Shaotong Feng

Generation of optical vortex array along arbitrary curvilinear arrangement

We propose an approach for creating optical vortex array (OVA) arranged along arbitrary curvilinear path, based on the coaxial interference of two width-controllable component curves calculated by modified holographic beam shaping technique. The two component curve beams have different radial dimensions as well as phase gradients along each beam such that the number of phase singularity in the curvilinear arranged optical vortex array (CA-OVA) is freely tunable on demand. Hybrid CA-OVA that comprises of multiple OVA structures along different respective curves is also discussed and demonstrated. Furthermore, we study the conversion of CA-OVA into vector mode that comprises of polarization vortex array with varied polarization state distribution. Both simulation and experimental results prove the performance of the proposed method of generating a complex structured vortex array, which is of significance for potential applications including multiple trapping of micro-sized particles.

Anisotropic edge enhancement with spiral zone plate under femtosecond laser illumination

Fractional and de-centered phase spiral zone plates (SZPs) are proposed for anisotropic edge enhancement using a femtosecond laser. The transmission functions of the two types of phase SZPs are deduced and the diffraction distributions are theoretically analyzed and simulated as well. By setting the fractional topological charge p and the orientation angle ϑ of a fractional SZP (FSZP), the intensity and the direction of the anisotropic edge enhancement can be controlled. A de-centered SZP (DSZP) can be obtained by shifting the coordinates of the traditional phase SZP while the topological charge equals to 1. The intensity and direction of the anisotropic edge enhancement can be controlled by setting the displacement distance r0 and the azimuthal angle φ0 of a DSZP. The anisotropic edge enhancement of the two phase SZPs was experimentally demonstrated with a phase pattern and living biological cells under femtosecond laser illumination.

Image edge enhancement using Airy spiral phase filter

The isotropic and anisotropic image edge enhancements by employing Airy spiral phase filters are proposed and demonstrated. The coherent spread functions of the image systems are derived from transmittance functions of their corresponding filters. In the isotropic method, the distributions of the coherent spread function with the radius of the main ring ρ0 and the scaled parameter w0 are numerically analyzed. It is found that the width of the main lobe determining the resolution decreases with the increased ρ0, and the amplitudes of the side lobes connecting with the contrast fluctuate with w0. Compared with the existing spiral phase filters, higher contrast and resolution can be achieved by adjusting the two parameters in the Airy spiral phase filter. Moreover, an off-axis Airy spiral phase filter by controlling the center position (ρ0,ϕ1) is designed and employed to implement anisotropic edge enhancement. In the experiments, two methods of image edge enhancement have been verified by using the amplitude-contrast and phase-contrast objects.

Phase-shifting-free resolution enhancement in digital holographic microscopy under structured illumination

In this paper, we present a phase-shifting-free method to improve the resolution of digital holographic microscopy (DHM) under the structured illumination (SI). The SI used in the system is different from the traditional SI for it is free of the visible structure due to two illumination lights with orthogonal polarization states. To separate the recorded information and also retrieve the object phase, two reference beams with different carrier frequencies and orthogonal polarization states are adopted. The principle component analysis (PCA) algorithm is introduced in the reconstruction process. It is found that the modulated frequency of SI besides the quadratic phases of the imaging system can be easily removed with help of PCA. Therefore, phase-shifting is not required both in recording and reconstruction process. The simulation is performed to validate our method, while the proposed method is applied to the resolution enhancement for amplitude-contrast and phase-contrast objects imaging in experiments. The resolution is doubled in the simulation, and it shows 78% resolution improvement in the experiments.

Generation of elliptic perfect optical vortex and elliptic perfect vector beam by modulating the dynamic and geometric phase

We propose a method for generating an elliptic perfect vector beam (EPVB) by modulating the dynamic and geometric phases. It is theoretically demonstrated that the shape of the beam can be changed from circle to ellipse by setting the scale factor m of the dynamic phase, but the diameter of it is independent on the topological charge and the polarization order. Since the geometric phases provided by the dialectic Q-plate vary with the polarization state of the illumination beam, EPVB can be converted to the elliptic perfect optical vortex (EPOV) beam by changing the polarization state of the illuminating beam. Therefore, we also provide an alternative method to generate the EPOV beam. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical expectations.

Image edge enhancement using Airy spiral filter

A novel approach for contrast enhancement of the edge is proposed by employing Airy spiral filter in optical microscopy. The proposed technique reduces the diffraction noise more efficiently and achieves high quality edge enhancement images.

Polarization State Detection by Using Multiplexing Digital Holography

The state of polarization (SOP) is one of properties describing a wavefront, besides the amplitude, the phase, the coherence length and the wavelength. The beam whose state of polarization varying with the time and the location is also known as vector beam [1, 2]. In consideration of the complexity distribution of vector beams, full field and real-time detection methods are urgently needed.