Abstract: The parallelism of optics and the miniaturization of optical components using nanophotonic structures, such as metasurfaces, present a compelling alternative to electronic implementations of convolutional neural networks. The lack of a low-power optical nonlinearity, however, requires slow and energy-inefficient conversions between the electronic and optical domains. Here, we design an architecture that utilizes a single electrical to optical conversion by designing a free-space optical frontend unit that implements the linear operations of the first layer with the subsequent layers realized electronically. Speed and power analysis of the architecture indicates that the hybrid photonic-electronic architecture outperforms a fully electronic architecture for large image sizes and kernels. Benchmarking of the photonic-electronic architecture on a modified version of AlexNet achieves high classification accuracies on images from the Kaggle's Cats and Dogs challenge and MNIST databases.

Abstract: A microchannel incorporated photonic crystal fiber (PCF)-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor for detection of low refractive index (RI) at near-infrared wavelength is presented in this paper. To attain a simple and practically feasible mechanism, plasmonic material gold (Au) and sensing medium are placed outside the fiber. A thin layer of TiO2 is employed as an adhesive layer to strongly attach the Au with the silica glass. In the sensing range of 1.22 to 1.37, maximum sensitivities of 51,000 nm/RIU (RI unit) and 1872 RIU−1 are obtained with resolutions of 1.96×10−6 and 9.09×10−6 RIUs using wavelength and amplitude interrogation methods, respectively. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the obtained maximum wavelength sensitivity and resolution are the highest among reported PCF-based SPR sensors to date. The sensor also exhibits a maximum figure of merit of 566. Therefore, the proposed sensor would be an excellent candidate for a wide range of RI detection with higher accuracy for applications such as pharmaceutical inspection and leakage monitoring, bio-sensing, and other low RI analytes.

Abstract: Deep artificial neural network learning is an emerging tool in image analysis. We demonstrate its potential in the field of digital holographic microscopy by addressing the challenging problem of determining the in-focus reconstruction depth of Madin-Darby canine kidney cell clusters encoded in digital holograms. A deep convolutional neural network learns the in-focus depths from half a million hologram amplitude images. The trained network correctly determines the in-focus depth of new holograms with high probability, without performing numerical propagation. This paper reports on extensions to preliminary work published earlier as one of the first applications of deep learning in the field of digital holographic microscopy.

Abstract: A highly sensitive temperature sensor is demonstrated experimentally, which is fabricated based on a Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) filled with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The sensor’s sensitivity is −0.653 nm/°C by utilizing the thermal expansion effect of PDMS, which has been greatly improved compared to that of the traditional FPI temperature sensor. Moreover, in order to further improve the sensitivity, a scheme where two parallel FPI structures are used to form the Vernier effect is proposed, which are a sensing FPI and reference FPI, respectively. Such a temperature sensor based on the FPI filled with PDMS and the Vernier effect exhibits a high temperature sensitivity of 17.758 nm/°C. Meanwhile, the proposed sensors show the advantages of high sensitivity, simplicity, and low cost.

Abstract: The discovery of the optical rotational Doppler effect associated with orbital angular momentum of light paves a new way to detect the rotational speed of spinning objects. In this paper, we investigate the influence of lateral misalignment, i.e., the distance between the beam axis of a probe light and the rotation axis of a spinning object, on the rotational Doppler effect. First, we analyze the mechanism of the rotational Doppler effect of optical vortices based on the linear Doppler effect. Specifically, we consider the general case where the center of the optical vortex does not coincide with the rotation axis, and deduce the generalized formula of rotational Doppler shift based on a local scattering model. It is found that the bandwidth of the rotational Doppler signal depends proportionally on the amount of lateral misalignment, whereas the value of rotational Doppler shift remains constant. A proof-of-concept experiment is performed, and the measured results agree well with theoretical predictions. These findings may be useful for practical application of the optical rotational Doppler effect in remote sensing and metrology.

Abstract: The aim of infrared and visible image fusion is to obtain an integrated image that contains obvious object information and high spatial resolution background information. The integrated image is more conductive for a human or a machine to understand and mine the information contained in the image. To attain this purpose, a fusion algorithm based on multi-level Gaussian curvature filtering (MLGCF) image decomposition is proposed. First, a MLGCF is presented and employed to decompose the input source images into three different layers: small-scale, large-scale, and base layers. Then, three fusion strategies—max-value, integrated, and energy-based—are applied to combine the three types of layers, which are based on the different properties of the three types of layers. Finally, the fusion image is reconstructed by summing the three types of fused layers. Six groups of experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm performs effectively in most cases by subjective and objective evaluations and even exceeds many high-level fusion algorithms.

Abstract: This paper proposes a nonlinear equalization technique enabled by long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks. The proposed technique is implemented at the end of offline digital signal processing. And two approaches utilizing the LSTM network are experimentally tested and demonstrated in transmission of a 50-Gb/s four-level pulse amplitude modulation intensity modulation direct detection link over 100-km standard single-mode fiber. The first approach uses the LSTM network-based equalizer to directly categorize the received signal into four amplitude levels, and the second approach uses the LSTM network to estimate signal noise for compensating the received signal. The experimental results show remarkable performance improvement of the proposed method over conventional linear equalizers, and significant enhancement at high launch power compared with Volterra filtering. Also, the proposed method reveals better short-time universality.

Abstract: We present an alternative orbital angular momentum (OAM) solution for free-space optical communications in the form of shape-invariant Bessel beams. We use a generalized approach for generating these long-range self-healing beams with a phase-only element encoded on a spatial light modulator and imbue them with OAM. We study the performance of helical OAM beams as well as these long-range Bessel-like OAM beams over a real-world outdoor optical link of 150 m and show comparable performance. In the process, we characterize the link and its impact on modal cross-talk.

Abstract: A new technique for measuring the degenerate spectra of optical vortices and orbital angular momentum (OAM) of singular beams is theoretically studied and experimentally verified. The technique is based on measuring the intensity moments of higher orders of a beam containing vortices with both positive and negative topological charges. The appropriate choice of the vortex mode amplitudes of the combined beam forms anomalous regions in the form of resonant dips and bursts in the OAM spectrum. Since the intensity moments for vortices with positive and negative topological charges are the same (degenerate) for an axially symmetric beam, it was necessary to break the symmetry of the beam, so measurements were taken at the plane of the double focus of a cylindrical lens. The calibration measurements showed that the experimental error is not higher than 3.5%. The technique was implemented for measuring and analyzing combined beams with OAM anomalies. It was found that the dips and bursts in the OAM spectrum are caused by the vortex avalanche induced by weak perturbations of the holographic grating responsible for shaping the beam. The OAM dips or bursts are controlled by the ratio between the energy fluxes of the vortex avalanche with positive or negative topological charges.

Abstract: Automotive head-up display (HUD), a typical application in augmented reality (AR), has gained popularity in recent years. In this paper, we propose a novel design configuration of freeform off-axis three-mirror systems for automotive head-up display (HUD) application. In the configuration, the image source, the flat mirror, and the freeform mirror are allocated on the same horizontal level to guarantee a compact structure as well as to make the optical elements easy to be assembled. The whole design philosophy and procedure, including the analytic method to determine initial structure, structure constraints, and optimization strategy, are demonstrated in detail. Superior optical performance is achieved regardless of the pupil being located at any position inside a rectangular eye box.

Abstract: A compact polarization beam splitter based on a gold-filled photonic crystal fiber with a square lattice is proposed. The full vector finite element method is used to design and characterize the proposed ultra-compact and ultra-broadband polarization splitter. The plasmonic plays an important role in order to achieve an ultra-short length of 56.33 µm with a high extinction ratio of 132.92 dB at the wavelength of 1.55 µm. It can ensure an ultra-broad bandwidth of 530 nm, from 1225 to 1755 nm, covering all the communication bands with an extinction ratio better than 20 dB. The proposed polarization splitter may be a promising candidate in communication due to its ultra-short length and ultra-broad bandwidth.

Abstract: In early 2013, three airborne polarimeters were flown on the high altitude NASA ER-2 aircraft in California for the Polarimeter Definition Experiment (PODEX). PODEX supported the pre-formulation NASA Aerosol–Cloud–Ecosystem (ACE) mission, which calls for an imaging polarimeter in polar orbit (among other instruments) for the remote sensing of aerosols, oceans, and clouds. Several polarimeter concepts exist as airborne prototypes, some of which were deployed during PODEX as a capabilities test. Two of those instruments to date have successfully produced Level 1 (georegistered, calibrated radiance and polarization) data from that campaign: the Airborne Multiangle Spectropolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI) and the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). We compared georegistered observations of a variety of scene types by these instruments to test whether Level 1 products agreed within stated uncertainties. Initial comparisons found radiometric agreement, but polarimetric biases beyond measurement uncertainties. After subsequent updates to calibration, georegistration, and the measurement uncertainty models, observations from the instruments now largely agree within stated uncertainties. However, the 470 nm reflectance channels have a roughly +6% bias of AirMSPI relative to RSP, beyond expected measurement uncertainties. We also find that observations of dark (ocean) scenes, where polarimetric uncertainty is expected to be largest, do not agree within stated polarimetric uncertainties. Otherwise, AirMSPI and RSP observations are consistent within measurement uncertainty expectations, providing credibility for the subsequent creation of Level 2 (geophysical product) data from these instruments, and comparison thereof. The techniques used in this work can also form a methodological basis for other intercomparisons, for example, of the data gathered during the recent Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) field campaign, carried out in October and November of 2017 with four polarimeters (including AirMSPI and RSP).

Abstract: Head-up displays (HUDs) are used in aircraft to overlay relevant flight information on the vehicle’s externals for pilots to view with continued focus on the far field. In these systems, the field of view (FOV) is traditionally limited by the size of the projection optics. Though classical HUD systems take a significant amount of space in the flight deck, they have become a necessity in avionic transportation. Our research aims to reduce the size of the HUD footprint while offering a wide FOV projected in the far field with an expanded pupil. This has been accomplished by coupling the image-bearing light into a waveguide under total internal reflection conditions, redirecting that light in the orthogonal direction, and then outcoupling the light toward the pilot. Each step was achieved using holographic optical elements. The injection hologram has optical power to obtain longitudinal magnification, whereas the redirection hologram expands the pupil in one dimension and the extraction hologram expands the pupil in a second dimension. Varying diffraction efficiency along the direction of the light propagation ensures even image intensity throughout the expanded pupil. We used ray tracing optical simulations to optimize the design of the system and present a fully operational demonstrator of the HUD. This HUD produces an image with a FOV of 24°×12.6° at a viewing distance of 4.5 in. (114 mm) from the waveguide, with infinite longitudinal magnification and 1.9× by 1.6× horizontal and vertical pupil expansion, respectively.

Abstract: The sensing of protein is of great importance because of its prominent role in building and repairing tissues. In this work, we present a simple design for the detection and sensing of protein using one-dimensional defective photonic crystals. The main idea of our work is included in the theoretical investigation of the transmittance properties of the resonant mode produced inside the photonic band gap. Our study uses the characteristic matrix method and curve fitting. The main reason for our study is to detect the concentration of a protein solution using an efficient, accurate, and simple method. Here, the defect layer is filled with a protein solution. Our idea depends on two hypotheses, and the first one is based on the appearance of a resonant peak on the photonic band gap. The second one depends on a change in the position of this resonant peak with the concentration of the protein solution. The effect of many parameters on the performance of our sensor, such as the thickness of the defect layer and the sensitivity, is demonstrated. The numerical results could present a simple way to design an accurate, stable, efficient, and low-cost protein sensor compared to other current methods and techniques.

Abstract: A chip-scale refractive index sensor based on multiple Fano resonances is proposed by using a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure, which is constructed by two side-coupled semi-ring cavities and a vertical cavity. The finite-difference time-domain method and multimode interference coupled-mode theory are employed to simulate and analyze the transmission spectra of this structure, respectively. First, dual Fano resonances are generated in the MIM structure with a baffle and a semi-ring cavity. By arranging two additional cavities, the mode interferences successfully induce up to six ultra-sharp and asymmetrical Fano peaks. The calculated sensing performances are available with ultra-high sensitivity of 1405 nm/RIU and figure of merit of 3.62×105. This chip-scale refractive index sensor may have great applications in highly integrated photonic circuits.

Abstract: Recent advances in the development of ultra-compact semiconductor lasers and technology of printed flexible hybrid electronics have opened broad perspectives for the design of new pulse oximetry and photoplethysmography devices. Conceptual design of optical diagnostic devices requires careful selection of various technical parameters, including spectral range; polarization and intensity of incident light; actual size, geometry, and sensitivity of the detector; and mutual position of the source and detector on the surface of skin. In the current study utilizing a unified Monte Carlo computational tool, we explore the variations in diagnostic volume due to arterial blood pulsation for typical transmitted and back-scattered probing configurations in a human finger. The results of computational studies show that the variations in diagnostic volumes due to arterial pulse wave are notably (up to 45%) different in visible and near-infrared spectral ranges in both transmitted and back-scattered probing geometries. While these variations are acceptable for relative measurements in pulse oximetry and/or photoplethysmography, for absolute measurements, an alignment normalization of diagnostic volume is required and can be done by a computational approach utilized in the framework of the current study.

Abstract: In this study, a fiber-optic Fabry–Perot (FP) high-temperature pressure sensor based on sapphire direct bonding is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensor is fabricated by direct bonding of two-layer sapphire wafers, including a pressure diaphragm wafer and a cavity-etched wafer. The sensor is composed of a sensor head that contains a vacuum-sealed cavity arranged as an FP cavity and a multimode optical fiber. The external pressure can be measured by detecting the change in FP cavity length in the sensor. Experimental results demonstrate the sensing capabilities for pressures from 20 kPa to 700 kPa up to 800°C.

Abstract: The denoising of electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) fringe patterns is a key step in the application of ESPI. In this paper, we propose a method for batch denoising of ESPI fringe patterns based on a convolution neural network (CNN). In the proposed method, the network is first trained by our training dataset, which consists of the noisy ESPI fringe patterns and the corresponding noise-free images. We propose a new computer-simulated method of ESPI fringe patterns to create our training dataset. After training, the other multi-frame ESPI fringe patterns to be processed are fed to the trained network simultaneously, and the corresponding denoising images can be obtained in batches. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed method via application to 50 computer-simulated ESPI fringe patterns and three groups of experimentally obtained ESPI fringe patterns. The experimental results show that our method can obtain desired results even when the quality of ESPI fringe images is considerably low because of variable density, high noise, and low contrast, and our method can denoise multi-frame fringe patterns simultaneously. Moreover, we use the computer-simulated ESPI fringe patterns to train the network; after training, the trained network can be used to denoise either computer-simulated ESPI fringe patterns or the experimentally obtained ESPI fringe patterns. The proposed method is especially suitable for processing a large number of ESPI fringe patterns.

Abstract: Imaging with THz radiation has proved an important tool for both fundamental science and industrial use. Here we review a class of THz imaging implementations, named coherent lensless imaging, that reconstruct the coherent response of arbitrary samples with a minimized experimental setup based only on a coherent source and a camera. After discussing the appropriate sources and detectors to perform them, we detail the fundamental principles and implementations of THz digital holography and phase retrieval. These techniques owe a lot to imaging with different wavelengths, yet innovative concepts are also being developed in the THz range and are ready to be applied in other spectral ranges. This makes our review useful for both the THz and imaging communities, and we hope it will foster their interaction.

Abstract: We experimentally introduce a normalized differential method to enhance the time domain signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of an optical fiber distributed acoustic sensor (DAS). The reported method is calibrated against the typical differential method in noisy DAS systems, including those utilizing a relatively wide linewidth laser or few-mode fiber. In these two systems, the normalized differential method respectively identifies the position information of various vibration events with 1.7 dB and 0.53 dB SNR improvement. We further demonstrate the ability to locate positions along a fiber that are subjected to vibrations of frequencies higher than the theoretical maximum, but without determining these frequencies.

Abstract: Quantum key distribution (QKD) has undergone significant development in recent decades, particularly with respect to free-space (air) and optical fiber channels. Here, we report a proof-of-principle experiment for the BB84 protocol QKD over a water channel. First, we demonstrate again the polarization preservation properties of the water channel in optical transmission according to the measured Mueller matrix, which is close to the unit matrix. The reason for the polarization preservation, revealed by Monte Carlo simulation, is that almost all the received photons are unscattered. Then, we performed the first polarization encoding BB84 protocol QKD over a 2.37 m water channel. The results show that QKD can be performed with a low quantum bit error rate, less than 3.5%, with different attenuation coefficients.

Abstract: In this paper, we study the use of digital holography in the on-axis phase-shifting recording geometry for the purposes of deep-turbulence wavefront sensing. In particular, we develop closed-form expressions for the field-estimated Strehl ratio and signal-to-noise ratio for three separate phase-shifting strategies-the four-, three-, and two-step methods. These closed-form expressions compare favorably with our detailed wave-optics simulations, which propagate a point-source beacon through deep-turbulence conditions, model digital holography with noise, and calculate the Monte Carlo averages associated with increasing turbulence strengths and decreasing focal-plane array sampling. Overall, the results show the four-step method is the most efficient phase-shifting strategy and deep-turbulence conditions only degrade performance with respect to insufficient focal-plane array sampling and low signal-to-noise ratios. The results also show the strong reference beam from the local oscillator provided by digital holography greatly improves performance by tens of decibels when compared with the self-referencing interferometer.

Abstract: The error diffusion method can effectively reduce quality degradation by propagating thresholding errors to neighboring pixels in the conversion of a gray-scale hologram to a binary hologram. In previous works, the four weighting coefficients in error diffusion are mostly set as the Floyd–Steinberg coefficient, which was determined empirically and originally proposed for photograph processing. In this work, we point out that the Floyd–Steinberg coefficients can be suboptimal for hologram error diffusion binarization. Furthermore, the weighting coefficients are optimized for each different hologram adaptively. Compared with conventional coefficients, our optimized coefficients can better preserve the fidelity of a reconstructed image after a hologram is binarized.

Abstract: A new method is presented for performing the Abel inversion by fitting the line-of-sight projection of a predefined intensity distribution (FLiPPID) to the recorded 2D projections. The aim is to develop a methodology that is less prone to experimental noise when analyzing the projection of axisymmetric objects—in this case, co-flow diffusion flame images for color ratio pyrometry. A regression model is chosen for the light emission intensity distribution of the flame cross section as a function of radial distance from the flame center line. The forward Abel transform of this model function is fitted to the projected light intensity recorded by a color camera. For each of the three color channels, the model function requires three fitting parameters to match the radial intensity profile at each height above the burner. This results in a very smooth Abel inversion with no artifacts such as oscillations or negative values of the light source intensity, as is commonly observed for alternative Abel inversion techniques, such as the basis-set expansion or onion peeling. The advantages of the new FLiPPID method are illustrated by calculating the soot temperature and volume fraction profiles inside a co-flow diffusion flame, both being significantly smoother than those produced by the alternative inversion methods. The developed FLiPPID methodology can be applied to numerous other optical techniques for which smooth inverse Abel transforms are required.

Abstract: Sub-wavelength diffractive optics, commonly known as metasurfaces, have recently garnered significant attention for their ability to create ultra-thin flat lenses with a high numerical aperture. Several materials with different refractive indices have been used to create metasurface lenses (metalenses). In this paper, we analyze the role of refractive index on the performance of these metalenses. We employ both forward and inverse design methodologies to perform our analysis. We found that, while high-refractive-index materials allow for extreme reduction of the focal length, for moderate focal lengths and numerical aperture (<0.6), there is no appreciable difference in the focal spot size and focusing efficiency for metalenses made of different materials with refractive indices ranging between 1.2 and 3.43 in forward design, and 1.25 and 3.5 in inverse design.

Abstract: Fringe projection profilometry has been widely used in high-speed three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement. To improve the speed without loss of accuracy, we present a novel single-shot 3D shape measuring system that utilizes a coaxial fringe projection system and a 2CCD camera. The coaxial fringe projection system, comprising a visible light (red, green, and blue) projector and an infrared (IR) light projector, can simultaneously project red, green, blue, and IR fringe patterns. The 2CCD camera, as the name suggests, has two CCD chips that can acquire visible and IR fringe patterns at the same time. Combining the two-step phase-shifting algorithm, Fourier transform profilometry, and the optimum three-frequency selection method, 3D shape measurement of complex surfaces such as large slopes or discontinuous objects can be obtained from single-shot acquisition. A virtual fringe projection measurement system has been established to generate pre-deformed fringe patterns to correct positional deviations of the coaxial fringe projection system. This method has been applied to simulations and experiments on static and dynamic objects with promising results.

Abstract: In this paper, a planar comb-shaped antenna array for terahertz sensing based on the excitation of spoof surface plasmon modes is proposed. The structure is constructed by an array of three periodic rectangular grooves perforated through metal stripes on top of a silicon substrate. The effective detection of lactose is given as an example to demonstrate the ability of this structure to enhance detection sensitivity. In transmission mode, the sensing signal of lactose using the antenna array was 7.6 times larger than that of using a silicon substrate. In reflection mode, the sensing signal of lactose increased almost 13 times using our proposed antenna array compared to that of using a silicon substrate, exhibiting high sensitivity in terahertz sensing. Further, lactose thickness could be predicted based on the reflectance at the peak using our proposed structure. Our results indicate that the proposed structure has great potentiality in the field of biological and chemical sensing.

Abstract: A novel terahertz (THz) refractive index sensor based on Tamm plasmon-polaritons (TPPs), comprising a Bragg reflector and a graphene layer, is proposed. A semi-analytical transfer matrix method is used to study the proposed structure and its sensing performance. The sensor demonstrates a sensitivity of 0.744 THz per refractive index unit (THz/RIU), or equivalently, 175.5 μm/RIU, and a figure of merit of 10.33 RIU−1 at the operating frequency of 1.132 THz. The effects of structural parameters on the sensing performance are studied, offering new methods for improving TPP-based sensors. The proposed approach is a simple and practical alternative to traditional, and often more complex, THz sensing approaches, due to the ease of excitation, which lifts the requirement of phase and polarization-matching devices such as polarizers, prisms, and gratings. The proposed structure is studied for gas sensing, and its performance is compared with previous THz refractive index sensing structures.

Abstract: We developed transmission diffraction grating-based spectroscopic single-molecule localization microscopy (sSMLM) to collect the spatial and spectral information of single-molecule blinking events concurrently. We characterized the spectral heterogeneities of multiple far-red emitting dyes in a high-throughput manner using sSMLM. We also investigated the influence of spectral dispersion on the single-molecule identification performance of fluorophores with large spectral overlapping. The careful tuning of spectral dispersion in grating-based sSMLM permitted simultaneous three-color super-resolution imaging in fixed cells with a single objective lens at a relatively low photon budget. Our sSMLM has a compact optical design and can be integrated with conventional localization microscopy to provide add-on spectroscopic analysis capability.