No Arabic abstract
We propose an efficient method for spatial filtering of light beams by propagating them through 2D (also 3D) longitudinally chirped photonic crystals, i.e. through the photonic structures with fixed transverse lattice period and with the longitudinal lattice period varying along the direction of the beam propagation. We prove the proposed idea by numerically solving the paraxial propagation equation in refraction index-modulated media, and we evaluate the efficiency of the process by plane-wave-expansion analysis. The technique can be applied to filter (to clean) the packages of atomic waves (Bose condensates), as well improve the directionality of acoustic and mechanical waves.
The integration of nanophotonics and atomic physics has been a long-sought goal that would open new frontiers for optical physics. Here, we report the development of the first integrated optical circuit with a photonic crystal capable of both localizing and interfacing atoms with guided photons in the device. By aligning the optical bands of a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) with selected atomic transitions, our platform provides new opportunities for novel quantum transport and many-body phenomena by way of photon-mediated atomic interactions along the PCW. From reflection spectra measured with average atom number N = 1.1$pm$0.4, we infer that atoms are localized within the PCW by Casimir-Polder and optical dipole forces. The fraction of single-atom radiative decay into the PCW is $Gamma_{rm 1D}/Gamma$ = 0.32$pm$0.08, where $Gamma_{1D}$ is the rate of emission into the guided mode and $Gamma$ is the decay rate into all other channels. $Gamma_{rm 1D}/Gamma$ is quoted without enhancement due to an external cavity and is unprecedented in all current atom-photon interfaces.
We investigate propagation of light pulses in photonic crystals in the vicinity of the zero-diffraction point. We show that Gaussian pulses due to nonzero width of their spectrum spread weakly in space and time during the propagation. We also find the family of nonspreading pulses, propagating invariantly in the vicinity of the zero diffraction point of photonic crystals.
Lasers that generate ultra-intense light pulses are under development for experiments in high-field and high-energy-density physics, as well as for applications such as particle acceleration. Extensions to even higher powers are being considered for future investigations that can only be imagined today, such as the quantum electrodynamics of plasmas and isolated attosecond-pulse generation with solid targets. For all of these areas, it is vital to produce high-contrast pulses, so that no pre-plasma is created in the target before the arrival of the main pulse. However, noise is unavoidable in high-gain amplification, and is manifested in the form of background light that accompanies pulses generated by chirped-pulse amplification (CPA). Here, we introduce a linear filtering technique based on spatio-spectral coupling, which allows in-band filtering of amplified pulses for the first time. Experiments demonstrate approximately 40 times contrast enhancement in optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) and provide a foundation for scaling to much higher performance. The simplicity, efficiency, and direct compatibility with existing techniques for short-pulse generation will make spatio-spectral filtering attractive to a wide range of applications in ultrafast optics and time-resolved spectroscopy, and may open new directions in noise reduction.
We describe a smooth transition from (fully ordered) photonic crystal to (fully disordered) photonic glass that enables us to make an accurate measurement of the scattering mean free path in nanostructured media and, in turn, establishes the dominant role of the density of states. We have found one order of magnitude chromatic variation in the scattering mean free path in photonic crystals for just $sim 3%$ shift around the band-gap ($sim 27$ nm in wavelength).
This paper discusses free carrier generation by pulsed laser fields as a mechanism to switch the optical properties of semiconductor photonic crystals and bulk semiconductors on an ultrafast time scale. Requirements are set for the switching magnitude, the time-scale, the induced absorption as well as the spatial homogeneity, in particular for silicon at lambda= 1550 nm. Using a nonlinear absorption model, we calculate carrier depth profiles and define a homogeneity length l_hom. Homogeneity length contours are visualized in a plane spanned by the linear and two-photon absorption coefficients. Such a generalized homogeneity plot allows us to find optimum switching conditions at pump frequencies near v/c= 5000 cm^{-1} (lambda= 2000 nm). We discuss the effect of scattering in photonic crystals on the homogeneity. We experimentally demonstrate a 10% refractive index switch in bulk silicon within 230 fs with a lateral homogeneity of more than 30 micrometers. Our results are relevant for switching of modulators in absence of photonic crystals.