Xiaosong Gan

Focusing of doughnut laser beams by a high numerical-aperture objective in free space

We report on, in this letter, a phenomenon that the central zerointensity point of a doughnut beam, caused by phase singularity, disappears in the focus, when such a beam is focused by a high numerical-aperture objective in free space. In addition, the focal shape of the doughnut beam of a given topological charge exhibits the increased ring intensity in the direction orthogonal to the incident polarization state and an elongation in the polarization direction. These phenomena are caused by the effect of depolarization, associated with a high numerical-aperture objective, and become pronounced by the use of a central obstruction in the objective aperture.

Generation of doughnut laser beams by use of a liquid-crystal cell with a conversion efficiency near 100%

We present a novel technique for producing a doughnut laser beam by use of a liquid-crystal cell. It is demonstrated that the liquid-crystal cell exhibits an efficiency in energy conversion near 100%. One of the main advantages of this method is its capability of dynamic switching between a Gaussian mode and a doughnut mode of different topological charges. The liquid-crystal cell is also dynamically tunable over the visible and near-infrared wavelength range. These advantages make the device appealing for laser trapping methods used in single-molecule biomechanics and for optical guiding of cold atoms.

Laser trapping and manipulation under focused evanescent wave illumination

Laser trapping is based on the radiation pressure on a small particle in the focal region of a high numerical-aperture objective. Currently, the focal spot of a trapping beam is elongated along the longitudinal direction and thus the axial size of the trapping volume is approximately three times larger than that in the transverse direction. We report on a laser trapping technique under focused evanescent wave illumination. Therefore laser trapping of micro/nano-objects can be achieved in the near-field region with an axial trapping size of approximately 60 nm, which is reduced by approximately one order of magnitude. Hence, this technique is of significant importance in nanometry including single molecule detection and manipulation.

Nonlinear optical microscopy based on double-clad photonic crystal fibers

We report on a nonlinear optical microscope that adopts double-clad photonic crystal fibers for single-mode illumination delivery and multimode signal collection. It is demonstrated that two-photon fluorescence and second harmonic generation signals can be simultaneously collected in such a microscope with axial resolution of 2.8 microm and 2.5 mum, respectively. The delivery and detection efficiencies of the photonic-crystal-fiber- based microscope are significantly improved by approximately 3 times and 40 times compared with those in the single-mode fiber-optic microscope. The high resolution three-dimensional second harmonic generation images from rat tail tendon demonstrate the effectiveness of the system.

Splitting of the focal spot of a high numerical-aperture objective in free space

Reported in this letter is a phenomenon that the focal spot of a high numerical-aperture objective in free space can split into two spots if a ring beam is used for illumination. Diffraction by a high numerical-aperture objective results in a depolarization such that the diffracted field in the focal region includes not only a component with the same polarization as the incident beam, but also orthogonal and longitudinal components. The use of a ring beam enhances the relative contribution from the longitudinal component. As a result, a single focal spot splits into two spots along the incident polarization direction. It is revealed theoretically that for an objective of given numerical aperture there is a threshold of the central obstruction size of a ring beam for the appearance of a two-peak focus.

A single beam near-field laser trap for optical stretching, folding and rotation of erythrocytes

To understand the fundamental mechanical and viscoelastic properties of RBCs, one needs laser tweezers in which cells can not only be trapped, but also be stretched, folded, and rotated. Stretching, folding and rotating an RBC is particularly important in order to reveal the shear elasticity of the RBC membrane. Here we show a single beam near-field laser trapping technique under focused evanescent wave illumination for optical stretching, folding and rotation of a single RBC. This multifunctional manipulation method will provide a new platform for measuring cell properties such as the membrane elasticity, viscoelasticity and deformability.

Direct measurement of a radially polarized focused evanescent field facilitated by a single LCD

In this paper, a tightly focused evanescent field produced by a total internal reflection objective lens under the illumination of a radially polarized beam generated using a single liquid crystal phase modulator is investigated. The field distributions have been directly mapped by a scanning near-field optical microscope. It is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that the introduction of radially polarized beam illumination combining with an annular beam illumination exhibits advantages in two aspects. On one hand, it corrects the focus elongation and splitting in a focused evanescent field associated with a linearly polarized beam. On the other hand, it significantly improves the lateral localization to approximately a quarter of the illumination wavelength, which is less than half of the size that is achievable under linearly polarized illumination.

Comparison of penetration depth between two-photon excitation and single-photon excitation in imaging through turbid tissue media

We show, both theoretically and experimentally, that for a turbid tissue medium where Mie scattering is dominant, multiple scattering not only reduces the illumination power in the forward direction but also exhibits an anisotropic distribution of scattered photons. Thus, a signal level under two-photon excitation drops much faster than that under single-photon excitation although image resolution is much higher in the former case. As a result, the penetration depth under two-photon excitation is limited by the strength of two-photon fluorescence and is not necessarily larger than that under single-photon excitation.

Direct observation of a pure focused evanescent field of a high numerical aperture objective lens by scanning near-field optical microscopy

Intensity distributions of a tightly focused evanescent field generated by a center blocked high numerical aperture (1.65) objective lens are investigated by a scanning near-field optical microscope. The pure focused evanescent field is mapped and a splitting phenomenon of the focal spot along the direction of polarization, caused by depolarization, is observed not only on the interface, where the evanescent field is generated, but also in the parallel planes away from the interface. The decaying nature of the focused evanescent field shows good agreement with the theoretical predication, indicating that the field is purely evanescent and does not contain a significant contribution from the propagating component. It is found in our experiment that the light coupling efficiencies of the longitudinal polarization component Ez and the transverse polarization component Ex to the fiber probe differ by a factor of 3.

Exact radiation trapping force calculation based on vectorial diffraction theory

There has been an interest to understand the trapping performance produced by a laser beam with a complex wavefront structure because the current methods for calculating trapping force ignore the effect of diffraction by a vectorial electromagnetic wave. In this letter, we present a method for determining radiation trapping force on a micro-particle, based on the vectorial diffraction theory and the Maxwell stress tensor approach. This exact method enables one to deal with not only complex apodization, phase, and polarization structures of trapping laser beams but also the effect of spherical aberration present in the trapping system.