Transverse intensity distributions of a broadband laser modulated by a hard-edged aperture

By means of the Huygens-Fresnel diffraction integral, the field representation of a laser beam modulated by a hard-edged aperture is derived. The near-field and far-field transverse intensity distributions of the beams with different bandwidths are analyzed by using the representation. The numerical calculation results indicate that the amplitudes and numbers of the intensity spikes decrease with increasing bandwidth, and beam smoothing is achieved when the bandwidth takes a certain value in the near field. In the far field, the radius of the transverse intensity distribution decreases as the bandwidth increases, and the physical explanation of this fact is also given.     

Optical dipole model for photodetection in the near field.

Near-field photodetection optical microscopy (NPOM) is a scanning probe technique that has been developed to perform nanometer-scale optical intensity mapping and spectroscopy. In NPOM a nanometer-scale photodiode detector absorbs power directly as it is scanned in the near field of an illuminated sample surface. A model of photodetection in the near and intermediate fields is presented. A brief review of far-field absorption is given for comparison. Far-field absorption measurements measure the imaginary part of the polarizability to first order. In contrast, photodetection in the near field measures the real part of the polarizability. Other aspects of near-field photodetection are also examined, including contrast mechanisms and lateral resolution. NPOM measurements performed on isolated 300-nm spheres show good agreement with the theory.     

Three-dimensional electromagnetic diffraction of a Gaussian beam by a perfectly conducting half-plane

Formulas are derived for the diffraction of a three-dimensional electromagnetic Gaussian beam by a perfectly conducting half-plane. The beam can be incident from any direction, and the main component of the electric field can point in any direction on the plane of the beam waist. The center of the beam waist is on the edge of the half-plane. The incident beam is constructed as a superposition of plane waves, and the total diffracted field is obtained from a superposition of the diffracted fields that are due to each plane wave. Physical constraints that limit the size and direction of the beam relative to the half-plane are described and incorporated into the theory. The scattered field in the far zone is obtained by asymptotic evaluation of the general formulas. Graphical results for the near-field as well as far-field patterns are presented and discussed.     

Near-field anomalous spectral behavior in diffraction of a Gaussian pulsed beam from an annular aperture

Based on the Fresnel diffraction integral and by introducing a hard-aperture function into a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions, the approximate analytical expression for the near-field spectral intensity distribution of a space-time-dependent Gaussian pulsed beam passing through an annular aperture is derived, which permits us to study the on- and off-axis spectral anomalies that are near phase singularities of the diffracted Gaussian pulsed beam in the near-field. The expressions for a circular black screen and a circular aperture are given as special cases of the general results. The relative spectral shift of a space-time-dependent Gaussian pulsed beam versus the different values of the truncation parameters and the position parameters of observation points are also studied and illustrated with numerical calculations. It is shown that the spectral switch appears near phase singularities in the near-field, and the near-field spectral behavior depends on the truncation parameters, the pulse duration tau, and the position parameter. The results of this work have potential applications in free-space information encoding and transmission.     

Far-field antenna pattern estimation from near-field data using alow-cost amplitude-only measurement setup

In this paper we report some results on the estimation of the far-field of an antenna by using a low-cost amplitude-only near-field measurement setup. A simple experimental setup is used to measure the intensity of the near-field of the antenna under test on two planes. The measured intensity of the near field is then numerically processed to determine the far-field pattern. The results confirm the validity of the approach     

Modal approximation for the electromagnetic field of a near-field optical probe

A formalism is given in which the optical field generated by a near-field optical aperture is described as an analytic expansion over a complete set of optical modes. This vectoral solution preserves the divergent behavior of the near field and the dipolar nature of the far field. Numerical calculation of the fields requires only evaluation of a well behaved, one-dimensional integral. The formalism is directly applicable to experiments in near-field scanning optical microscopy when relatively flat samples are evaluated.     

光纤探针型近场光镊光强分布特性的数值模拟

光纤探针型近场光镊是近场光学领域中的新型技术,因其可对纳米尺度微粒直接进行捕获和操纵而受到广泛关注,其光纤探针尖端的近场分布特性影响着纳米粒子捕获及操纵的成败探针金属膜外侧电磁场由光波在针尖小孔处衍射而成,根据夫朗和费衍射公式分析了圆形纳米小孔的光波衍射图样,运用时域有限差分法（FDTD）研究了均匀平面波垂直入射于镀膜光纤探针的近场分布,比较了不同锥角、不同出射孔径、不同金属膜厚度及不同入射波长的近场分布情况,并对不同情况下的通光效率进行了分析。通过对各参数的计算与比较,结果表明,当锥角越大、孔径越大、镀合适膜厚并且入射波长越小时,探针尖端的出射光强越大并具有较大的通光效率     

Field localization in very small aperture lasers studied by apertureless near-field microscopy

Localized surface plasmon polaritons (SSPs) have been observed on very small aperture lasers using apertureless near-field microscopy. Fields around multiple apertures are shown to result from interferences of SPP point sources at each aperture and optical fields. The near-field optical pattern around a single aperture indicates the interference of SPPs with their scattered counterparts. Near-field measurements also confirmed a preferred orientation of the rectangular aperture waveguide for the signal localization in very small aperture lasers.     

Axial irradiance distribution throughout the whole space behind an annular aperture: comments

We comment on the recent paper by Harvey and Krywonos [Appl. Opt. 41, 3790-3795 (2002)], in which approximate irradiance calculations along the axis of a circular aperture illuminated by a plane wave are performed. As the starting point of their calculations, an approximated version (valid for z > lambda) of the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction integral is used. They based their numerical conclusions on a misleading "near field criterion," which guides the readers to the wrong idea that their calculations are valid even for the very near field behind the aperture. Their ideas are not original; the exact calculations of diffracted fields behind a circular aperture have been known for 40 years.     

From stationary annular rings to rotating Bessel beams

In this work we use a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) to mimic a ring-slit aperture, containing multiple azimuthally varying phases at different radial positions. The optical Fourier transform of such an aperture is currently known and its intensity profile has been shown to rotate along its propagation axis. Here we investigate the near-field of the ring-slit aperture and show, both experimentally and theoretically, that although the near-field possesses similar attributes to its Fourier transform, its intensity profile exhibits no rotation as it propagates.     

Silicon planar-apertured probe array for high-density near-field optical storage

We propose a novel, to our knowledge, silicon planar-apertured probe array as an optical head for high-density near-field optical storage. In comparison with a conventional fiber probe employed for near-field optical storage the apertured probe array has a higher readout data-transmission rate and better mechanical durability. A probe array with an aperture size of 100 nm was fabricated by use of photolithography and wet etching of a silicon wafer. Subwavelength-readout capability was demonstrated by use of one aperture of the probe array. Furthermore, we achieved a 16 times increase in the light-transmission efficiency of the probe array by installing glass-sphere microlenses on each aperture. The increase was confirmed by measurement of the near-field optical intensity.     

Enhanced confined light transmission by single subwavelength apertures in metallic films

The diffraction of light that emerges from a metallic circular aperture is studied. Near- and far-field results are presented. Spectral angular transmitted intensities are performed versus the incident wavelength for four kinds of aperture. It is shown that, for a definite configuration, a large enhancement of transmission--compared with the basic case of a single hole--occurs combined with a spectacular angular confinement of light. Such effects are, for example, of great interest in optical near-field microscopy for which the probe is a nanosource.     

Near-field optical apertured tip and modified structures for local field enhancement

We present experimental measurements and simulation of the spatial distribution of near-field light at the aperture of a Si micromachined near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) probe. A miniature aperture at the apex of a SiO(2) tip on a Si cantilever was fabricated with the low temperature oxidation and selective etching technique. An optical transmission efficiency (optical throughput) of the fabricated probe was determined to be approximately 10(-2) when the aperture size was approximately 100 nm, which is several orders of magnitude higher than that for conventional optical fibers. A three-dimensional finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation shows that the near-field light is well confined within the aperture area with a throughput of 1% for a 100-nm aperture, which is in good agreement with the measurement. The spatial distribution of the near-field light at an aperture of 300-nm diameter shows a full width at half-maximum of 250 nm with a sharp peak that is nearly 60 nm wide. The 2.4% throughput for a 300-nm aperture was estimated based on the measured spatial distribution of the near-field light that is almost the same as the experimental result. We also present the initial results of the fabrication of high throughput coaxial and surface plasmon enhancement NSOM probes.     

Topography characterization of a deep grating using near-field imaging

Using near-field optical microscopy at the wavelength of 633 nm, we image light intensity distributions at several distances above an approximately 2-microm-deep and a 1-microm-period glass grating illuminated from below under the condition of total internal reflection. The intensity distributions are numerically modeled, and an inversion procedure based on a least-squares-fit optimization is employed to extract the grating geometry from the optical images.     

Integral equations applied to wave propagation in two dimensions: modeling the tip of a near-field scanning optical microscope

We present a Green's-function/Green's-theorem integral equation approach to numerically modeling two-dimensional, s-polarized, wave propagation problems effectively for a variety of geometries. The model accurately calculates both near fields and far fields because of the minimal assumptions made on the behavior of the scattered radiation. The method was applied to modeling light emission from a near-field scanning optical microscope fiber tip. Several convergence and energy tests were used to give confidence in the results. The behavior of intensity and power near the tip was investigated. The effects of changing the dielectric constant of a sample material located below the tip were also examined.     

A new algorithm to calculate the transient near-field of ultrasonic phased arrays

An algorithm valid for an accurate calculation of the near-field in the scanning plane of ultrasonic phased arrays is presented. Using the classical time-domain impulse response approach, a simple analytical expression for the impulse response at points lying in the central plane of a narrow rectangular aperture is decided. An expression for the array impulse response is then obtained by superposition. The proposed solution is useful for an efficient computation of transient and continuous wave (CW) pressure fields without requiring any far-field or paraxial approximations. Moreover, the convolution-impulse response approach applied to phased arrays constitutes an important tool for the analysis of array fields. Some numerical examples are presented, in which the advantages of using the array impulse response in the field analysis are shown. Several aspects of array fields not currently described in literature are included in the examples.     

Generation of phase singularity through diffracting a plane or Gaussian beam by a spiral phase plate

We deduce and study an analytical expression for Fresnel diffraction of a plane wave by a spiral phase plate (SPP) that imparts an arbitrary-order phase singularity on the light field. Estimates for the optical vortex radius that depends on the singularity's integer order n (also termed topological charge, or order of the dislocation) have been derived. The near-zero vortex intensity is shown to be proportional to rho2n, where p is the radial coordinate. Also, an analytical expression for Fresnel diffraction of the Gaussian beam by a SPP with nth-order singularity is analyzed. The far-field intensity distribution is derived. The radius of maximal intensity is shown to depend on the singularity number. The behavior of the Gaussian beam intensity after a SPP with second-order singularity (n = 2) is studied in more detail. The parameters of the light beams generated numerically with the Fresnel transform and via analytical formulas are in good agreement. In addition, the light fields with first- and second-order singularities were generated by a 32-level SPP fabricated on the resist by use of the electron-beam lithography technique.     

Simulation of confined and enhanced optical near fields for a long narrow aperture in a pyramidal structure on a thick metallic screen

A new type of long narrow aperture in a pyramidal structure on a thick metallic screen is proposed, and optical wave scattering by this structure is simulated. This aperture structure provides high emission intensity and small spot size simultaneously through excitation of the surface plasmon polaritons on the sidewalls of the pyramidal structure. Scattering of optical waves by this structure in the thick metallic screen is solved numerically with a volume integral equation by generalized conjugate residual iteration and fast Fourier transformation. The basic characteristics of the near-field intensities of the aperture are investigated in detail.     

Experimental investigation of an unstable ring resonator with 90-deg beam rotation for a chemical oxygen iodine laser

We report the experimental results of an unstable ring resonator with 90-deg beam rotation for a kilowatt class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL). The distributions of near-field phase and far-field intensity were measured. A beam quality of 1.6 was achieved when the COIL average output power was approximately 5 kW.     

Focusing of axially symmetric flattened Gaussian beams

Abstract

We study the three-dimensional field distribution of a focused axially symmetric flattened Gaussian beam. In particular, exact closed-form expressions for the intensity along the optical axis and at the focal plane are provided, together with a comparison between our results and those pertinent to the case of a converging spherical wave diffracted by a hard-edge circular aperture. Some hints for future investigations are also given.