This edition contains carefully selected contributions by leading scientists in high-resolution laser spectroscopy, quantum optics and laser physics. Emphasis is given to ultrafast laser phenomena, implementations of frequency combs, precision spectroscopy and high resolution metrology. Furthermore, applications of the fundamentals of quantum mechanics are widely covered. This book is dedicated to Nobel prize winner Theodor W. Hansch on the occasion of his 75th birthday. The contributions are reprinted from a topical collection published in Applied Physics B, 2016. Selected contributions are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com. Please see the copyright page for further details.

This book presents the principles, experimental technologies, up-to-date research findings and applications of various optical-computing technologies and devices. It also discusses semiconductor multiple quantum well (MQW) photoelectronic devices, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), lasers, micro optical elements and diffractive optical elements, optical storage, optical parallel interconnections, and optical-buffer technology as the main technologies for optical computing. Furthermore, it explores the potential of optical-computing technology. It offers those involved in optical design, photonics, and photoelectronic research and related industries insights into the fundamentals and theories of optical computing, enabling them and to extend and develop the functions of fundamental elements to meet the requirement of optical-computing systems.

This book tells you all you want to know about optical fibers: Their structure, their light-guiding mechanism, their material and manufacture, their use. It began with telephone, then came telefax and email. Today we use search engines, music downloads and internet videos, all of which require shuffling of bits and bytes by the zillions. The key to all this is the conduit: the line which is designed to carry massive amounts of data at breakneck speed. In their data carrying capacity optical fiber lines beat all other technologies (copper cable, microwave beacons, satellite links) hands down, at least in the long haul; wireless devices rely on fibers, too. Several effects tend to degrade the signal as it travels down the fiber: they are spelled out in detail. Nonlinear processes are given due consideration for a twofold reason: On the one hand they are fundamentally different from the more familiar processes in electrical cable. On the other hand, they form the basis of particularly interesting and innovative applications, provided they are understood well enough. A case in point is the use of so-called solitons, i.e. special pulses of light which have the wonderful property of being able to heal after perturbation. The book will take you from the physical basics of ray and beam optics, explain fiber structure and the functions of optical elements, and bring you to the forefront of both applications and research. The state of the art of high speed data transmission is described, and the use of fiber optic sensors in metrology is treated. The book is written in a pedagogical style so that students of both physics and electrical engineering, as well as technicians and engineers involved in optical technologies, will benefit. The new edition is largely updated and has new sections on nonlinear phenomena in fibers as well as on the latest trends in applications.

This book introduces senior-level and postgraduate students to the principles and applications of biophotonics. It also serves as a valuable reference resource or as a short-course textbook for practicing physicians, clinicians, biomedical researchers, healthcare professionals, and biomedical engineers and technicians dealing with the design, development, and application of photonics components and instrumentation to biophotonics issues. The topics include the fundamentals of optics and photonics, the optical properties of biological tissues, light-tissue interactions, microscopy for visualizing tissue components, spectroscopy for optically analyzing the properties of tissue, and optical biomedical imaging. It also describes tools and techniques such as laser and LED optical sources, photodetectors, optical fibers, bioluminescent probes for labeling cells, optical-based biosensors, surface plasmon resonance, and lab-on-a-chip technologies. Among the applications are optical coherence tomography (OCT), optical imaging modalities, photodynamic therapy (PDT), photobiostimulation or low-level light therapy (LLLT), diverse microscopic and spectroscopic techniques, tissue characterization, laser tissue ablation, optical trapping, and optogenetics. Worked examples further explain the material and how it can be applied to practical designs, and the homework problems help test readers' understanding of the text.

This book presents emerging contemporary optical techniques of ultrafast science which have opened entirely new vistas for probing biological entities and processes. The spectrum reaches from time-resolved imaging and multiphoton microscopy to cancer therapy and studies of DNA damage. The book displays interdisciplinary research at the interface of physics and biology. Emerging topics on the horizon are also discussed, like the use of squeezed light, frequency combs and terahertz imaging as the possibility of mimicking biological systems. The book is written in a manner to make it readily accessible to researchers, postgraduate biologists, chemists, engineers, and physicists and students of optics, biomedical optics, photonics and biotechnology.

This book provides comprehensive, state-of-the art coverage of photorefractive organic compounds, a class of material with the ability to change their index of refraction upon illumination. The change is both dynamic and reversible. Dynamic because no external processing is required for the index modulation to be revealed, and reversible because the index change can be modified or suppressed by altering the illumination pattern. These properties make photorefractive materials very attractive candidates for many applications such as image restoration, correlation, beam conjugation, non-destructive testing, data storage, imaging through scattering media, holographic imaging and display. The field of photorefractive organic material is also closely related to organic photovoltaic and light emitting diode (OLED), which makes new discoveries in one field applicable to others.

This thesis presents a systematic discussion of experimental approaches to investigating the nonlinear interaction of ultrashort visible strong fields with dielectrics directly in the time domain. The key finding is the distinctly different peak-intensity dependence of the light-matter energy transfer dynamics on the one hand, and the observed transient optical and electronic modifications on the other. As the induced electron dynamics evolve on sub-femtosecond timescales, real-time spectroscopy requires attosecond temporal resolution. This allows a range of parameters to be identified where the optical properties of the samples exposed to ultrashort light fields suffer dramatic changes allowing signal metrology while real absorption leading to dissipation is essentially absent. These findings indicate the feasibility of efficient optical switching at frequencies several orders of magnitude faster than current state-of-the-art electronics and thus have far-reaching technological consequences.

This thesis reveals the utility of pursuing a statistical physics approach in the description of wave interactions in multimode optical systems. To that end, the appropriate Hamiltonian models are derived and their limits of applicability are discussed. The versatility of the framework allows the characterization of ordered and disordered lasers in open and closed cavities in a unified scheme, from standard mode-locking to random lasers. With the use of replica method and Monte Carlo simulations, the models are categorized on the basis of universal properties, and nontrivial predictions of experimental relevance are obtained. In particular, the approach makes it possible to nonperturbatively treat the interplay between disorder and nonlinearity and to envisage novel and fascinating physical phenomena such as glassy random lasers, providing a novel way to experimentally investigate replica symmetry breaking.

This book on advanced optoisolation circuits for nonlinearity applications in engineering addresses two separate engineering and scientific areas, and presents advanced analysis methods for optoisolation circuits that cover a broad range of engineering applications. The book analyzes optoisolation circuits as linear and nonlinear dynamical systems and their limit cycles, bifurcation, and limit cycle stability by using Floquet theory. Further, it discusses a broad range of bifurcations related to optoisolation systems: cusp-catastrophe, Bautin bifurcation, Andronov-Hopf bifurcation, Bogdanov-Takens (BT) bifurcation, fold Hopf bifurcation, Hopf-Hopf bifurcation, Torus bifurcation (Neimark-Sacker bifurcation), and Saddle-loop or Homoclinic bifurcation. Floquet theory helps as to analyze advance optoisolation systems. Floquet theory is the study of the stability of linear periodic systems in continuous time. Another way to describe Floquet theory, it is the study of linear systems of differential equations with periodic coefficients. The optoisolation system displays a rich variety of dynamical behaviors including simple oscillations, quasi-periodicity, bi-stability between periodic states, complex periodic oscillations (including the mixed-mode type), and chaos. The route to chaos in this optoisolation system involves a torus attractor which becomes destabilized and breaks up into a fractal object, a strange attractor. The book is unique in its emphasis on practical and innovative engineering applications. These include optocouplers in a variety of topological structures, passive components, conservative elements, dissipative elements, active devices, etc. In each chapter, the concept is developed from the basic assumptions up to the final engineering outcomes. The scientific background is explained at basic and advanced levels and closely integrated with mathematical theory. The book is primarily intended for newcomers to linear and nonlinear dynamics and advanced optoisolation circuits, as well as electrical and electronic engineers, students and researchers in physics who read the first book "Optoisolation Circuits Nonlinearity Applications in Engineering". It is ideally suited for engineers who have had no formal instruction in nonlinear dynamics, but who now desire to bridge the gap between innovative optoisolation circuits and advanced mathematical analysis methods.

This book presents some of the latest achievements in nanotechnology and nanomaterials from leading researchers in Ukraine, Europe, and beyond. It features contributions from participants in the 3rd International Science and Practice Conference Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials (NANO2015) held in Lviv, Ukraine on August 26-30, 2015. The International Conference was organized jointly by the Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, University of Tartu (Estonia), Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine), University of Turin (Italy), Pierre and Marie Curie University (France), and European Profiles A.E. (Greece). Internationally recognized experts from a wide range of universities and research institutions share their knowledge and key results on topics ranging from nanooptics, nanoplasmonics, and interface studies to energy storage and biomedical applications.

This book focuses on a novel phenomenon named photon breeding. It is applied to realizing light-emitting diodes and lasers made of indirect-transition-type silicon bulk crystals in which the light-emission principle is based on dressed photons. After presenting physical pictures of dressed photons and dressed-photon phonons, the principle of light emission by using dressed-photon phonons is reviewed. A novel phenomenon named photon breeding is also reviewed. Next, the fabrication and operation of light emitting diodes and lasers are described The role of coherent phonons in these devices is discussed. Finally, light-emitting diodes using other relevant crystals are described and other relevant devices are also reviewed.

This book deals with standard spectroscopic techniques which can be used to analyze semiconductor samples or devices, in both, bulk, micrometer and submicrometer scale. The book aims helping experimental physicists and engineers to choose the right analytical spectroscopic technique in order to get specific information about their specific demands. For this purpose, the techniques including technical details such as apparatus and probed sample region are described. More important, also the expected outcome from experiments is provided. This involves also the link to theory, that is not subject of this book, and the link to current experimental results in the literature which are presented in a review-like style. Many special spectroscopic techniques are introduced and their relationship to the standard techniques is revealed. Thus the book works also as a type of guide or reference book for people researching in optical spectroscopy of semiconductors.

This thesis focuses on a means of obtaining, for the first time, full electromagnetic imaging of photonic nanostructures. The author also develops a unique practical simulation framework which is used to confirm the results. The development of innovative photonic devices and metamaterials with tailor-made functionalities depends critically on our capability to characterize them and understand the underlying light-matter interactions. Thus, imaging all components of the electromagnetic light field at nanoscale resolution is of paramount importance in this area. This challenge is answered by demonstrating experimentally that a hollow-pyramid aperture probe SNOM can directly image the horizontal magnetic field of light in simple plasmonic antennas - rod, disk and ring. These results are confirmed by numerical simulations, showing that the probe can be approximated, to first order, by a magnetic point-dipole source. This approximation substantially reduces the simulation time and complexity and facilitates the otherwise controversial interpretation of near-field images. The validated technique is used to study complex plasmonic antennas and to explore new opportunities for their engineering and characterization.

This book describes the newest implementations of integrated photodiodes fabricated in nanometer standard CMOS technologies. It also includes the required fundamentals, the state-of-the-art, and the design of high-performance laser drivers, transimpedance amplifiers, equalizers, and limiting amplifiers fabricated in nanometer CMOS technologies. This book shows the newest results for the performance of integrated optical receivers, laser drivers, modulator drivers and optical sensors in nanometer standard CMOS technologies. Nanometer CMOS technologies rapidly advanced, enabling the implementation of integrated optical receivers for high data rates of several Giga-bits per second and of high-pixel count optical imagers and sensors. In particular, low cost silicon CMOS optoelectronic integrated circuits became very attractive because they can be extensively applied to short-distance optical communications, such as local area network, chip-to-chip and board-to-board interconnects as well as to imaging and medical sensors.

This book is devoted to theoretical methods used in the extreme circumstances of very strong electromagnetic fields. The development of high power lasers, ultrafast processes, manipulation of electromagnetic fields and the use of very fast charged particles interacting with other charges requires an adequate theoretical description. Because of the very strong electromagnetic field, traditional theoretical approaches, which have primarily a perturbative character, have to be replaced by descriptions going beyond them. In the book an extension of the semi-classical radiation theory and classical dynamics for particles is performed to analyze single charged atoms and dipoles submitted to electromagnetic pulses. Special attention is given to the important problem of field reaction and controlling dynamics of charges by an electromagnetic field.

This book introduces the fascinating world of plasmonics and physics at the nanoscale, with a focus on simulations and the theoretical aspects of optics and nanotechnology. A research field with numerous applications, plasmonics bridges the gap between the micrometer length scale of light and the secrets of the nanoworld. This is achieved by binding light to charge density oscillations of metallic nanostructures, so-called surface plasmons, which allow electromagnetic radiation to be focussed down to spots as small as a few nanometers. The book is a snapshot of recent and ongoing research and at the same time outlines our present understanding of the optical properties of metallic nanoparticles, ranging from the tunability of plasmonic resonances to the ultrafast dynamics of light-matter interaction. Beginning with a gentle introduction that highlights the basics of plasmonic interactions and plasmon imaging, the author then presents a suitable theoretical framework for the description of metallic nanostructures. This model based on this framework is first solved analytically for simple systems, and subsequently through numerical simulations for more general cases where, for example, surface roughness, nonlinear and nonlocal effects or metamaterials are investigated.

This book introduces the basic framework of advanced focal plane technology based on the third-generation infrared focal plane concept. The essential concept, research advances, and future trends in advanced sensor arrays are comprehensively reviewed. Moreover, the book summarizes recent research advances in HgCdTe/AlGaN detectors for the infrared/ultraviolet waveband, with a particular focus on the numerical method of detector design, material epitaxial growth and processing, as well as Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Transistor readout circuits. The book offers a unique resource for all graduate students and researchers interested in the technologies of focal plane arrays or electro-optical imaging sensors.

This book gives guidance to solve problems in electromagnetics, providing both examples of solving serious research problems as well as the original results to encourage further investigations. The book contains seven chapters on various aspects of resonant wave scattering, each solving one original problem. All of them are unified by the authors' desire to show advantages of rigorous approaches at all stages, from the formulation of a problem and the selection of a method to the interpretation of results. The book reveals a range of problems associated with wave propagation and scattering in natural and artificial environments or with the design of antennas elements. The authors invoke both theoretical (analytical and numerical) and experimental techniques for handling the problems. Attention is given to mathematical simulations, computational efficiency, and physical interpretation of the experimental results. The book is written for students, graduate students and young researchers.

This is a concise introduction into optical fiber communication. It covers important aspects from the physics of optical wave propagation and amplification to the essentials of modulation formats and receivers. The combination of a solid coverage of necessary fundamental theory with an in-depth discussion of recent relevant research results enables the reader to design modern optical fiber communication systems. The book serves both graduate students and professionals. It includes many worked examples with solutions for lecturers. For the second edition, Reinhold Noe made many changes and additions throughout the text so that this concise book presents the essentials of optical fiber communication in an easy readable and understandable way.

This book serves as a comprehensive, up-to-date reference about this cutting-edge laser technology and its many new and interesting developments. Various aspects and trends of Raman fiber lasers are described in detail by experts in their fields. Raman fiber lasers have progressed quickly in the past decade, and have emerged as a versatile laser technology for generating high power light sources covering a spectral range from visible to mid-infrared. The technology is already being applied in the fields of telecommunication, astronomy, cold atom physics, laser spectroscopy, environmental sensing, and laser medicine. This book covers various topics relating to Raman fiber laser research, including power scaling, cladding and diode pumping, cascade Raman shifting, single frequency operation and power amplification, mid-infrared laser generation, specialty optical fibers, and random distributed feedback Raman fiber lasers. The book will appeal to scientists, students, and technicians seeking to understand the recent developments and future trends of this promising and multifaceted technology.

Nanotechnology is the art, science, and engineering of designing materials, devices, and systems at the nanoscale from bottom-up and/or top-down approaches. The material properties at the nanoscale are governed by quantum mechanics, and hence are drastically different than those at the macro/micro scale. It is thus no surprise, that nanotechnology has led to a scientific and technological revolution. This book provides a gentle introduction to the field of nanotechnology for first-year undergraduate students. It not only covers the fundamental scientific concepts in a tutorial fashion, but also provides an overview of applications in nanoelectronics, spintronics, nanophotonics, nanofabrication and nanocharacterization. End of chapter research assignments focus on nanomanufacturing, computing and communication, renewable energy, defense applications, food processing and agriculture, automobile and aerospace technology, nanobiotechnology and bionanotechnology, industrial and consumer applications. Finally, the topics related to safety, health, and societal impact of nanotechnology are discussed.

Laser-Beam Interactions with Materials treats, from a physicist's point of view, the wide variety of processes that lasers can induce in materials. Physical phenomena ranging from optics to shock waves are discussed, as are applications in such diverse fields as semiconductor annealing, hole drilling and fusion plasma production. The approach taken emphasizes the fundamental ideas and their interrelations. The newcomer is given the necessary important background material, while the active research worker finds a critical and comprehensive review of the field.

This collection of the selected papers presented to the Second International Conference on Photonics, Optics and laser technology PHOTOPTICS 2014 covers the three main conference scientific areas of "Optics", "Photonics" and "Lasers". The selected papers, in two classes full and short, result from a double blind review carried out by conference Program Committee members who are highly qualified experts in the conference topic areas.

This book presents original findings on tunable microwave metamaterial structures, and describes the theoretical and practical issues involved in the design of metamaterial devices. Special emphasis is given to tunable elements and their advantages in terms of feeding network simplification. Different biasing schemes and feeding network topologies are presented, together with extensive prototype measurements and simulations. The book describes a novel, unique solution for beam steering and beam forming applications, and thus paves the way for the diffusion of new agile communication system components. At the same time, it provides readers with an outstanding and timely review of wave propagation in periodic structures, tunability of metamaterials and the technological constraints that need to be considered in the design of reconfigurable microwave components.

At the heart of this thesis is the young field of free electron laser science, whose experimental and theoretical basics are described here in a comprehensible manner. Extremely bright and ultra short pulses from short wavelength free-electron lasers (FELs) have recently opened the path to new fields of research. The x-ray flashes transform all matter into highly excited plasma states within femtoseconds, while their high spatial and temporal resolution allows the study of fast processes in very small structures. Even imaging of single molecules may be within reach if ultrafast radiation damage can be understood and brought under control. Atomic clusters have proven to be ideal model systems for light-matter interaction studies in all wavelength regimes, being size scalable, easy-to-produce gas phase targets with a simple structure. With FELs, "single cluster imaging and simultaneous ion spectroscopy" makes possible experiments under extremely well defined initial conditions, because the size of the cluster and the FEL intensity can be extracted from the scattering images. For the first time large xenon clusters up to micron radius were generated. Their single cluster scattering images were analyzed for cluster morphology and traces of the ultrafast plasma built-up during the femtosecond FEL pulse. The simultaneously measured single cluster ion spectra yield unprecedented insight into the ion dynamics following the interaction. The results will feed both future experimental effort and theoretical modeling.