Van der Waals materials as dielectric layers for tailoring the near-field photonic response of surfaces.

Epsilon near-zero photonics and surface polariton nanophotonics have become major fields within optics, leading to unusual and enhanced light-matter interaction. Specific dielectric responses are required in both cases, which can be achieved, e.g., via operation near a material's electronic or phononic resonance. However, this condition restricts operation to a specific, narrow frequency range. It has been shown that using a thin dielectric layer can adjust the dielectric response of a surface and, therefore, the operating frequency for achieving specific photonic excitations. Here, we show that a surface's optical properties can be tuned via the deposition/transference of ultra-thin layered van der Waals (vdW) crystals, the thicknesses of which can easily be adjusted to provide the desired response. In particular, we experimentally and theoretically show that the surface phonon resonance of a silica surface can be tuned by ∼50 cm-1 through the simple deposition of nanometer-thick exfoliated flakes of black phosphorus. The surface properties were probed by infrared nanospectroscopy, and results show a close agreement with the theory. The black phosphorus-silica layered structure effectively acts as a surface with a tunable effective dielectric constant that presents an infrared response dependent on the black phosphorus thickness. In contrast, with a lower dielectric constant, hexagonal boron nitride does not significantly tune the silica surface phonon polariton. Our approach also applies to epsilon near-zero surfaces, as theoretically shown, and to polaritonic surfaces operating at other optical ranges.

Edge phonons in black phosphorus.

Black phosphorus has recently emerged as a new layered crystal that, due to its peculiar and anisotropic crystalline and electronic band structures, may have important applications in electronics, optoelectronics and photonics. Despite the fact that the edges of layered crystals host a range of singular properties whose characterization and exploitation are of utmost importance for device development, the edges of black phosphorus remain poorly characterized. In this work, the atomic structure and behaviour of phonons near different black phosphorus edges are experimentally and theoretically studied using Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. Polarized Raman results show the appearance of new modes at the edges of the sample, and their spectra depend on the atomic structure of the edges (zigzag or armchair). Theoretical simulations confirm that the new modes are due to edge phonon states that are forbidden in the bulk, and originated from the lattice termination rearrangements.

20-kW peak power all-fiber 1.57-microm source based on compression in air-core photonic bandgap fiber, its frequency doubling, and broadband generation from 430 to 1450 nm.

We demonstrate an ultrashort all-fiber-integrated chirped-pulse amplification system yielding 1-ps pulses with 20 kW of peak power. 40-ps initial pulses generated by an externally modulated laser diode are chirped by self-phase modulation in a conventional fiber, amplified, and compressed in 110 m of air-core photonic bandgap fiber. The compressed pulses are frequency doubled in a periodically poled KTP crystal with up to 48% efficiency and applied to supercontinuum generation in a holey fiber, resulting in a high-power uniform continuum that stretches from 430 to 1450 nm.

All-fiber format compression of frequency chirped pulses in air-guiding photonic crystal fibers.

Air-cored, photonic band-gap crystal fibers exhibiting low nonlinearity and anomalous chromatic dispersion in spectral ranges inaccessible to conventional fibers can be used in the realization of all-fiber-format pulse compressors with unprecedented peak powers and wavelength diversity. Linear compression of inherently chirped and prestretched pulses by factors ranging from 20 to 80 around 1.0 and 1.5 microm have allowed generation of pulses as short as 163 fs. The results show that totally integrated femtosecond fiber laser sources can be realized throughout the visible and near-infrared and point to the possibility of megawatt peak and tens of watt average in-fiber power levels.

Continuous-wave, totally fiber integrated optical parametric oscillator using holey fiber.

We present, for the first time to our knowledge, a cw, all-fiber optical parametric oscillator that uses a holey fiber. The oscillator operates at 1.55 microns and can yield an oscillating parametric signal that consists of a single line with a 30-dB extinction ratio and a 10-pm linewidth or that consists of multiple lines. In addition to the signal and the idler, five other pairs of spectral lines can be observed that are due to multiple parametric interactions. The source reaches threshold for a pump power of 1.28 W and saturates for pump powers in excess of approximately 1.6 W.

Short-pulse, all-fiber, Raman laser with dispersion compensation in a holey fiber.

The use of Raman gain in conventional fiber followed by dispersion compensation in a holey fiber in a synchronously pumped laser configuration allowed compression by a factor of 8.5 of output pulses at a selected wavelength with respect to the pump pulses. We obtained 2-ps output pulses at 1.14 microm from a totally fiber-integrated laser pumped with 17-ps pulses at 1 microm. Higher pulse compression should be possible with nonlinear chirp compensation. Ultrashort-pulse, all-fiber Raman lasers at wavelengths shorter than 1.3 microm are feasible.

Low-threshold self-induced modulational instability ring laser in highly nonlinear fiber yielding a continuous-wave 262-GHz soliton train.

Modulational instability (MI) is employed in a self-induced ring cavity configuration based on highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber (HNL DSF) and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier to generate a continuous-wave 262-GHz train of 365-fs optical solitons. The laser operates around 1540 nm, with an average output power of 15 mW. MI is achieved at a low threshold as a result of low average cavity dispersion and high fiber nonlinearity. It is shown that, because of the normal dispersion of the HNL DSF, the solitons exist in the average soliton regime.

4x repetition-rate multiplication and Raman compression of pulses in the same optical fiber.

A 21.7-km nonzero dispersion-shifted fiber was used to obtain 4x multiplication of the repetition rate of a 20-GHz train of 4.2-ps optical pulses through the temporal Talbot effect. Raman compression in the same fiber shortened and developed the pulses into 2.0-ps solitons and resulted in a lower duty cycle. It is shown that the linear Talbot effect and nonlinear Raman compression occurred in different sections of the fiber, the lengths of which could be varied through adjustments in the input pulse power.

Copropagating and counterpropagating pumps in second-order- pumped discrete fiber Raman amplifiers.

The gains and noise figures of discrete second-order-pumped fiber Raman amplifiers utilizing copropagating and counterpropagating pump configurations were experimentally obtained, and the gain results were compared with computer simulations. It was found that the additional gain that is due to second-order Raman pumping is larger for the copropagating pumps than for the counterpropagating pumps, in agreement with simulations. In contrast to distributed second-order-pumped fiber Raman amplifiers, a slight increase in noise figure, by as much as ~1 dB was observed relative to the single-pump scheme. However, the advantages of second-order pumping in discrete amplifiers include greater flexibility in design of the gain distribution along the fiber and the ability to spectrally distribute the pump powers to avoid undesired nonlinear effects.

Continuous-wave-pumped Raman-assisted fiber optical parametric amplifier and wavelength converter in conventional dispersion-shifted fiber.

We present a continuous-wave-pumped fiber optical parametric amplifier, operating near 1539 nm in conventional dispersion-shifted fiber, with maximum on-off gain and wavelength-conversion efficiency of 13.7 and 13.1 dB, respectively. In addition, we show a novel configuration based on Raman amplification assistance in the parametric gain fiber that further increases the gain and wavelength-conversion efficiencies to 16.7 and 16.2 dB, respectively.

[Pelvic endoscopic lymphadenectomy in the assessment of early cancer of the uterine neck: survey of 25 French hospital centers]. / La lymphadénectomie pelvienne endoscopique dans le bilan des cancers précoces du col utérin: enquête auprès de 35 centres hospitaliers français.

Accurate staging of invasive cervical cancer is essential to its adequate treatment. Current clinical staging of cervical cancer is inaccurate, particularly for lymph-nodes evaluation. At reduced cost and risks laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy allows accurate detection of lymph-node metastases. Its place in the staging of early cervical cancer is being evaluated. Our inquiry, multicentric and including more than 500 laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomies, leads to the conclusion that this technique is accurate and is associated with a reduced but variable morbidity depending on the technique and operator's ability. The implications of the results of laparoscopic lymphadenectomy in the type and modalities of subsequent treatment are discussed.