Measuring glucose concentration in a solution based on the indices of polarimetric purity.

Polarization imaging is a powerful tool, which can be applied in biomedical diagnosis and many research fields. Here, we propose a new application of the indices of polarimetric purity (IPPs) composed of P1, P2, P3, to describe the glucose concentrations (GC) changes in the scattering system. The results suggest that P1 of the IPPs is a better indicator to GC in the solution than the degree of polarization (DoP) for the forward scattering detection. Meanwhile, the fitting relation among radius of scattering particle, GCs and P1 parameter has also been calculated, in which the error of inversion is no more than 4.73%. In the backscattering detection, the fitted frequency statistical histogram of the IPPs is used to measure the GCs, and their modes can represent changing trend of GCs.

Depolarization Characteristics of Different Reflective Interfaces Indicated by Indices of Polarimetric Purity (IPPs).

Compared with the standard depolarization index, indices of polarimetric purity (IPPs) have better performances to describe depolarization characteristics of targets with different roughnesses of interfaces under different incident angles, which allow us a further analysis of the depolarizing properties of samples. Here, we use IPPs obtained from different reflective interfaces as a criterion of depolarization property to characterize and classify targets covered by organic paint layers with different roughness. We select point-light source as radiation source with wavelength as 632.8 nm, and four samples, including Cu, Au, Al and Al2O3, covered by an organic paint layer with refractive index of n = 1.46 and Gaussian roughness of α = 0.05~0.25. Under different incident angles, the values of P1, P2, P3 at divided 90 × 360 grid points and their mean values in upper hemisphere have been obtained and discussed in the IPPs space. The results show that the depolarization performances of the different reflective interfaces (materials, incident angles and surface roughness) are unique in IPPs space, providing us with a new avenue to analyze and characterize different targets.

Bias-scanning based tunable LSPR sensor.

The principle and the characteristics of the bias-scanning based tunable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensors for environmental refractive index have been theoretically and numerically investigated in detail. The sensors exhibit linear negative-shifts in the scattering-bias spectral position when the refractive index of the surrounding medium increases. By bias-scanning, a single-wavelength measurement for sensing the environmental refractive index can be realized effectively. In addition, we demonstrate that the sensing performance of the designed sensor can be adjusted by nano-scale manipulations of metal nanoparticles' sizes and shapes. The proposed devices may pave the way for the development of electrochemical sensors that can convert spectrum scanning into bias scanning.

Enhanced Forward Scattering of Ellipsoidal Dielectric Nanoparticles.

Dielectric nanoparticles can demonstrate a strong forward scattering at visible and near-infrared wavelengths due to the interaction of optically induced electric and magnetic dipolar resonances. For a spherical nanoparticle, the first Kerker's condition within dipole approximation can be realized, where backward scattering can reach zero. However, for this type of dielectric sphere, maximum forward scattering without backward scattering cannot be realized by modulating the refractive index and particle size of this nanoparticle. In this paper, we have demonstrated that a larger directional forward scattering than the traditional spherical nanoparticle can be obtained by using the ellipsoidal nanoparticle, due to the overlapping electric and magnetic dipolar modes. For the oblate ellipsoid with a determined refractive index, there is an optimum shape for generating the suppressed backward scattering along with the enhanced forward scattering at the resonant wavelength, where the electric and magnetic dipolar modes overlap with each other. For the prolate ellipsoid, there also exist the overlapping electric and magnetic dipolar modes at the resonant wavelength of total scattering, which have much higher forward scattering than those for both oblate ellipsoid and sphere, due to the existence of the higher multipolar modes. Furthermore, we have also demonstrated the realization of the dimensional tailoring in order to make the strong forward scattering shift to the desired wavelength.

Acquiring reflective polarization from arbitrary multi-layer surface based on Monte Carlo simulation.

A novel Monte Carlo model is proposed to acquire the reflective polarization information from a rough surface with arbitrary layers and profiles. Based on the micro-facets theory, the local normal vectors can be randomly sampled from the normal vector distribution of each layer. The incident light that propagates inside of the multi-layer media will be traced until being collected after leaving the surface or be ignored due to lacking enough energy. The simulated results (by our proposed theoretical model) agree well with the reported measured data and the analytical models from SCATMECH, which demonstrates the correctness and effectiveness of our model. Based on our model, the effects of the surface layer number, the surface geometry, the incident wavelength and polarization states of incidence on the reflective polarization from multi-layer surfaces have been analyzed in detail, which can be a guide in tasks such as target detection and so on.

Polarization-independent longitudinal multi-focusing metalens.

A novel multi-focusing metalens in the longitudinal direction has been proposed and investigated based on the equal optical path principle, which is independent on the incident polarizations and can be suitable for both of the linear and circular polarization incidences simultaneously. Here, three novel designing principles: partitioned mode, radial alternating mode and angular alternating mode, have been proposed firstly for constructing different types of the longitudinal multi-focusing metalenses. The performances of the designed metalenses based on the different designed methods have also been analyzed and investigated in detail, and the intensity ratio of the focusing spots can be tuned easily by modulating the numbers of the relative type of nanoantennas, which is significant for the micro-manipulating optics and the multi-imaging technology in the integrated optics.

Circular polarization analyzer based on an Archimedean nano-pinholes array.

A relative broadband circular polarization analyzer based on a single-turn Archimedean nano-pinholes array has been proposed and investigated systematically from visible spectrum to near infrared region. The spiral arrangement of circular nano-pinholes can implement spatially separated fields according to the relationship between the spiral direction of Archimedean structure and chirality of circularly polarized light (CPL). The enhanced-characteristics mechanisms of the single-turn spirally arranged Archimedean pinholes array have been deduced and investigated by the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation in detail. Different from the single operating wavelength of the spiral slit structure, this novel design also shows a relative wide range of the operating wavelengths in the focusing and defocusing effects. The new proposed circular polarization analyzer could find more extensive applications, such as analyzing the physiological properties of chiral molecules based on circular polarizations, full Stokes-parameter polarimetric imaging applications and so on.

Plasmonic focusing lens based on single-turn nano-pinholes array.

A miniature, simplified and planar plasmonic lens based on the circular array of nano-pinholes for on-axis beaming has been proposed and investigated systematically in the visible spectrum. Focusing properties of the designed plasmonic lens illuminated under circular polarized (CP) light for different radius of circular ring, filled with different dielectrics, with different numbers of pinholes have been investigated and analyzed in detail by finite element method (FEM). Our simulated results demonstrate such a miniature single-turn structure can also generate a totally centrosymmetric focusing spot under the CP illumination. Besides, by properly manipulating the filled dielectric and incident wavelengths, enhanced transmission, elongated depth of focus have also be realized, which can be used to modulate the transmitting fields effectively. Such a miniature and simplified plasmonic focusing lens can open up a vital path toward fiber-end planar photonic devices for biosensing and imaging.