Transforming spatial entanglement using a domain-engineering technique.

We study the spatial correlation of a two-photon entangled state produced in a multistripe periodically poled LiTaO3 crystal by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The far-field diffraction-interference experiments reveal that the transverse modulation of domain patterns transforms the spatial mode function of the two-photon state. This result offers an approach to prepare a novel type of two-photon state with a unique spatial entanglement by using a domain-engineering technique.

Nonlinear Cerenkov radiation in nonlinear photonic crystal waveguides.

We study nonlinear Cerenkov radiation generated from a nonlinear photonic crystal waveguide where the nonlinear susceptibility tensor is modulated by the ferroelectric domain. Nonlinear polarization driven by an incident light field may emit coherently harmonic waves at new frequencies along the direction of Cerenkov angles. Multiple radiation spots with different azimuth angles are simultaneously exhibited from such a hexagonally poled waveguide. A scattering involved nonlinear Cerenkov arc is also observed for the first time. Cerenkov radiation associated with quasi-phase matching leads to these novel nonlinear phenomena.

Conical second harmonic generation in a two-dimensional chi(2) photonic crystal: a hexagonally poled LiTaO3 crystal.

A new type of conical second-harmonic generation was discovered in a 2D chi((2)) photonic crystal-a hexagonally poled LiTaO3 crystal. It reveals the presence of another type of nonlinear interaction-a scattering involved optical parametric generation in a nonlinear medium. Such a nonlinear interaction can be significantly enlarged in a modulated chi((2)) structure by a quasi-phase-matching process. The conical beam records the spatial distribution of the scattering signal and discloses the structure information and symmetry of the 2D chi((2)) photonic crystal.

Preparation of metallodielectric composite particles with multishell structure.

In this article, we demonstrated the synthesis of metallodielectric composite particles comprising a metal shell on a dielectric core and an outer coating of an insulating dielectric layer by depositing silver on silica supporting cores followed by coating of titania. A combination of surface reaction and surface seeding techniques is exploited for the formation of a complete silver shell on silica spheres. The additional outer coating of titania on silver shell particles is then performed by hydrolyzing tetra-n-butyl titanate in ethanol at room temperature. The morphologies of silver shells and titania coating are studied with electron microscopy, and their existences are confirmed with X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive X-ray measurement.

Optical properties of inverted opal photonic band gap crystals with stacking disorder.

We present a detailed study of the effect of planar stacking disorder on optical properties of inverted opal photonic crystals. Systems with periodic stacking sequences are first studied that include face centered cubic, hexagonal close-packed, and doubly hexagonal close-packed photonic crystals. For the structures with periodic stacking order, we evaluate the band structure followed by calculation of transmission spectrum along the direction perpendicular to the hexagonal close-packing plane of the structures. Inverted opal photonic crystals with random stacking sequences are then studied by calculating average transmittance of the photonic crystal slabs over various random stacking configurations. The position and width of the lowest stop gap along the direction normal to the hexagonal close-packing plane is found to be invariant, regardless of the stacking sequence in the photonic crystal. We show how the propagation properties at higher frequencies are affected by the stacking configurations (both periodic and disordered stacking sequences), particularly those near the edges of the absolute band gap. The obtained results are directly relevant to transmission/reflection experiments on inverted opal photonic crystals with complete band gap.

Highly efficient direct third-harmonic generation based on control of the electro-optic effect in quasi-periodic optical superlattices.

We present a method for controlling the efficiency of direct third-harmonic generation in quasi-periodic optical superlattices by means of the electro-optic effect. The calculated results manifest that this method is extremely efficient for achieving high efficiency of direct third-harmonic generation in predesigned quasi-phase-matched coupled parametric processes and is feasible at any given fundamental intensity. In addition, we demonstrate that the electro-optic control approach is significantly better than the temperature-control method.

Nanostructured copper filaments in electrochemical deposition.

In this Letter we report a novel self-organized copper electrodeposition in an ultrathin layer of CuSO4 electrolyte. The macroscopic fingering branches of the deposit consist of long copper filaments covered with periodic corrugated nanostructures. The mechanism of the nanostructure formation is explored and the origin of the significant descent of the branching rate in electrodeposition is discussed. We suggest that this growth phenomenon provides deeper insights into the role of diffusion and migration on pattern formation in electrodeposition.

Third-harmonic generation in a general two-component quasi-periodic optical superlattice.

The quasi-periodic optical superlattice is a promising material for use in optical frequency conversion. We propose a method for designing a quasi-periodic structure for efficient third-harmonic generation (THG) at any given wavelength. With this method we have made a LiTaO(3) sample in which 27% THG at 0.48microm was achieved, together with a series of highly efficient multiwavelength second-harmonic generation outputs. The result is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction.

Crucial effects of coupling coefficients on quasi-phase-matched harmonic generation in an optical superlattice.

Coupling of optical parametric processes in an optical superlattice through quadratic nonlinearity was analyzed theoretically. Solving the coupled equations, we found that efficient quasi-phase-matched third-harmonic (TH) generation depends not only on the magnitude of the coupling coefficients but also on their ratio. Theoretically, all the fundamental energy can be transferred to the TH at a particular ratio. In other cases, there exists an optimum condition that corresponds to a maximum TH conversion efficiency. The result is of practical importance for the design of TH devices.

Intrinsic instability of the concentration field in diffusion-limited growth and its effect on crystallization.

The dynamic behavior of the concentration field in crystallization is investigated by considering the coupling of the bulk concentration field and interfacial kinetics. It is shown that the concentration field may become unstable for perturbations with certain wavelength. When instability occurs, the physical environment in front of the growing interface will fluctuate and the interfacial growth mode will be affected accordingly. We suggest that our analysis can be used to interpret some spatial-temporal instabilities observed in crystallization.

Second-harmonic generation in quasi-periodically domain-inverted Sr(0.6) Ba(0.4) Nb(2)O(6) optical superlattices.

One-dimensional Fibonacci-type quasi-periodically domain-inverted structures have been successfully fabricated in a strontium barium niobate crystal by electric field poling. With a single such structure, type I phase-matched second-harmonic generation (SHG) has been demonstrated at several wavelengths from red to near ultraviolet. The spectral positions of the observed SHG peaks are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. The range of measured conversion efficiencies is 2-10%.

Epitaxial Ba(2)NaNb(5)O(15) thin film by pulsed laser deposition and its waveguide properties.

An epitaxial Ba(2)NaNb(5)O(15) thin film with excellent crystalline properties has been achieved on a (001) KTiOPO(4) substrate by use of the technique of pulsed laser deposition. X-ray-diffraction analysis has revealed that (110)-oriented Ba(2)NaNb(5)O(15) film was produced. The film has good optical transmitting characteristics and a propagation loss as low as 1.08 dB/cm. The noncritical phase-matching feature in the second-harmonic generation process in the film waveguide has also been studied.

Blue-light generation by frequency doubling of an 810-nm cw GaAlAs diode laser in a quasi-phase-matched LiNbO(3) crystal.

A third-order quasi-phase-matched LiNbO(3) crystal was used to double the output of an 810-nm cw GaAlAs diode laser directly. A blue-light output power of 0.35 mW was measured with a conversion efficiency of 0.13%.