Rose M. Joseph

Direct time integration of Maxwell's equations in linear dispersive media with absorption for scattering and propagation of femtosecond electromagnetic pulses

We report the initial results for femtosecond pulse propagation and scattering interactions for a Lorentz medium obtained by a direct time integration of Maxwells equations. The computational approach provides reflection coefficients accurate to better than 6 parts in 10,000 over the frequency range of dc to 3 × 1016 Hz for a single 0.2-fs Gaussian pulse incident upon a Lorentz-medium half-space. New results for Sommerfeld and Brillouin precursors are shown and compared with previous analyses. The present approach is robust and permits two-dimensional and three-dimensional electromagnetic pulse propagation directly from the full-vector Maxwells equations.

FDTD Maxwell's equations models for nonlinear electrodynamics and optics

This paper summarizes algorithms which extend the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solution of Maxwells equations to nonlinear optics. The use of the FDTD in this field is novel. Previous modeling approaches were aimed at modeling optical-wave propagation in electrically long structures such as fibers and directional couplers, wherein the primary flow of energy is along a single principal direction. However, the FDTD is aimed at modeling compact structures having energy flow in arbitrary directions. Relative to previous methods, the FDTD achieves robustness by directly solving, for fundamental quantities, the optical E and H fields in space and time rather than performing asymptotic analyses or assuming paraxial propagation and nonphysical envelope functions. As a result, it is almost completely general. It permits accurate modeling of a broad variety of dispersive and nonlinear media used in emerging technologies such as micron-sized lasers and optical switches.

Computational modeling of femtosecond optical solitons from Maxwell's equations

An algorithm is developed that permits the direct time integration of full-vector nonlinear Maxwells equations. This capability permits the modeling of both linear and nonlinear instantaneous and dispersive effects in the electric polarization in material media. The modeling of the optical carrier is retained. The fundamental innovation is to notice that it is possible to treat the linear and nonlinear convolution integrals, which describe the dispersion, as new dependent variables. A coupled system of nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equations can then be derived for the linear and nonlinear convolution integrals, by differentiating them in the time domain. These equations, together with Maxwells equations, are solved to determine the electromagnetic fields in nonlinear dispersive media. Results are presented of calculations in one dimension of the propagation and collision of femtosecond electromagnetic solitons that retain the optical carrier, taking into account the Kerr and Raman interactions. >

Subpicosecond electrodynamics of distributed Bragg reflector microlasers: Results from finite difference time domain simulations

With advances in nanofabrication techniques leading to ever smaller and more intricate semiconductor laser structures, a detailed understanding of the electrodynamics of these micron-scale devices is required in order to optimize their design. The finite difference time domain (FD-TD) Maxwells equations solver holds much promise for providing highly realistic simulations of novel microcavity lasers. We have extended the FD-TD algorithm to include the effects of frequency-dependent gain and gain saturation. This approach and its application to the modeling of distributed Bragg reflector microlasers is presented.

Spatial soliton deflection mechanism indicated by FD-TD Maxwell's equations modeling

We present first-time calculations from the time-domain vector Maxwells equations of spatial optical soliton propagation and mutual deflection, including carrier waves, in a 2-D homogeneous Kerr-type nonlinear dielectric. The nonlinear Schrodinger equation predicts that two co-propagating, in-phase spatial solitons remain bound to each other, executing a periodic separation. This disagrees with our new extensively tested finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) solution of Maxwells equations. FD-TD shows that co-propagating in-phase spatial solitons become unbound, i.e. diverge to arbitrarily large separations, if the ratio of soliton beamwidth to wavelength is order 1 or less. Not relying upon paraxial approximations or analogies to temporal soliton interactions, FD-TD appears to be a robust means of obtaining detailed models of the interaction of sub-picosecond pulsed light beams in nonlinear media directly in the space-time domain.<<ETX>>

Nanofabrication of 1-D photonic bandgap structures along a photonic wire

A strongly-guided one-dimensional (1-D) waveguide called a photonic wire has high spontaneous emission coupling efficiency, enabling one to realize low-threshold lasers. Combined with the use of 1-D photonic bandgap structures consisting of arrays of holes etched within the photonic wire, novel microcavity lasers can be realized. We report the nanofabrication of a photonic bandgap structure for 1.5 /spl mu/m wavelength along a InGaAsP photonic wire, and discuss numerical simulations for its electrodynamics.

Compact active hyperspectral imaging system for the detection of concealed targets

We have recently conducted a series of laboratory and field test to demonstrate the utility of combining active illumination with hyperspectral imaging for the detection of concealed targets in natural terrain. The active illuminator, developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, is a novel microlaser-pumped fiber Raman source that provides high- brightness, subnanosecond-pulse-length output spanning the visible through near-IR spectral range. The hyperspectral- imaging system is comprised of a compact, grating-based spectrometer that uses a gateable, intensified CCD array as the detector element. The illuminator and hyperspectral imaging system are mounted on a small platform that is itself mounted on a tripod and scanned in azimuth to build an image scene of up to several hundred spectral bands. The system has been deployed under a variety of environmental conditions, including night-time illumination, and on a variety of target scenes, including exposed and concealed plastic and metallic mine-like targets. Targets have been detected and identified on the basis of spectral reflectance, fluorescence signatures, degree of polarization, and range-to-target information. The combination of laser-like broadband illumination and hyperspectral imaging offers great promise in concealed or obscured target detection. On-going developments include the incorporation of broadband illuminators in the 1 to 2 micrometers and 3 to 5 micrometers spectral bands, with corresponding increases in spectral coverage of the imaging and detection systems.

Direct Time Integration of Maxwell's Equations in 2-D Dielectric Waveguides for Propagation and Scattering of Femtosecond Electromagnetic Solitons

Experimentalists have produced all-optical switches capable of 100-fs responses [1]. To adequately model such switches, nonlinear effects in optical materials [2] (both instantaneous and dispersive) must be included. In principle, the behavior of electromagnetic fields in nonlinear dielectrics can be determined by solving Maxwells equations subject to the assumption that the electric polarization has a nonlinear relation to the electric field. However, until our previous work [3, 4], the resulting nonlinear Maxwells equations have not been solved directly. Rather, approximations have been made that result in a class of generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equations (GNLSE) [5] that solve only for the envelope of the optical pulses.

Detection of manmade objects

Hyperspectral imagers have the unique capability of doing both material identification and anomaly detection. However, hyperspectral imagers with hundreds of co-registered contiguous bands are difficult to field particularly if real-time processing is required. With judicious choice of bands, the anomaly detection performance of a multispectral sensor can rival that of hyperspectral sensors. In order to achieve this performance, the choice of multispectral bands relies on the presence of exploitable target or background spectral features. The universality of these features will determine the overall utility of a multispectral system. We have discovered that water vapor features in the SWIR (Short Wave InfraRed) can be used to distinguish manmade objects from natural backgrounds. As an example, we will show that two broad bands chosen to exploit these features make most manmade objects detectable in the presence of natural clutter with few false alarms.

Detect-to-warn scenarios for defense against airborne contaminants

Detect-to-warn defense strategies against airborne contamination are based on providing warning to personnel to take temporary protective actions. The effectiveness of such detect-to-warn active strategies is measured by the reduction in contaminant exposure compared to passive exposure. Effectiveness depends on several factors, including the contaminant release and transport properties, the warning sensor performance and the protective actions taken. In this paper we analyze effectiveness for several specific scenarios where certain reasonable protective actions are assumed and sensor performance is varied. One type of scenario analyzed is the protection of outdoor personnel against an upwind instantaneous point release. Meteorological conditions such as wind speed, turbulence level and heat flux, which result in high exposure levels are assumed. Personnel are warned to temporarily use filter masks based on a warning signal from a sensor placed between them and the release point. Another type of scenario is the protection of personnel inside of a building using active ventilation control. The building air handling properties, such as air exchange and recirculation, degree of leakage and filtration and zone volume, are representative of modern office buildings. Different sensor locations and ventilation control strategies are chosen to defend against outside and inside instantaneous point releases. In each scenario, we evaluate the dependence of effectiveness on sensor sensitivity threshold and response time. In addition, we describe desired values of other sensor attributes, such as false positive sensing rate, size, power consumption, maintenance frequency and procurement cost, to support realistic deployment and operations.