This thesis presents first successful experiments to carrier-envelope-phase stabilize a high-power mode-locked thin-disk oscillator and to compress the pulses emitted from this laser to durations of only a few-optical cycles. Moreover, the monograph introduces several methods to achieve power-scalability of compression and stabilization techniques. All experimental approaches are compared in detail and may serve as a guideline for developing high-power waveform controlled, few-cycle light sources which offer tremendous potential to exploit extreme nonlinear optical effects at unprecedentedly high repetition rates and to establish table-top infrared light sources with a unique combination of brilliance and bandwidth. As an example, the realization of a multi-Watt, multi-octave spanning, mid-infrared femtosecond source is described. The thesis starts with a basic introduction to the field of ultrafast laser oscillators. It subsequently presents additional details of previously published research results and establishes a connection between them. It therefore addresses both newcomers to, and experts in the field of high-power ultrafast laser development.

This book brings together reviews by internationally renowed experts on quantum optics and photonics. It describes novel experiments at the limit of single photons, and presents advances in this emerging research area. It also includes reprints and historical descriptions of some of the first pioneering experiments at a single-photon level and nonlinear optics, performed before the inception of lasers and modern light detectors, often with the human eye serving as a single-photon detector. The book comprises 19 chapters, 10 of which describe modern quantum photonics results, including single-photon sources, direct measurement of the photon's spatial wave function, nonlinear interactions and non-classical light, nanophotonics for room-temperature single-photon sources, time-multiplexed methods for optical quantum information processing, the role of photon statistics in visual perception, light-by-light coherent control using metamaterials, nonlinear nanoplasmonics, nonlinear polarization optics, and ultrafast nonlinear optics in the mid-infrared.

This book serves as a self-contained reference source for engineers, materials scientists, and physicists with an interest in relaxation phenomena. It is made accessible to students and those new to the field by the inclusion of both elementary and advanced math techniques, as well as chapter opening summaries that cover relevant background information and enhance the book's pedagogical value. These summaries cover a wide gamut from elementary to advanced topics. The book is divided into three parts. The opening part, on mathematics, presents the core techniques and approaches. Parts II and III then apply the mathematics to electrical relaxation and structural relaxation, respectively. Part II discusses relaxation of polarization at both constant electric field (dielectric relaxation) and constant displacement (conductivity relaxation), topics that are not often discussed together. Part III primarily discusses enthalpy relaxation of amorphous materials within and below the glass transition temperature range. It takes a practical approach inspired by applied mathematics in which detailed rigorous proofs are eschewed in favor of describing practical tools that are useful to scientists and engineers. Derivations are however given when these provide physical insight and/or connections to other material. A self-contained reference on relaxation phenomena Details both the mathematical basis and applications For engineers, materials scientists, and physicists

This book offers a complete guide to designing Linear Fresnel Reflector Systems for concentrating solar radiation. It includes theoretical analyses, computational tools and mathematical formulae to facilitate the development, design, construction and application of these systems. In addition, the book presents a concise yet thorough treatment of the theory behind these systems, and provides useful and efficient calculation procedures that can be used to model and develop their practical applications. Along with the theoretical analyses provided in the book, the physical background is explained using mathematical formulae, illustrations, graphs and tables. Methods are presented for solving the non-linear mathematical systems that describe a significant variety of cases. In addition, MATLAB codes are supplied (both in the text and online). Consequently, readers interested in applying the methodology presented here will have all the source codes at hand, allowing them to easily expand on them by introducing appropriate modifications for their respective design configuration. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to engineers and researchers, who can use their scientific background to help them develop more energy-efficient Linear Fresnel Reflector systems. It will also appeal to students studying these systems for the first time, as it supplies a comprehensive overview of their theoretical analysis and applications.

This volume comprises chapters on the cutting-edge research in photonics undertaken at IIT Kanpur. Photonics requires scientists and engineers to work closely together in addressing challenges which are interdisciplinary in nature. At IIT Kanpur, research is being pursued in several key areas of photonics namely fiber-optics, nanophotonics, quantum optics, optical spectroscopy and imaging, biophotonics, and photonic devices. This volume brings together contributions from experts to obtain a contemporary perspective in photonics research. The reader will find articles about coherent optical communications, novel photonic nanostructures, nano-structured materials for light control, optical tweezers with nanoscale applications, quantum coherence and entanglement, photodiode arrays and quantum metrology. The volume also includes chapters on cancer diagnostics with optical tomography, protein fluctuations at microsecond scale at single-molecule level, and visualization of motion in a droplet which are interdisciplinary in nature. The contents of this book will be of use to researchers, students, and professionals working across all domains of photonics.

The research in this book represents the culmination of a drive to build the first discharge gas laser unencumbered by the effects of diffraction. This breakthrough has been achieved through careful implementation of a discharge within a hollow-core optical fibre, and by developing measurement and analysis techniques to demonstrate laser action in an experimental optical cavity. Gas lasers were amongst the earliest laser types to be demonstrated and commercialised, but it was recognised that noble gas lasers were limited by the minimum bore diameter of the laser tube, which is set by diffraction. The advent, in 2011, of hollow optical fibres with optical and physical properties suitable for gas discharge lasers opened up the opportunity to break this diffraction limit. Using a mixture of helium and xenon gas, lasing in the mid-infrared range was achieved using a 100m core flexible hollow optical fibre which, at 1m long, is several hundred times the diffraction-limited Rayleigh length.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry Collections presents critical reviews from the journal Topics in Current Chemistry organized in topical volumes. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field.

The book systematically introduces the visible light communication (VLC) technology in detail. Basic concepts and how to realize the system are both illustrated, including the transmitter, channel, and the receiver. In addition, a good many experimental results are presented to help readers further understand the VLC technologies. The upper-layer protocols of visible light communication system and the technology trends are also discussed. This book can be a good reference work for researchers, engineers, and graduate students in the fields of communications, LED, and optics.

This book focuses on the development and implementation of the longitudinal, angular and frequency controls of the Advanced Virgo detector, both from the simulation and experimental point of view, which contributed to Virgo reaching a sensitivity that enabled it to join the LIGO-Virgo O2 run in August 2017. This data taking was very successful, with the first direct detection of a binary black hole merger (GW170814) using the full network of three interferometers, and the first detection and localization of a binary neutron star merger (GW170817). The second generation of gravitational wave detector, Advanced Virgo, is capable of detecting differential displacements of the order of 10-21m. This means that it is highly sensitive to any disturbance, including the seismic movement of the Earth. For this reason an active control is necessary to keep the detector in place with sufficient accuracy.

The book covers recent advances and progress in understanding both the fundamental science of lasers interactions in materials science, as well as a special emphasis on emerging applications enabled by the irradiation of materials by pulsed laser systems. The different chapters illustrate how, by careful control of the processing conditions, laser irradiation can result in efficient material synthesis, characterization, and fabrication at various length scales from atomically-thin 2D materials to microstructured periodic surface structures. This book serves as an excellent resource for all who employ lasers in materials science, spanning such different disciplines as photonics, photovoltaics, and sensing, to biomedical applications.

This book presents a survey of modern theoretical techniques in studies of radiative transfer and light scattering phenomena in turbid media. It offers a comprehensive analysis of polarized radiative transfer, and also discusses advances in planetary spectroscopy as far as aerosol layer height determination is of interest. Further, it describes approximate methods of the radiative transfer equation solution for a special case of strongly scattering media. A separate chapter focuses on optical properties of Black Carbon aggregates.

This book presents some of the latest achievements in nanotechnology and nanomaterials from leading researchers in Ukraine, Europe, and beyond. It features selected peer-reviewed contributions from participants in the 5th International Science and Practice Conference Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials (NANO2017) held in Chernivtsi, Ukraine on August 23-26, 2017. The International Conference was organized jointly by the Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine), University of Tartu (Estonia), University of Turin (Italy), and Pierre and Marie Curie University (France). Internationally recognized experts from a wide range of universities and research institutions share their knowledge and key results on topics ranging from nanooptics and nanoplasmonics to interface studies. This book's companion volume also addresses topics such as energy storage and biomedical applications.

This book is focused on the study of physical mechanisms and device design for achieving high-performance infrared photodetection based on low-dimensional materials. Through theory analysis, material characterization and photo-electric measurements, it provides solutions to the trade-off problems which are commonly encountered in traditional infrared photodetectors and presents novel methods to improve the responsivity, detectivity and response speed. Researchers and scientists in the field of opto-electronic device can benefit from the book.

The science and technology related to semiconductors have received significant attention for applications in various fields including microelectronics, nanophotonics, and biotechnologies. Understanding of semiconductors has advanced to such a level that we are now able to design novel system complexes before we go for the proof-of-principle experimental demonstration. This book explains the experimental setups for optical spectral analysis of semiconductors and describes the experimental methods and the basic quantum mechanical principles underlying the fast-developing nanotechnology for semiconductors. Further, it uses numerous case studies with detailed theoretical discussions and calculations to demonstrate the data analysis. Covering structures ranging from bulk to the nanoscale, it examines applications in the semiconductor industry and biomedicine. Starting from the most basic physics of geometric optics, wave optics, quantum mechanics, solid-state physics, it provides a self-contained resource on the subject for university undergraduates. The book can be further used as a toolbox for researching and developing semiconductor nanotechnology based on spectroscopy.

This book provides a basic understanding of spectroscopic ellipsometry, with a focus on characterization methods of a broad range of solar cell materials/devices, from traditional solar cell materials (Si, CuInGaSe2, and CdTe) to more advanced emerging materials (Cu2ZnSnSe4, organics, and hybrid perovskites), fulfilling a critical need in the photovoltaic community. The book describes optical constants of a variety of semiconductor light absorbers, transparent conductive oxides and metals that are vital for the interpretation of solar cell characteristics and device simulations. It is divided into four parts: fundamental principles of ellipsometry; characterization of solar cell materials/structures; ellipsometry applications including optical simulations of solar cell devices and online monitoring of film processing; and the optical constants of solar cell component layers.

This book is an introduction to techniques and applications of optical methods for materials Characterization in civil and environmental engineering. Emphasizing chemical sensing and diagnostics, it is written for students and researchers studying the physical and chemical processes in manmade or natural materials. Optical Phenomenology and Applications - Health Monitoring for Infrastructure Materials and the Environment, describes the utility of optical-sensing technologies in applications that include monitoring of transport processes and reaction chemistries in materials of the infrastructure and the subsurface environment. Many of the applications reviewed will address long standing issues in infrastructure health monitoring such as the alkali silica reaction, the role of pH in materials degradation, and the remote and inset characterization of the subsurface environment. The remarkable growth in photonics has contributed immensely to transforming bench-top optical instruments to compact field deployable systems. This has also contributed to optical sensors for environmental sensing and infrastructure health monitoring. Application of optical waveguides and full field imaging for civil and environmental engineering application is introduced and chemical and physical recognition strategies are presented; this is followed by range of filed deployable applications. Emphasizing system robustness, and long-term durability, examples covered include in-situ monitoring of transport phenomena, imaging degradation chemistries, and remote sensing of the subsurface ground water.

This book summarizes the most recent and compelling experimental results for complex oxide interfaces. The results of this book were obtained with the cutting-edge photoemission technique at highest energy resolution. Due to their fascinating properties for new-generation electronic devices and the challenge of investigating buried regions, the book chiefly focuses on complex oxide interfaces. The crucial feature of exploring buried interfaces is the use of soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) operating on the energy range of a few hundred eV to increase the photoelectron mean free path, enabling the photons to penetrate through the top layers - in contrast to conventional ultraviolet (UV)-ARPES techniques. The results presented here, achieved by different research groups around the world, are summarized in a clearly structured way and discussed in comparison with other photoemission spectroscopy techniques and other oxide materials. They are complemented and supported by the most recent theoretical calculations as well as results of complementary experimental techniques including electron transport and inelastic resonant X-ray scattering.

This book lies at the interface of machine learning - a subfield of computer science that develops algorithms for challenging tasks such as shape or image recognition, where traditional algorithms fail - and photonics - the physical science of light, which underlies many of the optical communications technologies used in our information society. It provides a thorough introduction to reservoir computing and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Recently, photonic implementations of reservoir computing (a machine learning algorithm based on artificial neural networks) have made a breakthrough in optical computing possible. In this book, the author pushes the performance of these systems significantly beyond what was achieved before. By interfacing a photonic reservoir computer with a high-speed electronic device (an FPGA), the author successfully interacts with the reservoir computer in real time, allowing him to considerably expand its capabilities and range of possible applications. Furthermore, the author draws on his expertise in machine learning and FPGA programming to make progress on a very different problem, namely the real-time image analysis of optical coherence tomography for atherosclerotic arteries.

This book presents an in-depth treatment of various mathematical aspects of electromagnetism and Maxwell's equations: from modeling issues to well-posedness results and the coupled models of plasma physics (Vlasov-Maxwell and Vlasov-Poisson systems) and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). These equations and boundary conditions are discussed, including a brief review of absorbing boundary conditions. The focus then moves to well-posedness results. The relevant function spaces are introduced, with an emphasis on boundary and topological conditions. General variational frameworks are defined for static and quasi-static problems, time-harmonic problems (including fixed frequency or Helmholtz-like problems and unknown frequency or eigenvalue problems), and time-dependent problems, with or without constraints. They are then applied to prove the well-posedness of Maxwell's equations and their simplified models, in the various settings described above. The book is completed with a discussion of dimensionally reduced models in prismatic and axisymmetric geometries, and a survey of existence and uniqueness results for the Vlasov-Poisson, Vlasov-Maxwell and MHD equations. The book addresses mainly researchers in applied mathematics who work on Maxwell's equations. However, it can be used for master or doctorate-level courses on mathematical electromagnetism as it requires only a bachelor-level knowledge of analysis.

This new edition provides a state-of-the-art survey of ellipsometric methods used to study organic films and surfaces, from laboratory to synchrotron applications, with a special focus on in-situ use in processing environments and at solid-liquid interfaces. Thanks to the development of functional organic, meta- and hybrid materials for new optical, electronic, sensing and biotechnological devices, the ellipsometric analysis of optical and material properties has made tremendous strides over the past few years. The second edition has been updated to reflect the latest advances in ellipsometric methods. The new content focuses on the study of anisotropic materials, conjugated polymers, polarons, self-assembled monolayers, industrial membranes, adsorption of proteins, enzymes and RGD-peptides, as well as the correlation of ellipsometric spectra to structure and molecular interactions.

This book explores the new materials and the resultant new field of piezotronics. The growth and alignment of the zinc oxide nanostructures are discussed in detail because of its wide adoption in this field and its significance in optics, health, and sensing applications. The characterization of the piezotronic effect and how to distinguish it from other similar but, fundamentally different effects, like piezoresistive effect is also considered. The huge potential in the wearable and flexible devices, as well as organic materials, is further examined. The stain/stress sensing is introduced as an example of an application with piezotronic materials.

This book covers key theoretical and practical aspects of optics, photonics and lasers. It addresses optical instrumentation and metrology, photonic and optoelectronic materials and devices, nanophotonics, organic and bio-photonics and high-field phenomena. Researchers, engineers, students and practitioners interested in any of these fields will find a wealth of new methods, technologies, advanced prototypes, systems, tools and techniques, as well as general surveys outlining future directions.

This book gives a readable introduction to the important, rapidly developing, field of nanophotonics. It provides a quick understanding of the basic elements of the field, allowing students and newcomers to progress rapidly to the frontiers of their interests. Topics include: The basic mathematical techniques needed for the study of the materials of nanophotonic technology; photonic crystals and their applications as laser resonators, waveguides, and circuits of waveguides; the application of photonic crystals technology in the design of optical diodes and transistors; the basic properties needed for the design and understanding of new types of engineered materials known as metamaterials; and a consideration of how and why these engineered materials have been formulated in the lab, as well as their applications as negative refractive index materials, as perfect lens, as cloaking devices, and their effects on Cherenkov and other types of radiation. Additionally, the book introduces the new field of plasmonics and reviews its important features. The role of plasmon-polaritons in the scattering and transmission of light by rough surfaces and the enhanced transmission of light by plasmon-polariton supporting surfaces is addressed. The important problems of subwavelength resolution are treated with discussions of applications in a number of scientific fields. The basic principles of near-field optical microscopy are presented with a number of important applications. The basics of atomic cavity physics, photonic entanglement and its relation to some of the basic properties of quantum computing, and the physics associated with the study of optical lattices are presented.

This thesis combines advanced femtosecond laser micro/nanofabrication technologies and frontier bionic design principles to prepare diverse biomimetic micro/nanostructures to realize their functions. By studying the formation mechanism of the micro/nanostructures, the author identifies various artificial structural colors, three-dimensional micro/nanocage arrays, and fish-scale inspired microcone arrays in different processing environments. Multiple functions such as enhanced antireflection, hydrophobicity, and underwater superoleophobicity are achieved by precisely adjusting laser-machining parameters. This novel design and method have extensive potential applications in the context of new colorizing technologies, microfluidics, microsensors, and biomedicine.

In this book, the author describes the development of the experimental diffraction setup and structural analysis of non-crystalline particles from material science and biology. Recent advances in X-ray free electron laser (XFEL)-coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (CXDI) experiments allow for the structural analysis of non-crystalline particles to a resolution of 7 nm, and to a resolution of 20 nm for biological materials. Now XFEL-CXDI marks the dawn of a new era in structural analys of non-crystalline particles with dimensions larger than 100 nm, which was quite impossible in the 20th century. To conduct CXDI experiments in both synchrotron and XFEL facilities, the author has developed apparatuses, named KOTOBUKI-1 and TAKASAGO-6 for cryogenic diffraction experiments on frozen-hydrated non-crystalline particles at around 66 K. At the synchrotron facility, cryogenic diffraction experiments dramatically reduce radiation damage of specimen particles and allow tomography CXDI experiments. In addition, in XFEL experiments, non-crystalline particles scattered on thin support membranes and flash-cooled can be used to efficiently increase the rate of XFEL pulses. The rate, which depends on the number density of scattered particles and the size of X-ray beams, is currently 20-90%, probably the world record in XFEL-CXDI experiments. The experiment setups and results are introduced in this book. The author has also developed software suitable for efficiently processing of diffraction patterns and retrieving electron density maps of specimen particles based on the diffraction theory used in CXDI.