Multiplexing holograms in LiNbO3FeMn crystals

Persistent holograms are recorded with red light in lithium niobate crystals doped with manganese and iron. Different erasure mechanisms are investigated, and a recording schedule for multiplexing holograms with equal diffraction efficiencies is proposed. To test the recording schedule experimentally, we multiplex 50 plane-wave holograms with the proposed recording schedule

System Measure for Persistence in Holographic Recording and Application to Singly-Doped and Doubly-Doped Lithium Niobate

We define a measure for persistence in holographic recording. Using this measure and the known measures for dynamic range and sensitivity, we compare the performance of singly-doped and doubly-doped LiNbO3 crystals. We show that the range of performance that can be obtained using doubly-doped crystals is much larger than that obtained using singly-doped ones

Analytical solution of linear ordinary differential equations by differential transfer matrix method

We report a new analytical method for exact solution of homogeneous linear ordinary differential equations with arbitrary order and variable coefficients. The method is based on the definition of jump transfer matrices and their extension into limiting differential form. The approach reduces the $n$th-order differential equation to a system of $n$ linear differential equations with unity order. The full analytical solution is then found by the perturbation technique. The important feature of the presented method is that it deals with the evolution of independent solutions, rather than its derivatives. We prove the validity of method by direct substitution of the solution in the original differential equation. We discuss the general properties of differential transfer matrices and present several analytical examples, showing the applicability of the method. We show that the Abel-Liouville-Ostogradski theorem can be easily recovered through this approach

General methods for designing single-mode planar photonic crystal waveguides in hexagonal lattice structures

We systematically investigate and compare general methods of designing single mode photonic crystal waveguides in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice of air holes in a dielectric material. We apply the rather general methods to dielectric-core hexagonal lattice photonic crystals since they have not been widely explored before. We show that it is possible to obtain single mode guiding in a limited portion of the photonic bandgap of hexagonal lattice structures. We also compare the potentials of different photonic crystal lattices for designing single-mode waveguides and conclude that triangular lattice structures are the best choice

Band-edge Bilayer Plasmonic Nanostructure for Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Spectroscopic analysis of large biomolecules is critical in a number of applications, including medical diagnostics and label-free biosensing. Recently, it has been shown that Raman spectroscopy of proteins can be used to diagnose some diseases, including a few types of cancer. These experiments have however been performed using traditional Raman spectroscopy and the development of the Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) assays suitable for large biomolecules could lead to a substantial decrease in the amount of specimen necessary for these experiments. We present a new method to achieve high local field enhancement in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy through the simultaneous adjustment of the lattice plasmons and localized surface plasmon polaritons, in a periodic bilayer nanoantenna array resulting in a high enhancement factor over the sensing area, with relatively high uniformity. The proposed plasmonic nanostructure is comprised of two interacting nanoantenna layers, providing a sharp band-edge lattice plasmon mode and a wide-band localized surface plasmon for the separate enhancement of the pump and emitted Raman signals. We demonstrate the application of the proposed nanostructure for the spectral analysis of large biomolecules by binding a protein (streptavidin) selectively on the hot-spots between the two stacked layers, using a low concentration solution (100 nM) and we successfully acquire its SERS spectrum

Theoretical analysis of two-step holographic recording with high-intensity pulses

We develop a full numerical as well as an approximate analytic solution for two-step holographic recording with high intensity pulses in LiNbO3:Fe crystals. We find the unknown material parameters by fitting the numerical solution to the experimental results. The two important parameters that were unknown so far and found in this work are the bulk photovoltaic coefficient and absorption cross section for the excitation of the electrons from small polarons in LiNbO3 with infrared light. We show that the approximate analytic solution agrees very well with the numerical solution (as well as the experimental results) for most practical applications. We use the analytic solution to explain the experimental observations that were not understood before

Two-center holographic recording

We describe a two-center holographic recording method for the storage of persistent holograms in doubly doped lithium niobate crystals. We use a two-center model, and we show that our experimental observations can be explained by the model. We describe experimental methods for finding the unknown material parameters of LiNbO3:Fe:Mn crystals for the two-center model, and we discuss the optimization of two-center recording