating periods. The results show that: 1) the variation of the amplitude of f-EPSP caused by laser is power density-dependent and time-dependent; 2) there exist the second-order phases in the interaction of the helium-neon laser with neurons. These findings may provide certain evidence in explanation of the mechanisms of clinical helium-neon laser therapy.

A wide-band (1530-1610 nm) and high efficient double-pass discrete Raman amplifier is reported. In this Raman amplifier, by using a one-end gilded fiber as the broadband reflector, signals and multi-pump are both reflected to propagate through the gain fiber for a second time. An increase in net gain of more than 150% has been achieved compared with that in the typical co-pumped Raman amplifier. The advantages of this proposed new configuration have been experimentally studied by comparing with the recently existing Raman amplifier configurations.

We show self-coupled and cross-coupled vector beam evolution equations in the low-amplitude regime for screening solitons, which can exhibit the analytical solutions of bright-bright and dark-dark vector solitons. Our analysis indicates that these self-coupled vector solitons are obtained irrespective of the intensities of the two optical beams, whereas these cross-coupled vector solitons can be established when the intensities of the two optical beams are equal. Relevant examples are provided where the photorefractive crystal is lithium niobate (LiNbO3). The stability properties of these vector solitons have been investigated numerically and it has been found that they are stable.

The frequency of an external-cavity diode laser has been stabilized to 1.637 μm by using the reference of absorption lines of methane. The method can be applied to wavelength division multiplexed optical communication, fiber-optic sensing systems, as well as the high-sensitivity detection of methane. The derivative-like error signal yielded by frequency modulation and phase sensitivity detection technology is inputted into the PI feedback loop circuit in order to stabilize the frequency to the line center. After stabilization, the frequency fluctuation of diode laser is held within 5.6 MHz, and the root of Allan variance of error signal reaches a minimum of 1.66*10^(-10) for an average time of 10 s.

Polysilicon films deposited by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) exhibit large residual stress and stress gradient, depending on the deposition condition. An in situ growth method based on multi-layer concept is presented to control the property for as-deposited polysilicon. A 3-μm-thick polysilicon film with nine layers structure is demonstrated under the detailed analysis of multi-layer theory and material characteristic of polysilicon. The results show that a 3-μm-thick polysilicon film with 8-MPa overall residual tensile stress and 2.125-MPa/μm stress gradient through the film thickness is fabricated successfully.

The laser-induced damage behavior of narrow-band interference filters was investigated with a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm under single-pulse mode and free-running laser mode. The absorption measurement of such coatings has been performed by surface thermal lensing (STL) technique. The relationship between damage morphology and absorption under the two different laser modes was studied in detail. The explanation was given by the standing-wave distribution theory.

The X-ray spectrum emitted from laser-produced plasma contains plentiful information. X-ray spectrometer is a powerful tool for plasma diagnosis and studying the information and evolution of the plasma. X-ray concave (elliptical) curved crystals analyzer was designed and manufactured to investigate the properties of laser-produced plasma. The experiment was carried out on Mianyang Xingguang-II Facility and aimed at investigating the characteristics of a high density iron plasma. Experimental results using KAP, LIF, PET, and MICA curved crystal analyzers are described, and the spectra of Au, Ti laser-produced plasma are shown. The focusing crystal analyzer clearly gave an increase in sensitivity over a flat crystal.