Del Mar Photonics

Del Mar Photonics at SPIE Defense, Security +Sensing SPIE DSS conference

13 - 17 April 2009
Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center
Orlando, FL United States

Femtosecond related presentations - Nanotechnology presentations - AFM Heron nanoRaman/Femtosecond NSOM

Through-the-jacket inscription of fiber Bragg gratings using femtosecond infrared radiation for sensor applications (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7316-10 of Conference 7316
Authors(s): Stephen J. Mihailov, Dan Grobnic, Christopher W. Smelser, Robert B. Walker, Communications Research Ctr. Canada (Canada)
Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Invited talk

Recently, FBG inscription through the polymer coatings of standard optical fibers was demonstrated using femtosecond pulse duration (fs) infrared (IR) radiation laser sources. Depending on the exposure technique, fiber type and polymer coating, significant grating reflectivities can be realized along with improved mechanical reliability and performance at elevated temperatures. In this paper, the work to date of fs IR laser inscription of gratings through various polymer coatings and optical fibers will be reviewed. The only example of direct FBG inscription through polyimide coatings for high temperature stable grating sensors will also be presented.

Femtosecond Lasers - request a quote for fs laser suitable for inscription of fiber Bragg gratings

Ti:Sapphire lasers
Trestles femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser
Trestles Finesse femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser with integrated DPSS pump laser
Teahupoo Rider femtosecond amplified Ti:Sapphire laser

Cr:Forsterite lasers
Mavericks femtosecond Cr:Forsterite laser

Er-based lasers
Tamarack femtosecond fiber laser (Er-doped fiber)
Buccaneer femtosecond OA fiber laser (Er-doped fiber) and SHG
Cannon Ultra-broadband light source

Yb-based lasers
Tourmaline femtosecond Yt-doped fiber laser
Tourmaline Yb-SS400 Ytterbium-doped Femtosecond Solid-State Laser
Tourmaline Yb-ULRepRate-07 Yb-based high-energy fiber laser system kit

Radiation sensitivity of Bragg gratings written with femtosecond IR lasers (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7316-11 of Conference 7316
Authors(s): Stefan K. Hoeffgen, Henning Henschel, Jochen Kuhnhenn, Udo Weinand, Fraunhofer-Institut für Naturwissenschaftlich-Technische Trendanalysen (Germany); Stephen J. Mihailov, Dan Grobnic, Communications Research Ctr. Canada (Canada)
Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2009
We intend to develop radiation sensitive fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) for radiation dosimetry and radiation insensitive ones for temperature and stress measurement in radiation environments. Both goals seem to be unreachable with UV laser written FBGs because UV light already eliminates precursors of color centers. Furthermore is it impossible to write FBGs in the radiation hardest fibers with pure or F-doped silica core. Therefore we investigated gratings written with femtosecond IR lasers. With this laser type it is possible to write FBGs even in Ge-free fibers. But their influence on the radiation sensitivity of pristine fibers is unknown so far.

Stand-off detection of organic samples using filament-induced breakdown spectroscopy (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7306A-37 of Conference 7306A
Authors(s): James Martin, Matthieu Baudelet, Matthew Weidman, Matthew K. Fisher, Candice Bridge, Christopher G. Brown, Michael Sigman, Martin C. Richardson, College of Optics & Photonics, Univ. of Central Florida (United States); Paul J. Dagdigian, The Johns Hopkins Univ. (United States)
Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2009
As an alternative to focused nanosecond pulses for stand-off LIBS detection of energetic materials, we use self-channeled femtosecond pulses (35 fs, 25 mJ) from a Ti:Sapphire laser to produce filaments up to 50 meters and create a plasma on energetic material samples.
Light collection challenge is done via an off–axis Newtonian telescope (30 cm of diameter and 190 cm focal length). Signal characterizations are made for several distances of detection.
Finally, sample detection and discrimination from background signal, are achieved through chemometrics signal processing to improve the organic material detection.

Optical fabrication of 3D scattering medium for secure optical memory card (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7329-22 of Conference 7329
Authors(s): Osamu Matoba, Yuri Kitamura, Kouichi Nitta, Kobe Univ. (Japan); Wataru Watanabe, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan)
Date: Thursday, 16 April 2009
We present an optical method of making 3D scattering medium that can be used as secure memory card. By irradiating a femtosecond pulse, a hole or refractive index change distribution is created. We discuss the possibility of fabrication of strong scattering mediuam in polymer and the possibility of controlling scattering coefficient by number of irradiation.

Molecular signal as a signature for detection of energetic materials in filament-induced breakdown spectroscopy (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7304-53 of Conference 7304
Authors(s): Matthieu Baudelet, Matthew Weidman, Matthew K. Fisher, Christopher G. Brown, Michael Sigman, Martin C. Richardson, College of Optics & Photonics, Univ. of Central Florida (United States); Paul J. Dagdigian, The Johns Hopkins Univ. (United States)
Date: Thursday, 16 April 2009
LIBS induced by self-channeled femtosecond pulses is done on energetic materials. Spectral analysis of atomic and ionized C, H, O, and N, as well as and molecular (C2 and CN) transitions shows that there is no atomic carbon emission, but CN molecular signals even when no nitrogen in the sample. Molecular recombination between native atomic carbon and atmospheric nitrogen in the filament-induced-channel above the sample leading to CN formation car explain this spectral signature and thus the caution on the use of molecular signal in explosive detection by filament-induced LIBS.

Miniaturized fiber inline Fabry-Perot interferometer for chemical sensing (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7322-14 of Conference 7322
Authors(s): Tao Wei, Yukun Han, Hai-Lung Tsai, Hai Xiao, Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology (United States)
Date: Thursday, 16 April 2009
This letter demonstrates the chemical sensing capability of a miniaturized fiber inline Fabry-Pérot sensor fabricated by femtosecond laser. Its accessible cavity enables the device to measure the refractive index within the cavity. The refractive index change introduced by changing the acetone solution concentration was experimentally detected with an error less than 4.2×10-5.

Generation of wide terahertz radiation using bulk and quasi-phase-matched GaAs crystal (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7311-9 of Conference 7311
Authors(s): Baolong Yu, Naibing Ma, Min-Yi Shih, Alexander V. Parfenov, Physical Optics Corp. (United States)
Date: Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Physical Optics Corporation (POC) studied intense terahertz (THz) generation through optical rectification in bulk low-temperature growth GaAs (LG-GaAs) and quasi-phase-matched orientation pattern GaAs (OP-GaAs). POC performed simulations based on one-dimensional coupled propagation equations of THz and optical fields and conducted experimental tests. The results show that a LG-GaAs crystal with 0.5mm-thick under the excitation of a compact all-fiber femtosecond laser (76 MHz, 100 fs, 100 mW, 800 nm) can generate wide frequency range from 0.1 to 8.2 THz. The enhanced conversion efficiency was found for OP-GaAs crystal that can generate an average THz power of several milliwatts. Both theoretical and experimental results show that average THz output power is proportional to the energy fluence of the excitation source rather than the laser power for ultra-short pulse source. These achievements provide an effective approach to increase THz output power.

Bragg gratings written in multimode borosilicate fibers using ultrafast infrared radiation and a phase mask (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7316-12 of Conference 7316
Authors(s): Dan Grobnic, Stephen J. Mihailov, Christopher W. Smelser, Communications Research Ctr. Canada (Canada)
Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Inscription of Bragg grating structures is reported in inexpensive multimode borosilicate fibers using femtosecond pulse duration 800 nm infrared radiation and a phase mask. Thermal annealing of the gratings up to 700 °C reveals a behavior similar to Type I-IR gratings made in silica fibeer with ultrafast infrared radiation. A portion of the index modulation of the grating is stable up to 500 °C. Below 100 °C, the wavelength shift of the Bragg grating is characterized by ~ 12 pm/°C slope. Above 300 °C, the wavelength shift is ~ 5 pm/°C.

Atmosphere issues in detection of explosives and organic residues (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7304-50 of Conference 7304
Authors(s): Christopher G. Brown, Matthieu Baudelet, Candice Bridge, Matthew K. Fisher, Michael Sigman, Martin C. Richardson, College of Optics & Photonics, Univ. of Central Florida (United States); Paul J. Dagdigian, The Johns Hopkins Univ. (United States)
Date: Thursday, 16 April 2009
Studies have shown that ionized atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen during the plasma formation interfere in a LIBS analysis under atmosphere . This becomes important when detecting explosives, because of their higher concentrations of nitrogen and oxygen compared to the carbon and hydrogen in non-energetic materials.
This study makes a comparison of LIBS analysis on organic thin residues on a non-metallic substrate by nanosecond and femtosecond lasers in air and argon atmospheres. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify the influence of atmosphere for sample discrimination via the emission spectra and validated using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves.

Formation and properties of the GeSe2-In2Se3-CsI new chalcohalide glasses (Poster Presentation)
Paper 7298-134 of Conference 7298
Authors(s): Huidan Zeng, East China Univ. of Science and Technology (China)
Date: Thursday, 16 April 2009

Cr:ZnSe lasers
Chata femtosecond Cr:ZnSe laser (2.5 micron) coming soon

High Power Femtosecond Laser Systems

Wedge-M Multipass Ti:Sapphire Amplifier
Teahupoo Rider femtosecond amplified Ti:Sapphire laser
Teahupoo MPA 50 Femtosecond Multipass Ti:sapphire Amplifier
Cortes 800 tabletop 40 TW Ti:Sapphire laser system
Cortes E  - High vacuum laser ablation/deposition system with 2 TW Ti:Sapphire laser
Cortes K - femtosecond seed laser for Petawatt KrF excimer laser
Cortes O 200TW femtosecond laser - KD*P CPOPA based amplifier system
Jaws femtosecond Cr:forsterite Multi-Terawatt Amplified Laser
High-vacuum system for laser ablation/deposition

Femtosecond pulse measurement instrumentation

Reef scanning and single shot femtosecond autocorrelators
Avoca SPIDER - Spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER)
Rincon third order femtosecond cross-correlator (third order autocorrelator TOAC) also referred to as contrast meter

Ultrafast Dynamics Research Tools

Beacon femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion (optical gating) spectrometer
Hatteras Ultrafast Transient Absorption Spectrometer

Femtosecond Systems and Accessories

Femtosecond Micromachining
Femtosecond nanophotonics
Femtosecond NSOM
Near-field Scanning Optical Microscope (NSOM)
Pacifica femtosecond fiber laser based terahertz spectrometer
Pismo pulse picker (ultrafast electro-optical shutter)
Wavelength conversion: second and third harmonics generators for femtosecond lasers - THG for amplified TiSa - RegA 9000
Jibe white light continuum generator
Kirra Optical Faraday Rotators and Isolators

Instruments for Nanotechnologies

AFM HERON
Near-field Scanning Optical Microscope (NSOM)
Femtosecond nanophotonics
Femtosecond NSOM
 

Laser accessories

Diffractive Variable Attenuator for high power lasers
Deformable mirrors - active elements for adaptive optics systems
ShaH - the family of fast, accurate and reliable wavefront sensors
Complete adaptive optics systems
Faraday rotators and isolators for high-power (up to 1kW) laser beams
SAM - Saturable Absorber Mirrors
PCA - Photoconductive antenna for terahertz applications
 

7 items 1-7
Lab-on-a-chip PCR in continuous flow: an ultrafast analytical tool for B-agents (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7304-17 of Conference 7304
Authors(s): Claudia Gärtner, Nadine Hlawatsch, Richard Klemm, Microfluidic ChipShop GmbH (Germany); Thomas Clemens, CLEMENS GmbH (Germany)
Date: Tuesday, 14 April 2009
The aim is the realization of a reliable, ultrafast, and portable tool for the identification of B-agents at the point of interest. PCR is the method to be used for the doubtless identification of e.g. bacteria, and viruses. Miniaturization is the way to include the overall analysis process, from sample preparation to detection, on a micro titerplate sized consumable device. The novel PCR concept with constant temperature zones allows also for the instrument to become portable. The overall concept, methods of sample preparation on chip, and results of ultrafast PCR with B-agents on chip, as well as the basic instrument will be presented.

Bragg gratings written in multimode borosilicate fibers using ultrafast infrared radiation and a phase mask (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7316-12 of Conference 7316
Authors(s): Dan Grobnic, Stephen J. Mihailov, Christopher W. Smelser, Communications Research Ctr. Canada (Canada)
Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Inscription of Bragg grating structures is reported in inexpensive multimode borosilicate fibers using femtosecond pulse duration 800 nm infrared radiation and a phase mask. Thermal annealing of the gratings up to 700 °C reveals a behavior similar to Type I-IR gratings made in silica fibeer with ultrafast infrared radiation. A portion of the index modulation of the grating is stable up to 500 °C. Below 100 °C, the wavelength shift of the Bragg grating is characterized by ~ 12 pm/°C slope. Above 300 °C, the wavelength shift is ~ 5 pm/°C.

Ultrafast fiber grating sensor system to measure the velocity and position of a blast wave (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7316-13 of Conference 7316
Authors(s): Eric Udd, Columbia Gorge Research (United States); Jerry J. Benterou, Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (United States)
Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2009
In order to more fully characterize blast events associated with highly energetic materials it is necessary to be able to measure the velocity and position of a blast wave. This paper describes a very fast fiber grating sensor system to realize these measurements.

Optical biopsy and tissue phantom selection: a novel approach combining single-photon timing and spatial-mode selection (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7320-8 of Conference 7320
Authors(s): Luca Nardo, Univ. degli Studi dell'Insubria (Italy) and C.N.R.-I.N.F.M. (Italy); Maria Bondani, National Lab. for Ultrafast and Ultraintense Optical Science (ULTRAS) (Italy) and C.N.R.-I.N.F.M. (Italy); Alessandra Andreoni, Univ. degli Studi dell'Insubria (Italy) and C.N.R.-I.N.F.M. (Italy)
Date: Tuesday, 14 April 2009
By measuring the time of flight distributions (TOF’s) of photons emerging from a scattering medium at <0.6 mrad from the incident beam direction with an apparatus featuring new generation single photon avalanche photodiodes and time-correlated single-photon counting modules, we discriminate the snake photons, bringing imaging information, from the scattered ones. We can thus image objects embedded in the scattering medium and assess their optical nature. With the same method we compare the TOF’s of tissue phantoms with those of ex-vivo tissues and show that Delrin, Teflon and Nylon phantoms exhibit non-tissuelike behaviors when simultaneous selection in mode and time is applied.

Time-resolved FRET for single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping (Poster Presentation)
Paper 7320-39 of Conference 7320
Authors(s): Alessandra Andreoni, Univ. degli Studi dell'Insubria (Italy); Maria Bondani, National Lab. for Ultrafast and Ultraintense Optical Science (ULTRAS) (Italy); Luca Nardo, Univ. degli Studi dell'Insubria (Italy)
Date: Tuesday, 14 April 2009
By tens-of-picosecond resolved fluorescence detection (TCSPC, time-correlated single-photon counting) we study Förster resonance energy transfer between a donor and a black-hole-quencher acceptor bound at the 5’- and 3’-positions of a synthetic DNA oligonucleotide. This dual labelled oligonucleotide is annealed with either the complementary sequence or with sequences that mimic single-nucleotide polymorphic gene sequences: they differ in one nucleotide at positions near either the ends or the centre of the oligonucleotide. We find donor fluorescence decay times whose values are definitely distinct and discuss the feasibility of single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping by this method.

Ultrafast single-photon detection with InGaAs avalanche photodiodes for Mbit/s secure key-rate quantum key distribution (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7320-28 of Conference 7320
Authors(s): Zhiliang Yuan, Alex R. Dixon, James F. Dynes, Andrew W. Sharpe, Andrew J. Shields, Toshiba Research Europe Ltd. (United Kingdom)
Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2009
We report a recent advance in high speed single photon detection at telecom wavelengths using compact and cryogenic-free InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes. A circuit that compares the output with that in the preceding period allows detection of extremely weak avalanches, thus enabling fast, efficient, low-noise single photon detection with a gigahertz repetition rate, as well as photon number resolution. Applied to quantum key distribution the device allows a hundred-fold increase in the secure key rate to record values exceeding 1 Mbit/s for a 20km link and 10 kbit/s for 100 km. The same device may also be used for fast quantum random number generation that is intrinsically bias-free and requires no post processing.

High-performance silicon single-photon avalanche diode arrays (Paper Presentation)
Paper 7320-16 of Conference 7320
Authors(s): Ivan Rech, Angelo Gulinatti, Franco Zappa, Massimo Ghioni, Sergio D. Cova, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2009