We address the performance of transmission geometry volume holograms as depth-selective imaging elements. We consider two simple implementations using holograms recorded with spherical and plane beams. We derive the point-spread function (PSF) of these systems using volume diffraction theory and use the PSF to estimate depth resolution. Furthermore, we show that appropriately designed objective optics can significantly improve the depth resolution or the working distance of plane-wave reference holographic imaging systems. These results are confirmed experimentally and demonstrated for objects with millimeter axial features, imaged from the 5- to 50-cm range.
Radiative coupling of resonantly excited intersubband transitions in GaAs/ AlGaAs multiple quantum wells can have a strong impact on the coherent nonlinear optical response, as is shown by phase and amplitude resolved propagation studies of ultrashort electric field transients. Upon increasing the driving field amplitude, strong radiative coupling leads to a pronounced self-induced absorption, followed by a bleaching due to the onset of delayed Rabi oscillations. A many-particle theory including light propagation effects accounts fully for the experimental results.
We present a broadband (460 -980 nm) analysis of the nonlinear absorption processes in bulk ZnO, a large-bandgap material with potential blue-to-UV photonic device applications. Using an optical parametric amplifier we generated tunable 1-kHz repetition rate laser pulses and employed the Z-scan technique to investigate the nonlinear absorption spectrum of ZnO. For excitation wavelengths below 500 nm, we observed reverse saturable absorption due to one-photon excitation of the sample, agreeing with rate-equation modeling. Two-and three-photon absorption were observed from 540 to 980 nm. We also determined the spectral regions exhibiting mixture of nonlinear absorption mechanisms, which were confirmed by photoluminescence measurements.
We report on the femtosecond-laser micromachining of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films doped with nonlinear azoaromatic chromophores: Disperse Red 1, Disperse Red 13 and Disperse Orange 3. We study the conditions for controlling chromophore degradation during the micromachining of PMMA doped with each chromophore. Furthermore, we successfully used fs-micromachining to fabricate optical waveguides within a bulk sample of PMMA doped with these azochromophores.
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