Chunxian Tao

Colored image produced with guided-mode resonance filter array

A method to reproduce colored images with a guided-mode resonance filter (GMRF) array is presented in this Letter. Because of their excellent characteristics, monochromatic light of the three primary colors with high purity can be achieved by using GMRF structures. Moreover, the primary colors are obtained without changing other GMRF parameters except the period, which could be realized easily with laser direct writing technology. The result shows that a colored image with high resolution and verisimilitude can be reproduced.

Electrically driving bandwidth tunable guided-mode resonance filter based on a twisted nematic liquid crystal polarization rotator

A novel bandwidth-tunable filter is proposed based on nonpolarizing guided-mode resonance effect. The compact, electrically driving bandwidth-tunable optical filter is realized by taking advantage of the effect of bandwidth-to-polarization sensitivity and using a twisted nematic liquid crystal polarization rotator for simple and precise polarization control. The operation principle and the design of the device are presented. The center wavelength is fixed at 623.1 nm with a relatively symmetric line shape. The full-width at half-maximum bandwidth is tuned from 12 to 44.8 nm by controlling the voltage in the polarization rotator.

Sensitivity of a Label-Free Guided-Mode Resonant Optical Biosensor with Different Modes

Sensitivity is a key factor in the performance of a sensor. To achieve maximum guided-mode resonant optical biosensor sensitivity, a comparison of biosensor sensitivity for Transverse Electric (TE) and Transverse Magnetic (TM) modes based on the distribution of electric fields is presented in this article. A label-free guided-mode resonant optical biosensor is designed using the quarter-wave anti-reflection method to reflect only a narrow band of wavelengths modulated by the adsorption of a biochemical material on the sensor surface at the reflected frequency. With the distribution of electric fields simulated according to the Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA) theory, it is found that the full width at half maximum of the TM mode is (∼4 nm) narrower than that of the TE mode (∼20 nm), and the surface sensitivity of the TE mode incident light is three times that of the TM mode. It is proposed in this article that the light mode plays an important role in the sensitivity of guided-mode resonant biosensors.

Tunable guided-mode resonant filter with wedged waveguide layer fabricated by masked ion beam etching.

A compact, tunable guided-mode resonant (GMR) filter whose spectral reflectance wavelength varies as a function of the spatial position on the device is experimentally demonstrated. The filter incorporates a wedge-shaped waveguide layer that is fabricated using masked ion beam etching (MIBE) technology. A ceramic plate mask consisting of an isosceles triangular window is placed between the ion source and the sample to achieve different etching times at difference locations on the film. The increment in the magnitude of the film thickness is approximately 50 nm over a length of 33 mm, which results in a primary reflectance peak whose spectral location spans the range of 684.2-725.3 nm. The device is designed using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method, and the proposed device is directed toward the practical application of GMR tunable filters.

Tunable optical limiting optofluidic device filled with graphene oxide dispersion in ethanol

An optofluidic device with tunable optical limiting property is proposed and demonstrated. The optofluidic device is designed for adjusting the concentration of graphene oxide (GO) in the ethanol solution and fabricated by photolithography technique. By controlling the flow rate ratio of the injection, the concentration of GO can be precisely adjusted so that the optical nonlinearity can be changed. The nonlinear optical properties and dynamic excitation relaxation of the GO/ethanol solution are investigated by using Z-scan and pump-probe measurements in the femtosecond regime within the 1.5 μm telecom band. The GO/ethanol solution presents ultrafast recovery time. Besides, the optical limiting property is in proportion to the concentration of the solution. Thus, the threshold power and the saturated power of the optical limiting property can be simply and efficiently manipulated by controlling the flow rate ratio of the injection. Furthermore, the amplitude regeneration is demonstrated by employing the proposed optofluidic device. The signal quality of intensity-impaired femtosecond pulse is significantly improved. The optofluidic device is compact and has long interaction length of optical field and nonlinear material. Heat can be dissipated in the solution and nonlinear material is isolated from other optical components, efficiently avoiding thermal damage and mechanical damage.

Tunable and Polarization-Independent Wedged Resonance Filter With 2D Crossed Grating

In this letter, a tunable and polarization-independent guided-mode resonance filter that has two-dimensional crossed grating on a wedged waveguide layer of Ta2O5 is fabricated and analysed for the communication band. The wedged waveguide layer is etched by the ion beam etching technique with a triangle-shaped mask, and the two-dimensional grating is made by holographic exposure technique. The measured spectra show that the filter can realize the property of polarization-independence at normal incidence. By the thickness gradient of the wedged layer, the filter is tunable in a range of 1599.9-1621.5 nm over a distance of 9 mm.

Optical bandpass/notch filter with independent tuning of wavelength and bandwidth based on a blazed diffraction grating

We propose a multifunctional optical filter based on a blazed diffraction grating. The optical filter can function as a bandpass filter or a notch filter. A theoretical model of the filter is built for analysis. Both bandwidth and wavelength of the filter can be independently and continuously tuned. In the experimental demonstration, the wavelength can be linearly tuned within the entire C-band and partial L-band. The bandwidths of the filter can be tuned from 1.3 to 6.4 nm (-3 dB bandwidth) and from 2.4 to 11.3 nm (-10 dB bandwidth) for bandpass function and from 6.9 to 11.9 nm (-3 dB bandwidth) and from 5.1 to 8.8 nm (-10 dB bandwidth) for band-stop function, respectively. The extinction ratio of more than 35 dB is achieved.

Calculation of the diffraction efficiency on concave gratings based on Fresnel–Kirchhoff’s diffraction formula

Fraunhofer diffraction formula cannot be applied to calculate the diffraction wave energy distribution of concave gratings like plane gratings because their grooves are distributed on a concave spherical surface. In this paper, a method based on the Kirchhoff diffraction theory is proposed to calculate the diffraction efficiency on concave gratings by considering the curvature of the whole concave spherical surface. According to this approach, each groove surface is divided into several limited small planes, on which the Kirchhoff diffraction field distribution is calculated, and then the diffraction field of whole concave grating can be obtained by superimposition. Formulas to calculate the diffraction efficiency of Rowland-type and flat-field concave gratings are deduced from practical applications. Experimental results showed strong agreement with theoretical computations. With the proposed method, light energy can be optimized to the expected diffraction wave range while implementing aberration-corrected design of concave gratings, particularly for the concave blazed gratings.

Size and distance dependent fluorescence enhancement of nanoporous gold

Nanoporous gold (NPG) has been reported to provide remarkable fluorescence enhancement of adjacent fluorophores due to the metal-enhanced fluorescence phenomenon (MEF), and the enhancement is related with the characteristic length of nanoporosity. To fully understand the effect of NPG on nearby fluorophores, it is desirable to study systems with well-defined metal-fluorophore distances. In this study we investigated the distance effect by using silica as the spacing layer between fluorophores and NPG. Originating from competition between plasmonic amplifying and metallic quenching, the dye molecule rhodamine 6G was best enhanced by 20-nm SiO2 coated nanoporous gold with the pore size of 36 nm, while the protein phycoerythrin was best enhanced by 15-nm SiO2 coated nanoporous gold with the pore size of 42 nm and the quantum dots were best enhanced by 20-nm SiO2 coated nanoporous gold with the pore size of 42 nm.

The Spectrum of Quantum Dots Film for UV CCD

A new kind of UV-responsive film with quantum dots (QDs) fabricated by a spin-coating method is proposed in this paper. In a previous study, the monolayer QDs film is deposited onto fused silica slides by the spin-coating way, which has some luminous problem. The introduction of composite QDs coating which adds PEDOT:PSS and poly-TPD films to the monolayer QDs film is found to have excellent performance. The reason can be that PEDOT:PSS and poly-TPD weaken the scattering and enhance the emitting of quantum dot fluorescence. The intensity of photoluminescence (PL) for composite QDs coating is dozens of times stronger than that for monolayer QDs film. Experiment results show that this composite coating has excellent fluorescent properties and emits a blue purple glow together a wide excitation spectrum field from 190 nm to 300 nm. The spectrum of the composite coating matches accurately with the detected zone of CCD, which achieves an outstanding UV-responsive coating for conventional silicon-based image sensors.