This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8999, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

Single beam optical tweezers hold particles behind the focal plane due to the highly focused laser beam. However, even moderately focused beams may stably con ne particles of high refractive index contrast and sizes up to half wavelength. This is caused by the fact that the light structure near focus is complex even for such moderately focused beams. The intensity pro le consists of several axial oscillations as well as off-axis lobes or rings which enhance trapping. Moreover, side lobes provide another multiple trapping sites for small sized particles. The properties of these traps will be analyzed theoretically by means of Generalized Lorenz-Mie Scattering theory.

The evanescent field from an optical waveguide is used for near-field trapping and transporting of fluorescent microspheres. Out-of-focus fluorescence imaging is used to track the trapped particle in 3-D with nanometer precision (<100 nm). A prior calibration is done to determine the relationship between the z-coordinate and the radius of the outermost diffraction ring in the image of the sphere. This gives precise information about how much the particle moves up and down during propulsion along the waveguide. Results are presented for trapping and tracking a 1 μm fluorescent particle on a strip waveguide.

Laser manipulation with plasmonic nano-particles is a rapidly growing field with various practical applications stretching beyond physics towards biology and chemistry. For example gold nano-particles can be employed as local heat source, probes for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy with a sensitivity going down to a single molecule or contact-less probe in scanning near-field optical microscope. A single tightly focused laser beam optical tweezers was also employed to three-dimensional trapping of gold and silver nano-particles with diameters between 20 to 250 nm. However, theoretical models assuming the spherical shape of a nano-particle predict spatial confinement only for particles with diameter lower than 100 nm. Our results indicate this discrepancy is caused by ignoring particles shape which is very important for understanding of light-matter interaction.

Wireless communication amounts to encoding information onto physical observables carried by electromagnetic (EM) fields, radiating them into surrounding space, and detecting them remotely by an appropriate sensor connected to an informationdecoding receiver. Each observable is second order in the fields and fulfills a conservation law. In present-day radio only the EM linear momentum observable is fully exploited. A fundamental physical limitation of this observable, which represents the translational degrees of freedom of the charges (typically an oscillating current along a linear antenna) and the fields, is that it is single-mode. This means that a linear-momentum radio communication link comprising one transmitting and one receiving antenna, known as a single-input-single-output (SISO) link, can provide only one transmission channel per frequency (and polarization). In contrast, angular momentum, which represents the rotational degrees of freedom, is multi-mode, allowing an angular-momentum SISO link to accommodate an arbitrary number of independent transmission channels on one and the same frequency (and polarization). We describe the physical properties of EM angular momentum and how they can be exploited, discuss real-world experiments, and outline how the capacity of angular momentum links may be further enhanced by employing multi-port techniques, i.e., the angular momentum counterpart of linear-momentum multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO).

Tuning vector vortex in spatially coherent multicolored beam is studied. A wavelength filter based on the tunable modal properties of light is experimentally demonstrated, and the polarization topology of optical beam profile is mapped. A hybrid mode-wavelength division multiplexing (HMWDM) scheme is proposed. In this scheme information is encoded in the wavelength of light, and the spatial mode and polarization modulation about the optical mode is used to turn on and off frequency channels. This scheme is applicable to increase information capacity of light and in high resolution microscopy.

Ultrashort-pulsed Bessel and Airy beams in free space are often interpreted as "linear light bullets". Usually, interconnected intensity profiles are considered a "propagation" along arbitrary pathways which can even follow curved trajectories. A more detailed analysis, however, shows that this picture gives an adequate description only in situations which do not require to consider the transport of optical signals or causality. To also cover these special cases, a generalization of the terms "beam" and "propagation" is necessary. The problem becomes clearer by representing the angular spectra of the propagating wave fields by rays or Poynting vectors. It is known that quasi-nondiffracting beams can be described as caustics of ray bundles. Their decomposition into Poynting vectors by Shack-Hartmann sensors indicates that, in the frame of their classical definition, the corresponding local wavefronts are ambiguous and concepts based on energy density are not appropriate to describe the propagation completely. For this reason, quantitative parameters like the beam propagation factor have to be treated with caution as well. For applications like communication or optical computing, alternative descriptions are required. A heuristic approach based on vector field based information transport and Fourier analysis is proposed here. Continuity and discontinuity of far field distributions in space and time are discussed. Quantum aspects of propagation are briefly addressed.

The rotational properties of a light beam are controlled by its spin and orbital angular momentum (SAM and OAM). The q-plate, a liquid crystal device that can give rise to a coupling of these two quantities, was introduced a few years ago, leading to several applications in classical and quantum photonics. Very recently, in particular, a specific kind of q-plate was used to generate rotational-invariant states of single photons, which were then employed for performing a demonstration of quantum key distribution without the need for establishing a common reference frame between the transmitting and the receiving units. This result may find applications in future satellite-based quantum communication. By a similar approach, photonic states having a strongly enhanced rotational sensitivity, as opposed to rotational invariance, can be generated by using q-plates with very high topological charge. Photons in these states can be obtained starting from light having a uniform linear polarization and, after a physical rotation, can be converted back into light having uniformly linear polarization. As a result, one obtains linearly polarized light whose polarization plane rotates by an angle that is proportional to the angle of physical rotation between the generation and detection stages, with a very large proportionality constant. This effect of rotational amplification, which we named “photonic gear”, leads to a sort of “super-resolved Malus’ law”, potentially useful for measuring mechanical angles with very high precision.

We present theoretical descriptions and measurements of optical beams carrying isolated polarization-singularity C-points. Our analysis covers all types of C-points, including asymmetric lemons, stars and monstars. They are formed by the superposition of a circularly polarized mode carrying an optical vortex and a fundamental Gaussian mode in the opposite state of polarization. The type of C-point can be controlled experimentally by varying two parameters controlling the asymmetry of the optical vortex. This was implemented via a superposition of modes with singly charged optical vortices of opposite sign, and varying the relative amplitude and phase. The results are in excellent agreement with the predictions.

We demonstrate how to create non-diffracting vector Bessel beams by implementing a spatial light modulator (SLM) to generate scalar Bessel beams which are then converted into vector fields by the use of an azimuthally-varying birefringent plate, known as a q-plate. The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of these generated beams is measured by performing a modal decomposition on each of the beam’s polarization components. This is achieved by separating the circular polarization components through a polarization grating (PG) before performing the modal decomposition. We investigate both single charged Bessel beams as well as superpositions and the results are in good agreement with theory.

Polarization structured optical beams have half-integer topological structures: star, lemon, monstar in π-symmetric polarization ellipse orientation tensor field and integer-index topological structures: saddle, spiral, node in 2π-symmetric Poynting vector field. Topological approach to study the polarization structured optical beams is carried out and presented here in some detail. These polarization structured light beams are demonstrated to be the best platform to explore the topological interdependencies. The dependence of one type of topological structure on the other is used to control the Poynting vector density distribution and locally enhance the angular momentum density as compared to its constituent beam fields.

A spatially incoherent white light optical vortex is generated using a tunable liquid crystal q-plate and white lamp source. This work investigates the propagation of incoherent vector vortex to the far field, and makes comparisons with a coherent optical vortex at a particular wavelength. The contrast ratio between the vortex’s ring and core darkness is determined, and the polarization of the vortex s mapped. For the keywords, select up to 8 key terms for a search on your manuscript's subject.

Light generated with orbital angular momentum, commonly known as an optical vortex, is widely achieved by modifying the phase structure of a conventional laser beam through the utilization of a suitable optical element. In recent research, a process has been introduced that can produce electromagnetic radiation with a helical wave-front directly from a source. The chirally driven optical emission originates from a hierarchy of tailored nanoscale chromophore arrays arranged with a specific propeller-like geometry and symmetry. In particular, a nanoarray composed of n particles requires each component to be held in a configuration with a rotation and associated phase shift of 2 π/n radians with respect to its neighbor. Following initial electronic excitation, each such array is capable of supporting delocalized doubly degenerate excitons, whose azimuthal phase progression is responsible for the helical wave-front. Under identified conditions, the relaxation of the electronically-excited nanoarray produces structured light in a spontaneous manner. Nanoarrays of escalating order, i.e. those containing an increasing number of components, enable access to a set of topological charges of higher order. Practical considerations for the development of this technique are discussed, and potential new applications are identified.

Optical vortices are always created or annihilated in pairs with opposite topological charges. However, the presence of such a vortex dipole does not directly indicate whether they are associated with a creation or an annihilation event. Here we propose a method to distinguish between vortex dipoles that have just been created and those that are about to be annihilated. We use first and second order transverse derivatives of the optical field to construct a quantity that reveals the nature of the dipoles. Numerical examples are provided as demonstration of the method.

For any optical system, optical eigenmodes describe solutions of Maxwells equations that are orthogonal to each other. In their simplest free space form, these modes correspond, for example, to Bessel, Laguerre-Gaussian or Hermite-Gaussian beams. However, the orthogonality property is not limited to the intensity of the optical field but more generally the optical eigenmode decomposition can be applied to the linear and angular momentum arising from complex coherent beams. These modes can be seen as describing the independent degrees of freedom of the optical system and are characterized by the mode, their density and coupling efficiency. It is interesting to study the effect of different optical systems on the density of the optical degrees of freedom propagating through them. Here, we look at systems containing different elements such as: dielectric, meta-material and random lenses. Using the optical eigenmode decomposition, we determine their density in these different cases and discuss the origin of the variations observed. Further, we study the overall number of optical degrees of freedom accessible including linear and angular momentum of optical beams.

The control of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of ultrashort laser pulses with highly compact, low-dispersion and flexible devices opens new prospects for momentum-sensitive applications in plasmonics, materials processing, biochemistry, microscopy or optical data transfer. We report on the generation of few-cycle vortex pulses of variable topological charge from a Ti:sapphire laser oscillator with novel types of thermally tunable reflective, spiral-phase micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). The spatial and temporal properties of the pulses were characterized by a reconfigurable, nondiffracting Shack-Hartmann wavefront autocorrelator. The intensity propagation can be described by a Laguerre-Gaussian beam with slight distortions caused by the line of maximum phase step. The different topological charges were indicated by quantitatively comparing the lengths of measured transversal Poynting-vector components to corresponding numerical simulations.

Subsequently to the previous generation of ultrashort and ultra-broadband optical-vortex (OV) pulses (pulse energy: several tens of μJ) in few-cycle regime, we demonstrate high-power OV pulse generation with topological charge flexibility by employing a 4-f OV converter and pre- and main-amplifications. Our configuration overcomes the low-throughput drawback of the vortex converter, simultaneously compensating for the angular dispersion. It also gives flexibility of OAMor topological-charge control. Thus, we succeed in generation of mJ-class ultra-broadband OV pulses (∼790-∼820 nm) with a programmably-controlled topological charge. Moreover, we experimentally exhibit a high-precision method for measuring frequency-resolved OAM spectrum of femtosecond ultra-broadband OV pulses on the basis of electric-field reconstruction in the spatial domain. In addition, we present the generation of ultrashort pulses with axially-symmetric polarization by coherent beam combining of OVs.

Optical vortex light engendered with integer units of orbital angular momentum (OAM) may be involved in frequency upconversion. Second harmonic generation is usually forbidden in isotropic media due to parity constraints, but it becomes allowed by six-wave mixing. Here, we present a rigorous quantum analysis for the case of a Laguerre-Gaussian input beam comprising photons endowed with a single unit of OAM. Such a process gives rise to the novel entanglement of orbital momentum in two emergent photons; it transpires that the mechanism delivers a harmonic output whose polarization is essentially parallel to the incident radiation. This investigation ascertains the character of the emission, both under forward propagation and back-reflection geometries, and identifies in detail the form of distribution in the entangled total orbital momentum. A distinctive conical spread, originating from the entangled distribution in the emission pair, affords a potential means to determine the individual angular momenta.

The wavelength dependence of the principal states of transmission in multimode fibers is analyzed using a group theoretical analysis. We expand our principal states analysis modes propagating in an optical fiber in a basis of optical vortices for super dense optical networks to include the wavelength width over which these states are valid. The theory is formulated using SU(N) group theory and eigen analysis to determine the modal expansion coefficients. To first order, the principal states are frequency and wavelength independent; however dependencies develop away from which the frequencies of the specific expansion coefficients are determined.

When light travels through a spiral phase plate (SPP) device, it acquires structured wavefronts, i.e. a vortex containing orbital angular momentum. For an SPP device, which has a surface reflectivity, there will be multiple reflections in the device causing an azimuthal interference pattern. In this paper, the propagation of structured light is discussed after it has undergone multiple reflections in an SPP device under the thick-plate approximation.

The material characteristics in the THz-domain are an outstanding issue that challenge the development of suitable waveguides. It was shown that a simple metallic wires can provide waveguding with low attenuation and low dispersion. However, the need of an efficient coupling of free-space radiation limits the capabilities of the metallic wires. Here we suggest a coupling method which promise a significant increase in the coupling efficiency. We use the endfire-method which allows an excitation of the waveguide modes by direct illumination to the wire's front facet. The incident field is shaped in the field distribution by a spiral axicon and the polarization is modified by a sub-wavelength grating.

It is known that a properly arranged distribution of nanoholes on a metallic slab is able to produce, in far field conditions, light confinement at sub-diffraction and even sub-wavelength scale. The same effect can also be implemented by the use of Optical Eigenmode (OEi) technique. In this case, a spatial light modulator (SLM) encodes phase and amplitudes of N probe beams whose interference is able to lead to sub-wavelength confinement of light focused by an objective. The OEi technique has been already used in a wide range of applications, such as photoporation, confocal imaging, and coherent control of plasmonic nanoantennas. Here, we describe the application of OEi technique to a single valve of a marine diatom. Diatoms are ubiquitous monocellular algae provided with an external cell wall, the frustule, made of hydrated porous silica which play an active role in efficient light collection and confinement for photosynthesis. Every frustule is made of two valves interconnected by a lateral girdle band. We show that, applying OEi illumination to a single diatom valve, we can achieve unprecedented sub-diffractive focusing for the transmitted light.

Weak measurements typically require two non-orthogonal states, which are not eigenstates of an observable. This is why weak values of the orbital angular momentum operator seem counterintuitive or involve additional auxiliary observables, such as polarization. We show how the use of states emerging from spiral phase plates or holograms with fractional step height can be used to construct weak values of the orbital angular momentum operator.

Bessel-Gaussian (BG) modes possess unique characteristics that have been exploited in the classical world and which may also o er advantages over other modes in the quantum regime. We use the reconstruction property of BG modes to recover the degree of entanglement of our quantum state after encountering an obstruction. For BG modes, there exists a minimum distance behind an obstruction before reconstruction of the mode occurs. By moving the obstruction along the path of propagation of the entangled photon pairs, we quantitatively show a increase in the degree of entanglement as the obstruction moved beyond that minimum distance.

The use of Higher-dimensional entangled systems have been proved to signi cantly improve many quantum in- formation tasks. For instance, it has been shown that the use of higher-dimensional entangled systems provides a higher information capacity and an increased security in quantum cryptography. The orbital angular momentum (OAM) state of light is a potential candidate for the implementation of higher-dimensional entangled systems and has thus been considered for free-space quantum communication. However, atmospheric turbulence severely affects the OAM state of photons. In this work, we study the evolution of the OAM entanglement between two qutrits (three-dimensional quantum systems) in atmospheric turbulence both numerically and experimentally. The qutrits are photons entangled in their orbital angular momentum (OAM) states generated by spontaneous parametric down conversion. We propagate one of the photons through turbulence while leaving the other undis- turbed. To compare our results with previous work, we simulate the turbulent atmosphere with a single phase screen based on the Kolmogorov theory of turbulence and we use the tangle to quantify the amount of entangle- ment between the two qutrits. We compare our results with the evolution of OAM entanglement between two qubits.

A quantum walk is the quantum analog of the classical random walks. Despite their simple structure they form a universal platform to implement any algorithm of quantum computation. However, it is very hard to realize quantum walks with a sufficient number of iterations in quantum systems due to their sensitivity to environmental influences and subsequent loss of coherence. Here we present a scalable implementation scheme for one-dimensional quantum walks for arbitrary number of steps using the orbital angular momentum modes of classical light beams. Furthermore, we show that using the same setup with a minor adjustment we can also realize electric quantum walks.

We propose to optically trap nanoparticles utilizing a single nanostructured glass-fiber tip. 3D translation of optically trapped nanoparticles - nano tweezers - presents vast application possibilities and has not yet been shown. The input end of the fibre probe is a standard fibre, providing easy coupling to a light source. The output end is tapered down and covered with gold, with a nanoaperture fabricated on the tip. The nanoaperture provides the strong field gradient necessary for trapping of nanoparticles. We discuss probe geometries supported by numerical simulations. The fabrication procedure for the fibre probe, using a focused ion beam, is described. A set-up for the experiments has been made and preliminary trapping results are presented.

Since the early times of Arthur Ashkins groundbreaking experiments on optical tweezers, a great number of theoretical works was dedicated to this subject. Most of them treated the optical trapping of single spherical or elliptical particles. In the last years optical tweezers have become more and more a tool for assembling three dimensional structures using single microspheres as building blocks. Since all structures and particles inside the light beams influence the properties of the traps, we investigated theoretically the influence of additional single particles and particle arrays on the properties of optical traps. For this reason a geometrical optics based model is used with the inherent flexibility to be applied for various shapes and particle numbers.

We have previously proposed and demonstrated the targeted-light delivery capability of wave-guided optical waveguides (WOWs). The full strength of this structure-mediated paradigm can be harnessed by addressing multiple WOWs and manipulating them to work in tandem. We propose the use of diffractive techniques to create multiple focal spots that can be coupled into light manipulated WOWs. This is done by using a spatial light modulator to project the necessary phase to generate the multiple coupling light spots. We incorporate a diffractive setup in our Biophotonics Workstation (BWS) and demonstrate holographic shaping, tracking of light in 3D with the purpose of coupling light in the WOWs.

We encode mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) using the higher-dimensional orbital angular momentum (OAM) degree of freedom and illustrate how these states are encoded on a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM). We perform (d - 1)- mutual unbiased measurements in both a classical prepare and measure scheme and on entangled photon pairs for dimensions ranging from d = 2 to 5. The calculated average error rate, mutual information and secret key rate show an increase in information capacity as well as higher generation rates as the dimension increases.

We explore an interferometric beam shaping technique that considers the coaxial superposition of two Gaussian beams. This technique is traditionally implemented in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer; however, to avoid phase shift drift due to vibrations and thermal effects we employ amplitude and phase modulation with a spatial light modulator (SLM) to achieve the beam shaping. We consider two Gaussian beams of equal but opposite curvature that possess the same phase and width incident on a focusing lens. At the plane of the lens we obtain a multi-ringed beam with a central intensity maximum which develops into a multi-ringed beam with a central null at the focal plane of the lens. The interesting feature of this beam is that it possesses two focal spots on either side of the focal plane of the lens. We investigate obstructing the beam at the focal plane of the lens and by carefully selecting the free parameters we obtain an unobstructed second focus while the equivalent Gaussian beam is sufficiently obstructed.

Modern adaptive optics systems give high performance, both in terms of Strehl ratio (degree of correction) and corrected field of view. Arguably the most important subsystem is the wavefront sensor, which measures the deviation from flatness of the incident wavefront that has been perturbed by the turbulent atmosphere, and commands an actuated mirror to compensate. An aspect of the wavefront sensor essential to achieving high sensitivity is that it perform over a broad spectral bandwidth; operation without correction for guide star color is also desirable. With this in mind, wavefront sensors are considered that make use of the geometric (or topological) phase, which has the property that the value of the phase is independent of wavelength. Conceptual system designs and advantages are discussed.