Integrating cavity device for measuring the optical backscattering coefficient in a fluid.

We present the mathematical description, design, and development of an instrument that precisely determines the backscattering coefficient (bb) in water using a custom integrating cavity to collect light scattered in the backward hemisphere-a true bb meter. The design allows us to directly measure bb in a medium while not making any assumptions about the shape of ß(θ) and/or of its scattering particulates. The concave surface of the quartz aperture to the integrating cavity minimizes reflection losses. The output signal is a direct linear function of bb. This bb meter is the first instrument to make a direct measurement of bb with <1% accuracy and it is compatible with several modes of routine oceanic deployment.

Ultraviolet (250-550 nm) absorption spectrum of pure water.

Data for the spectral light absorption of pure water from 250 to 550 nm have been obtained using an integrating cavity made from a newly developed diffuse reflector with a very high UV reflectivity. The data provide the first scattering-independent measurements of absorption coefficients in the spectral gap between well-established literature values for the absorption coefficients in the visible (>400 nm) and UV (<200 nm). A minimum in the absorption coefficient has been observed in the UV at 344 nm; the value is 0.000811±0.000227 m-1.

Robust commercial diffuse reflector for UV-VIS-NIR applications.

We report the development and testing of a new commercially available diffuse reflecting material with reflectivities in the visible comparable to industry-leading products. This new diffuse reflector consists of solid quartz in which there is a dense distribution of tiny pockets of air. The multiple reflections by the quartz-air interfaces of these air pockets transforms a highly transmissive base material into a highly diffuse reflecting material.

Diffuse reflecting material for integrating cavity spectroscopy, including ring-down spectroscopy.

We report the development of a diffuse reflecting material with measured reflectivity values as high as 0.99919 at 532 nm and 0.99686 at 266 nm. This material is a high-purity fumed silica, or quartz powder, with particle sizes on the order of 40 nm. We demonstrate that this material can be used to produce surfaces with nearly Lambertian behavior, which in turn can be used to form the inner walls of high-reflectivity integrating cavities. Light reflecting off such a surface penetrates into the material. This means there will be an effective "wall time" for each reflection off the walls in an integrating cavity. We measure this wall time and show that it can be on the order of several picoseconds. Finally, we introduce a technique for absorption spectroscopy in an integrating cavity based on cavity ring-down spectroscopy. We call this technique integrating cavity ring-down spectroscopy.

Ultrasensitive detection of waste products in water using fluorescence emission cavity-enhanced spectroscopy.

Clean water is paramount to human health. In this article, we present a technique for detection of trace amounts of human or animal waste products in water using fluorescence emission cavity-enhanced spectroscopy. The detection of femtomolar concentrations of urobilin, a metabolic byproduct of heme metabolism that is excreted in both human and animal waste in water, was achieved through the use of an integrating cavity. This technique could allow for real-time assessment of water quality without the need for expensive laboratory equipment.

Studies on some of the inherent optical properties of natural waters [invited].

The author's experimental activities in ocean optics that are related to the inherent optical properties of natural waters are discussed. The specific subjects discussed are (1) measurements of Mueller matrices for several ocean water regions; (2) measurements of the spectral absorption of pure water throughout the visible spectrum; (3) the development of an in situ absorption meter that provides higher accuracy than is available for any other inherent optical property; (4) a relatively simple expression for the refractive index of water as a function of temperature, salinity, and wavelength; and (5) development of the first instrument to directly determine the backscattering coefficient b(b).

Instrumentation to measure the backscattering coefficient b(b) for arbitrary phase functions.

A single detector instrument concept that collects scattered light over the full range of backscattering angles is described. Its light collection aperture is designed so as to introduce a sin θ factor into the collection probability. Hence, the instrument is exactly a b(b) meter; it directly measures b(b), not a proxy for it. For an infinitesimal aperture to the detector, the instrument would give b(b) exactly; for a finite aperture (e.g., 1.26 cm(2)), it would typically give b(b) to an accuracy of a few tenths of 1%. The instrumentation itself is as simple as that of the well-known fixed-angle meters-it projects a beam of light into the medium and collects backscattered light with a single detector; the differences are the position of the detector and the shape/orientation of the entrance aperture to the detector.

Equivalent path lengths in an integrating cavity: comment.

The equivalent absorption path length in an integrating cavity is examined. In an otherwise excellent paper, Tranchart et al. [Appl. Opt. 35, 7070 (1996)] made an important error in obtaining the expressions for the equivalent path length in an integrating cavity. This error has been propagated through several other publications in the literature. Since the equivalent path length is the sine qua non for obtaining an accurate absorption coefficient when using an integrating cavity, it is our intent here to give the correct formulas to prevent further errors when extracting absorption coefficients.

Flow-through integrating cavity absorption meter: experimental results.

We report experimental results from a flow-through integrating cavity absorption meter. The operating range of the device is from 0.004 m(-1) to over 80 m(-1) of absorption. Absorption coefficients have been measured with 8% or less change in the presence of over 200 m(-1) of scattering in the medium. The instrument signal has been shown to be independent of flow rate up to 20 liters/min and thus independent of turbulence. This large operational range along with the ability to measure absorption independently of adverse scattering affects allows the instrument to be utilized in a wide range of environmental conditions.

Integrating cavities: temporal response.

The temporal response of an integrating cavity is examined and compared with the results of a Monte Carlo analysis. An important parameter in the temporal response is the average distance d between successive reflections at the cavity wall; d was calculated for several specific cavity designs--spherical shell, cube, right circular cylinder, irregular tetrahedron, and prism; however, only the calculation for the spherical shell and the right circular cylinder will be presented. A completely general formulation of d for arbitrary cavity shapes is then derived, d =4V/S where V is the volume of the cavity, and S is the surface area of the cavity. Finally, we consider an arbitrary cavity shape for which each flat face is tangent to a single inscribed sphere of diameter D (a curved surface is considered to be an infinite number of flat surfaces). We will prove that for such a cavity d =2D/3, exactly the same as d for the inscribed sphere.

Design and analysis of a flow-through integrating cavity absorption meter.

We present a design for a flow-through integrating cavity absorption meter. This instrument, in principle, is capable of measuring the spectral optical absorption coefficient of natural waters in situ independently of scattering effects. Monte Carlo simulations are used to determine the design parameters and evaluate instrument performance. We investigate both detector response and the distribution of radiant energy inside the instrument and present empirical equations describing these quantities as a function of the absorption coefficient. The effects of changing the instrument geometry are illustrated. Finally, we discuss the effects of scattering on the instrument performance and verify that they are negligible for natural waters.

Narrow-linewidth, multi-Watt Yb-doped fiber amplifier at 1014.8 nm.

We report on an efficient, narrow linewidth, two-stage fiber amplifier at 1014.8 nm based on Yb-doped double-clad fibers. The fibers are cooled to liquid-nitrogen temperatures in order to suppress absorption at the operating wavelength. We achieved output powers of up to 5.0 W at a linewidth of less than 3 MHz by seeding the amplifier with the radiation from an external cavity diode laser.

Directed spontaneous emission from an extended ensemble of N atoms: timing is everything.

A collection of static atoms is fixed in a crystal at a low temperature and prepared by a pulse of incident radiation of wave vector . The atoms are well described by an entangled Dicke-like state, in which each atom carries a characteristic phase factor exp(ik0.r(j)), where is the atomic position in the crystal. It is shown that a single photon absorbed by the N atoms will be followed by spontaneous emission in the same direction. Furthermore, phase matched emission is found when one photon is absorbed by N atoms followed by two-photon down-conversion.

Photoacoustic tomography of biological tissues with high cross-section resolution: reconstruction and experiment.

A modified back-projection approach deduced from an exact reconstruction solution was applied to our photoacoustic tomography of the optical absorption in biological tissues. Pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser (4.7 ns FWHM at 789.2 nm) were employed to generate a distribution of photoacoustic sources in a sample. The sources were detected by a wide-band nonfocused ultrasonic transducer at different positions around the imaging cross section perpendicular to the axis of the laser irradiation. Reconstructed images of phantoms made from chicken breast tissue agreed well with the structures of the samples. The resolution in the imaging cross section was experimentally demonstrated to be better than 60 microm when a 10 MHz transducer (140% bandwidth at -60 dB) was employed, which was nearly diffraction limited by the detectable photoacoustic waves of the highest frequency.