Zuhua Yang

Single-order diffraction grating designed by trapezoidal transmission function.

Diffraction grating is a widely used dispersion element in spectral analysis from the infrared to the x-ray region. Traditionally, it has a square-wave transmission function, suffering from high-order diffraction contamination. Single-order diffraction can be achieved by sinusoidal amplitude transmission grating, but the fabrication is difficult. Here, we propose a novel idea to design a grating based on trapezoidal transmission function, which makes traditional grating a special case. Grating designed by this idea can not only suppress higher order diffraction by several orders of magnitude as sinusoidal amplitude grating does but also greatly reduce the fabrication difficulty to the level of processing for traditional grating. It offers a new opportunity for fabrication of grating with single-order diffraction and measurement of spectrum without contamination of high-order harmonic components. This idea can easily extend to varied-line-space grating, concave grating with single-order diffraction, or zone plates with single foci and will bring great changes in the field of grating applications.

Quasi suppression of higher-order diffractions with inclined rectangular apertures gratings

Advances in the fundamentals and applications of diffraction gratings have received much attention. However, conventional diffraction gratings often suffer from higher-order diffraction contamination. Here, we introduce a simple and compact single optical element, named inclined rectangular aperture gratings (IRAG), for quasi suppression of higher-order diffractions. We show, both in the visible light and soft x-ray regions, that IRAG can significantly suppress higher-order diffractions with moderate diffraction efficiency. Especially, as no support strut is needed to maintain the free-standing patterns, the IRAG is highly advantageous to the extreme-ultraviolet and soft x-ray regions. The diffraction efficiency of the IRAG and the influences of fabrication constraints are also discussed. The unique quasi-single order diffraction properties of IRAG may open the door to a wide range of photonic applications.

Blind deconvolution for spatial distribution of Kα emission from ultraintense laser-plasma interaction

The spatial distributions of the Kα emission from foil targets irradiated with ultra-intensity laser pulses have been studied using the x-ray coded imaging technique. Due to the effect of hard x-ray background contamination, noise as well as imperfection of imaging system, it is hard to determine the PSF analytically or measure it experimentally. Therefore, we propose a blind deconvolution method to restore both the spatial distributions of the Kα emission and the systems PSF from the coded images based on the maximum-likelihood scheme. Experimental restoration results from penumbral imaging and ring coded imaging demonstrated that both the structure integrity and the rich detail information can be well preserved.

The realization of long focal depth with a linear varied-area zone plate

Abstract We report a linear varied-area zone plate, in which arbitrary long focal depth can be achieved by properly adjusting the corresponding parameters. Meanwhile, the lateral focal spot and side lobes can be kept very small. Numeral simulations are carried out to verify the performance of our zone plate through Fresnel–Kirchhoff diffraction theory, and the results are in good accord with the experimental verifications. The influences of our zone plate’s parameters to the intensity distribution in focal region are discussed in detail. Comparisons are made with the behaviour of a linear varied-line-space grating, and we find that the behaviour of our novel zone plate along optical axis is just like a reverse transformation of the focusing behaviour of a linear varied-line-space grating.

Diffraction properties of quasi-random pinhole arrays: suppression of higher orders and background fluctuations

Abstract A transmission grating can be formed from quasi-random pinhole arrays. We show here that this type of grating can reduce the higher diffraction orders effectively when an appropriate arrangement is used. A simple but accurate analytical model is provided to describe the physical mechanism that is responsible for suppression of the higher orders, and this model is verified through numerical simulations. In particular, the background intensity enhancement and the fluctuations in this intensity that are introduced by the quasi-random arrangement of pinholes are also assessed. The consistent one-to-one match produced between the diffraction directions and the wavelengths means that this type of grating has considerable potential for use in spectroscopic measurement and monochromator applications.

Electrical shielding box measurement of the negative hydrogen beam from Penning ion gauge ion source.

The cold-cathode Penning ion gauge (PIG) type ion source has been used for generation of negative hydrogen (H(-)) ions as the internal ion source of a compact cyclotron. A novel method called electrical shielding box dc beam measurement is described in this paper, and the beam intensity was measured under dc extraction inside an electrical shielding box. The results of the trajectory simulation and dc H(-) beam extraction measurement were presented. The effect of gas flow rate, magnetic field strength, arc current, and extraction voltage were also discussed. In conclusion, the dc H(-) beam current of about 4 mA from the PIG ion source with the puller voltage of 40 kV and arc current of 1.31 A was extrapolated from the measurement at low extraction dc voltages.

Note: Self-biased voltage to suppress secondary electrons by a ZnO varistor in a compact pulsed neutron generator

A large amount of back streaming electrons will bring about a part of current drain on power supply, cause sparking or high-voltage breakdowns, and affect the neutron yield and waveform for a compact sealed-tube pulsed neutron generator. A novel idea which uses a ZnO varistor to provide a constant self-biased voltage to suppress the secondary electrons is introduced. The I-V curve for the ZnO varistor was measured in the experiment. The effects of suppressing the secondary electrons were investigated using a ZnO varistor, linear resistors, and an independent power supply, respectively. The results show that the secondary electrons are suppressed effectively by the compact ZnO varistor, while not increasing the size and the component of the device. It is a promising design for compact sealed-tube neutron generators.

High efficiency terahertz diffraction grating with trapezoidal elements

A newly designed grating used in terahertz region is proposed, which is composed of the trapezoidal elements repeated successively along one dimension of the substrate, and uniform interval (the grating period) repeated along the other dimension. The transmission of the grating owns a designable trapezoidal profile dependent on the geometric dimensions of the element. The far-field diffraction patterns of a designed grating at incident broadband terahertz frequencies, with element dimensions of upper, lower side and period of 50, 250, and 300 μm, respectively, are simulated by the scalar diffraction theory. The simulation results indicate that the terahertz grating exhibits a property of single-order diffraction, and the diffraction efficiency of the first order reaches 6.6%, exceeding that of a traditional sinusoidal amplitude grating with identical period and duty cycle. Owing to the regular architecture and the high single-order diffraction efficiency, the grating is easy to fabricate and shows great potential applications in single-shot spectral measurements of weak broadband terahertz pulse.

Note: Triggering behavior of a vacuum arc plasma source

Axial symmetry of discharge is very important for application of vacuum arc plasma. It is discovered that the triggering method is a significant factor that would influence the symmetry of arc discharge at the final stable stage. Using high-speed multiframe photography, the transition processes from cathode-trigger discharge to cathode-anode discharge were observed. It is shown that the performances of the two triggering methods investigated are quite different. Arc discharge triggered by independent electric source can be stabilized at the center of anode grid, but it is difficult to achieve such good symmetry through resistance triggering. It is also found that the triggering process is highly correlated to the behavior of emitted electrons.

A novel single-order diffraction grating: Random position rectangle grating*

Spectral diagnosis of radiation from laser plasma interaction and monochromation of radiation source are hot and important topics recently. Grating is one of the primary optical elements to do this job. Although easy to fabricate, traditional diffraction grating suffers from multi-order diffraction contamination. On the other hand, sinusoidal amplitude grating has the nonharmonic diffraction property, but it is too difficult to fabricate, especially for x-ray application. A novel nonharmonic diffraction grating named random position rectangle grating (RPRG) is proposed in this paper. Theoretical analysis and experiment results show that the RPRG is both higher order diffraction suppressing and not difficult to fabricate. Additionally, it is highly efficient; its first order absolute theoretical diffraction efficiency reaches 4.1%. Our result shows that RPRG is a novel tool for radiation diagnosis and monochromation.