We study beaming properties of laser light produced by a plasmonic lattice overlaid with organic fluorescent molecules. The crossover from spontaneous emission regime to stimulated emission regime is observed in response to increasing pump fluence. This transition is accompanied by a strong reduction of beam divergence and emission linewidth due to increased degree of spatial and temporal coherence, respectively. The feedback for the lasing signal is shown to be mainly one-dimensional due to the dipolar nature of the surface lattice resonance. Consequently, the beaming properties along x and y directions are drastically different. From the measurements, we obtain the M 2 value along both principal directions of the square lattice as a function of the pump fluence. Our work provides the first detailed analysis of the beam quality in plasmonic lattice lasers and reveals the underlying physical origin of the observed strong polarization dependent asymmetry of the lasing signal.
We demonstrate a modification to the traditional prism-based wavefront-folding interferometer that allows the measurement of spatial and temporal coherence, free of distortions and diffraction caused by the prism corners. In our modified system, the two prisms of the conventional system are replaced with six mirrors. The whole system is mounted on a linear X Y -translation stage, with an additional linear stage in the horizontal arm. This system enables rapid and exact measurement of the full four-dimensional degree of coherence, even for relatively weak signals. The capabilities of our system are demonstrated by measuring the spatial coherence of two inhomogeneous and non-Schell model light sources with distinct characteristics.
We consider the spectral spatial coherence characteristics of scalar light fields in second-harmonic generation in an optically non-linear medium. Specifically, we take the fundamental-frequency (incident) field to be a Gaussian Schell-model (GSM) beam with variable peak spectral density and different coherence properties. We show that with increasing intensity the overall degree of coherence of both the fundamental and the second-harmonic field in general decreases on passage through the non-linear medium. In addition, the spectral density distributions and the two-point degree of coherence may, for both beams, deviate significantly from those of the GSM, especially at high intensities. Propagation in the non-linear medium is numerically analyzed with the Runge–Kutta and the beam-propagation methods, of which the latter is found to be considerably faster. The results of this work provide means to synthesize, via non-linear material interaction, random optical beams with desired coherence characteristics.
The most frequently used experimental techniques for measuring the spatial coherence properties of classical light fields in the space–frequency and space–time domains are reviewed and compared, with some attention to polarization effects. In addition to Young’s classical two-pinhole experiment and several of its variations, we discuss methods that allow the determination of spatial coherence at higher data acquisition rates and also permit the characterization of lower-intensity light fields. These advantages are offered, in particular, by interferometric schemes that employ only beam splitters and reflective elements, and thereby also facilitate spatial coherence measurements of broadband fields.
We apply time dependent spectral phase modulation to generate pulse trains that are spectrally and temporally partially coherent in an ensemble averaged sense. We consider, in particular, quadratic spectral phase modulation of Gaussian pulses, and demonstrate two particular types of nonuniformly correlated pulse trains. The controlled partial temporal coherence of the nonstationary fields is generated using a pulse compressor and experimentally verified with frequency resolved optical gating (FROG). We show that the correlation characteristics of such pulse trains can be retrieved directly from the FROG spectrograms provided one has certain a priori knowledge of the pulse train. Our results open a pathway for experimental confirmation of several correlation induced effects in the temporal domain.
We address the specular properties of Bessel-correlated fields, generated by illuminating a tilted rotating plane-parallel glass plate with a coherent Gaussian beam and passing the output beam though a mirror-based wavefront folding interferometer. This device allows us to produce beams whose specular properties are preserved in propagation. In the far zone, the specular nature of these partially coherent fields is shown to produce intensity-profile oscillations in the sub-diffraction-limit scale. The analytical results at various propagation distances are verified experimentally by using another wavefront-folding interferometer for coherence measurements.
The propagation of a novel class of paraxial spatially partially coherent beams exhibiting Bessel-type correlations is studied in free space and in paraxial optical systems. We show that, under certain conditions, such beams can have functionally identical forms of the absolute value of the complex degree of spatial coherence not only at the source plane and in the far zone, but also at all finite propagation distances. Under these conditions the degree of spatial coherence properties of the field is a shape-invariant quantity, but the spatial intensity distribution is only approximately shape-invariant. The main properties of this class of model beams are demonstrated experimentally by passing a coherent Gaussian beam through a rotating wedge and measuring the coherence of the ensuing beams with a Young-type interferometer realized with a digital micromirror device.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.