Free-space propagation can be described as a shearing of the Wigner distribution function in the spatial coordinate; this shearing is linear in paraxial approximation but assumes a more complex shape for wide-angle propagation. Integration in the frequency domain allows the determination of near-field diffraction, leading to the well known Fresnel diffraction when small angles are considered and allowing exact prediction of wide-angle diffraction. The authors use this technique to demonstrate evanescent wave formation and diffraction elimination for very small apertures.
The first part of the paper is devoted to diffraction phenomena that can be expressed by fractional Fourier transforms whose orders are real numbers. According to a scalar theory, diffraction acts on the amplitude of the electric field as well as on its spherical angular spectrum, and Wigner distributions can be defined on a space-frequency phase space. The phase space is equipped with an Euclidean structure, so that the effects of diffraction are rotations of Wigner distributions associated with optical fields. Such a rotation is shown to split into two specific elliptical rotations. Wigner d…
The second part of the article is devoted to field transfers by diffraction that are represented by fractional Fourier transformations whose orders are complex numbers. The corresponding effects on the Wigner distributions associated with optical fields are still represented by $4\times4$ matrices operating on the scaled phase-space, but unlike matrices involved in the first part, those matrices decompose into two matrices that essentially represent 2--dimensional hyperbolic rotations, not elliptical rotations. The result is applied to the theory of unstable resonators.
The third part of the paper is devoted to ray tracing in optical resonators. The employed method for dealing with the issue uses the elliptical or hyperbolic rotations that Wigner distributions associated with optical fields undergo during propagation from one spherical mirror of a resonator to the other. It is illustrated by various examples concerning meridional or skew rays, reentrant in stable resonators or propagating in unstable resonators. A classification of optical resonators is eventually deduced.
In this article we provide a comparison of classical dynamical x-ray diffraction theory with the dynamical theory for the wide-angle case. It is shown that it is possible for the true value of the angular variable to be introduced without application of the dispersion theory. Wide-angle x-ray diffraction theory is in an excellent agreement with Zaus correction of the angular parameter.
Ptychography employs a set of diffraction patterns that capture redundant information about an illuminated specimen as a localized beam is moved over the specimen. The robustness of this method comes from the redundancy of the dataset that in turn depends on the amount of oversampling and the form of the illumination. Although the role of oversampling in ptychography is fairly well understood, the same cannot be said of the illumination structure. This paper provides a vector space model of ptychography that accounts for the illumination structure in a way that highlights the role of the Wigne…
We propose and experimentally demonstrate temporally low-coherent optical diffraction tomography (ODT) based on angle-scanning Mach-Zehnder interferometry. Using a digital micromirror device based on diffractive tilting, we successfully maintain full-field interference of incoherent light during every scan sequence. The ODT reconstruction principles for temporally incoherent illuminations are thoroughly reviewed and developed. Several limitations of incoherent illumination are also discussed, such as the nondispersive assumption, optical sectioning capacity, and illumination angle limitation. …
We propose that viewing angle expansion of the holographic image can be realized by using high-order diffraction beams caused by the pixel structure sampling the hologram data. The diffractive beam propagating to new optical axis direction plays a role in a modulated carrier similar to a carrier signal of the off-axis holography, which makes new viewing zone of the reconstruction image. The reconstructed image in the Fresnel hologram is deformed along new viewing direction, whereas the Fourier hologram enables to retrieve three-dimensional image with other perspective. High resolution hologram…
Diffraction gratings are famous for their ability to exhibit, near a Wood anomaly, an arbitrarily large angular dispersion, e.g., with respect to the incidence angle or wavelength. For a diffraction grating under incidence by a plane wave at a fixed frequency, by rotating the incidence angle at a given angular velocity, the field propagated by a nonzero diffraction order will rotate at increasingly fast angular velocity as the incidence angle approaches the angle where Wood anomaly occurs. Such a fast rotating diffracted field has the potential to generate a substantial Doppler shift. Indeed, …
A thorough theoretical study of the optical properties of periodic Si nanosphere arrays is undertaken, placing particular emphasis on the synergy between electric and magnetic Mie resonances, which occur in high-refractive-index nanoparticles and can lead to a rich variety of phenomena ranging from perfect reflection to controlled diffraction. By means of systematic calculations using the layer-multiple-scattering method that we properly extended so as to describe periodic arrays with many scatterers per unit cell, in conjunction with finite-element simulations, we optimized surfaces of Si nan…
We use Fourier space polarimetry to study the incident angle- and polarization-dependent rotation angle and ellipticity of different diffraction orders emerging from a two-dimensional periodic Au array. The array has square lattice and circular nanoholes and thus is achiral. We find no polarization conversion occurs if the diffraction orders lie in the incident plane. However, for the orders that are diffracted away from the incident plane, their rotation angle and ellipticity vary considerably with incident angle and polarization. In particular, dramatic changes in rotation angle and elliptic…
Measurement and analysis of diffraction parameters of thick transmission holographic phase gratings recorded on PHC-488 photopolymer are presented. Precision determination of the spatial grating period is executed by Bragg angle measurement for two precisely known wavelengths in the first diffraction order and also by Bragg angle measurement on one wavelength in the first and second diffraction orders. Determination of actual grating thickness and depths of spatial modulation of a holographic recording, which are responsible for their main optical characteristics, is carried out with the appli…
Spatial characteristics of the optical-vortex (OV) beams created during the Gaussian beam diffraction by a grating with groove bifurcation are analyzed theoretically and numerically. In contrast to previous works, condition of small-angle diffraction is no longer required and the diffracted beam can be strongly deformed. This causes the intensity profile rotation and the high-order OV decomposition into a set of secondary single-charged OVs. These effects are studied quantitatively and confronted with similar properties of a Laguerre-Gaussian beam that undergoes astigmatic telescopic transform…
We consider the spectral response of moving diffraction gratings, in which the incident light extends over a broad angular range and where the diffracted light is observed from a specific angle. We show that the dispersion relation between the frequency perceived by an observer who is looking at a moving grating and the incident frequency can exhibit some unique features, such as a flat band (i.e., a local minimum). An observer can see the light diffracted into a non-specular diffraction order from a multitude of incident light rays and the angle of incidence of each ray is frequency-dependent…
The framework of Wigner functions for the canonical pair angle and orbital angular momentum, derived and analyzed in 2 recent papers [H. A. Kastrup, Phys.Rev. A 94, 062113(2016) and Phys.Rev. A 95, 052111(2017)] is applied to elementary concepts of quantum information like qubits and 2-qubits, e.g., entangled EPR/Bell states etc. Properties of the associated Wigner functions of such superposed states (pure and mixed) are discussed and illustrated. The Wigner functions of ERP/Bell states are distinguished by their topologically "twisted" domain on the configuration subspace S^1xS^1, a torus, of…
Ultrawide-angle diffraction-limited 2D beam steering via hybrid integrated metasurface-photonic circuit
Massachusetts Institute of Technology(麻省理工学院);Pi Inc.(2Pi公司);Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART)(新加坡-麻省理工学院研究与技术联盟);University of Maryland, College Park(马里兰大学帕克分校);NASA Langley Research Center(美国国家航空航天局兰利研究中心);Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(韩国科学技术院)
The enhanced-NA Fresnel hologram reconstructs a holographic image at a viewing angle larger than the diffraction angle of a hologram pixel. The image space is limited by the bandwidth of a digital hologram. In this study, we investigate the property of image formation in the extended image space beyond a diffraction zone. A numerical simulation using the phase Fresnel hologram is carried out to observe an extension of image space and the effect of this on the changes in the angular field of view. The phase Fresnel hologram, synthesized by restricting the angular view range to a diffraction ang…
Ptychography is a lensless, computational imaging method that utilises diffraction patterns to determine the amplitude and phase of an object. In transmission ptychography, the diffraction patterns are recorded by a detector positioned along the optical axis downstream of the object. The light scattered at the highest diffraction angle carries information about the finest structures of the object. We present a setup to simultaneously capture a signal near the optical axis and a signal scattered at high diffraction angles. Moreover, we present an algorithm based on a shifted angular spectrum me…
The diffraction of electromagnetic waves at the surface periodic structures accompanied by strong anomalous effects in different diffraction orders is considered in great detail for high-contrast interfaces. We restrict our discussion to the TM polarization of the incident wave (the magnetic field is orthogonal to the plane of incidence) and the simplest geometry when the plane of incidence is orthogonal to the grating grooves. The most attention is focused on the strong maxima and minima of the energy flux density accompanying specific grazing propagation of some diffraction order. Relation t…
The viewing-angle enlargement of a holographic image is a crucial factor for realizing the holographic display. The numerical aperture (NA) of digital hologram other than a pixel specification has been known to determine the angular field extent of image. Here, we provide a valid foundation for the dependence of viewing angle on the hologram numerical aperture by investigating mathematically the internal structure of the sampled point spread function showing a self-similarity of its modulating curves. The enhanced-NA Fresnel hologram reconstructs the images at a viewing angle larger than a dif…
We use numerical modeling to study the features of parametric (quasi-Cherenkov) cooperative radiation arising when an electron bunch passes through a crystal (natural or artificial) under the conditions of dynamical diffraction of electromagnetic waves in the presence of shot noise. It is shown that in both Laue and Bragg diffraction cases, parametric radiation consists of two strong pulses: one emitted at small angles with respect to the particle velocity direction and the other emitted at large angles to it. Under Bragg diffraction conditions, the intensity of parametric radiation emitted at…
We present the first experimental characterization of the azimuthal Wigner distribution of a photon. Our protocol fully characterizes the transverse structure of a photon in conjugate bases of orbital angular momentum (OAM) and azimuthal angle (ANG). We provide a test of our protocol by characterizing pure superpositions and incoherent mixtures of OAM modes in a seven-dimensional space. The time required for performing measurements in our scheme scales only linearly with the dimension size of the state under investigation. This time scaling makes our technique suitable for quantum information …
Metasurfaces composed of subwavelength unit cells usually require a large number of unit cells which leads to complicated design and optimization. Aggressive discretization in a metasurface can significantly reduce the number of unit cells within a period, resulting in lower requirement for phase and/or surface impedance coverage. Additionally, the enlarged unit cells will encounter negligible mutual couplings when combined together, hence making straightforward the process of metasurface design. These advantages combine to allow the design of a novel class of metasurfaces which support the hi…
We have explored the light induced dynamics in superfluid helium nanodroplets with wide-angle scattering in a pump-probe measurement scheme. The droplets are doped with xenon atoms to facilitate the ignition of a nanoplasma through irradiation with near-infrared laser pulses. After a variable time delay of up to 800 ps, we image the subsequent dynamics using intense extreme ultraviolet pulses from the FERMI free-electron laser. The recorded scattering images exhibit complex intensity fluctuations that are categorized based on their characteristic features. Systematic simulations of wide-angle …