Elena D'Asaro

Parametric self-trapping in the presence of randomized quasi phase matching

We report on experimental evidence of parametric spatial solitons in a quadratic crystal with randomized periodic ferroelectric poling. Two-color self-focusing via quadratic cascading overcomes the diffractive nature of both fundamental and frequency-doubled beams.

Integrated optic surface plasmon resonance measurements in glass substrates

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique is an optical method that can be used to measure the refractive index of organic nano-layers adsorbed on a thin metal film. Although there are many techniques for measuring biomolecular interactions, SPR-based techniques play a central role in many current biosensing experiments, since they are most suited to sensitive and quantitative kinetic measurements. Here we give some results from the analysis and numerical elaboration of SPR data regarding the flow of different solutions with refractive indexes in the range of interest (1-1.4). After a brief discussion of the principles of SPR and of waveguide fabrication technique, we give a description of system setup and some results regarding the real time waveguide output intensity monitoring to measure the interaction between the gold thin film and the analyte.

Interaction of self-trapped beams in high index glass.

We observe attraction, repulsion and energy exchange between two self-trapped beams in a heavy-metal-oxide glass exhibiting a Kerr-like response with multiphoton absorption. The coherent interaction between spatial solitons is controlled by their relative phase and modelled by a nonlinear dissipative Schrödinger equation.

Stable Proton Exchanged Waveguides in Lithium Tantalate

alpha, beta1, and kappa2 phases are investigated for planar waveguide fabrication by proton exchange in congruent lithium tantalate. The effective indices of planar waveguide eigenmodes were monitored over time, revealing that the exchange process induces aging instabilities in all phases except alpha .

Interaction of Spatial Solitons in a High-Index Glass

Using near-infrared picosecond pulses we investigate spatial solitons and their coherent interaction in a dissipative Kerr-like glass with multiphoton absorption. The results are modelled by a dissipative nonlinear Schrodinger equation.