Controlling the trajectories of self-written waveguides in photopolymer

Malallah, Ra’ed; Li, Haoyu; Muniraj, Inbarasan; Cassidy, Derek; Al-Attar, Nebras; Healy, John J.; Sheridan, John T.

doi:10.1364/josab.35.002046

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Because this contracted region contains a greater volume fraction of polymer, its refractive index is greater compared to its immediate surroundings, which now contains an increased proportion of water [refractive indices of the polymer and water are n ∼ 1.49 and n ∼ 1.33, respectively (42)]. This densified region serves as a cylindrical microscopic waveguide (19,(43)(44)(45)(46))-a self-induced optical fiber-that entraps the laser beam as its fundamental optical mode and guides it through the medium without diverging.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This behavior is significant because the interactions between self-trapped beams typically rely on the overlap of the optical fields and therefore decrease exponentially with Δx. For example, it has been shown that selftrapped beams in a photopolymer did not interact when separated by four times the beam width (45). Although there are multiple examples of nonlocal photoresponses based on the diffusion of heat, matter, or charge carriers, there are only two previous experimental examples of long-range interactions between selftrapped beams (9,10).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our theoretical model provides valuable mechanistic insight into these interactions, by coupling photoisomerization to osmotic-pressure-driven contraction of the gel. In conventional nonlinear materials (1)(2)(3)(4)(16)(17)(18)(19), self-trapping suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages: 1) the need for large incident beam powers (∼watt) (19), 2) presence of an external field (16,17), 3) loss of beam interactions at distances beyond the overlap of their electromagnetic fields (2, 13), and 4) it is slow and irreversible (11,45). In contrast, the presented materials system demonstrates highly efficient selftrapping 1) at small, easily accessible (∼milliwatt) beam powers, 2) under ambient conditions; it is 3) rapid (∼50 s), 4) fully reversible at relatively fast timescales (∼100 s), and shows 5) sustained repeatability over multiple cycles (at least ∼50) and 6) almost instantaneous beam interactions for separation distances up to 10 beam widths.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Opto-chemo-mechanical transduction in photoresponsive gels elicits switchable self-trapped beams with remote interactions

Morim

Meeks

Shastri

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Next-generation photonics envisions circuitry-free, rapidly reconfigurable systems powered by solitonic beams of self-trapped light and their particlelike interactions. Progress, however, has been limited by the need for reversibly responsive materials that host such nonlinear optical waves. We find that repeatedly switchable self-trapped visible laser beams, which exhibit strong pairwise interactions, can be generated in a photoresponsive hydrogel. Through comprehensive experiments and simulations, we show that the unique nonlinear conditions arise when photoisomerization of spiropyran substituents in pH-responsive poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) hydrogel transduces optical energy into mechanical deformation of the 3D cross-linked hydrogel matrix. A Gaussian beam self-traps when localized isomerization-induced contraction of the hydrogel and expulsion of water generates a transient waveguide, which entraps the optical field and suppresses divergence. The waveguide is erased and reformed within seconds when the optical field is sequentially removed and reintroduced, allowing the self-trapped beam to be rapidly and repeatedly switched on and off at remarkably low powers in the milliwatt regime. Furthermore, this opto-chemo-mechanical transduction of energy mediated by the 3D cross-linked hydrogel network facilitates pairwise interactions between self-trapped beams both in the short range where there is significant overlap of their optical fields, and even in the long range––over separation distances of up to 10 times the beam width––where such overlap is negligible.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Opto-chemo-mechanical transduction in photoresponsive gels elicits switchable self-trapped beams with remote interactions

Morim

Meeks

Shastri

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The phenomenological model, Eq. (2), is used because it is simple and the resulting predictions have been shown to agree reasonably well with the experimental results [18,[31][32][33].…”

Section: Self-written Waveguide Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this work, the phenomenological model developed can be used to predict both the evolution of the light intensity distribution and the channel formation inside the material during the exposure [19,32,33]. The results obtained using the improved model provide a more detailed description of the waveguide evolution.…”

Section: Self-written Waveguide Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Trajectory Manipulations Using the Self-Written Waveguides Technique

Malallah¹,

Cassidy²,

Wan³

et al. 2019

Preprint

Self Cite

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In this paper, first the Self-Written Waveguide (SWW) process in wet photopolymer media (liquid solutions), are examined for three examples: single-, counter-, and co-fibers exposure. Then the SWWs formed inside solid material are examined including the effects of manipulating the alignment of the fibers. In all cases high precision measurements are used to position the fiber optic cables (FOCs) before exposure using a microscope. The self-writing process is indirectly monitored by observing (imaging) the light emerging from the side of the material sample during SWW formation. In this way the optical waveguide trajectories formed in an Acrylamide/Polyvinyl Alcohol (AA/PVA) a photopolymer material (sensitized at 532 nm) are examined. First the transmission of light by this material is characterized. Then the bending and merging of the waveguides which occur are investigated. The predictions of our model are shown to qualitatively agree with the observed trajectories. The largest index changes taking place at any time during the exposure, i.e. during SWW formation, are shown to take place at the positions where the largest exposure light intensity is present. Typically, such maxima exist close to the input face and the first maximum is referred to as the location of the Primary Eye. Other local maxima also appear further along the SWW and are referred to as Secondary Eyes, i.e. deeper within the material.

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Optical and mechanical properties of self-written polymer waveguide between single mode optical fibers using UV photocurable monomer system

Mohammed

2020

European Polymer Journal

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Controlling the trajectories of self-written waveguides in photopolymer

Cited by 17 publications

References 62 publications

Opto-chemo-mechanical transduction in photoresponsive gels elicits switchable self-trapped beams with remote interactions

Opto-chemo-mechanical transduction in photoresponsive gels elicits switchable self-trapped beams with remote interactions

Optical Trajectory Manipulations Using the Self-Written Waveguides Technique

Optical and mechanical properties of self-written polymer waveguide between single mode optical fibers using UV photocurable monomer system

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