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Photonics
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Laser Beam Propagation and Control
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Laser Beam Propagation and Control

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Lasers, Light Sources and Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 10277

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Dongmei Deng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Information and Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: beam propagation; optical trapping; optical focusing; vortex optical beams; vector optical beams
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Laser beam propagation and control is an interesting subject, which includes beam properties and control due to optical diffraction and can be applied in optical imaging and optical measurement. Optical diffraction, optical imaging, and optical measurement are central topics in many modern and scientific fields that are closely related and have a wide range of applications such as microscopy, telescopy, sensors, military, biological sciences, etc. Optical diffraction is the basic spatial coherence phenomenon that allows us to determine how rapidly a coherent beam spreads with distance, how fast a pulse spreads in time, and how sharply the beam can be focused, all critical in military systems. Usually, Fourier analysis and synthesis techniques are a unifying theme throughout this subject. Optical imaging uses light and special properties of photons to obtain detailed images of organs, tissues, cells and even molecules. The techniques offer minimally or non-invasive methods for looking inside the body. Optical measurement is a measurement technique that relies on the use of optical sensors to collect measurements. Generally, optical imaging is the basis of optical measurement, including optical imaging without lenses, which is an interesting subject that has many achievements and remaining challenges in wide-field on-chip microscopy, and optical measurement is a rigorous consideration of optical imaging results in a quantitative way. It is an important issue to discuss controlling the propagation properties of the laser beams, discussing the construction, propagation, measurement, and coherent control of new structured light fields, conducting in-depth research on cutting-edge scientific issues regarding the interaction between light and matter, as well as related technological hotspots and challenges, proposing original academic ideas, discovering new phenomena, revealing new physics, and promoting the cross-application of optics in fields such as information, communication, chemistry, life sciences, and materials.

This Special Issue will cover a broad field of laser beam propagation and control including the optical diffraction, advanced optical imaging and precision optical measurement technologies ranging from micro to macro, from static to dynamic, and from single physical quantity to multiple. This subject is looking forward to building a bridge among optical scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs.

Prof. Dr. Dongmei Deng
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • beam propagation
  • optical diffraction
  • advanced optical imaging
  • precision optical measurement

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 880 KiB  
Communication
Prediction of Power Fluctuations of Gaussian Beams After Transmission Through Turbulent Atmosphere
by Zhihao Wan, Jiayi Zhu, Cheng Huang, Zhimin He, Jun Zeng, Fuchang Chen, Chaoqun Yu, Yan Li, Huanting Chen, Yongtao Zhang, Jixiong Pu and Huichuan Lin
Photonics 2024, 11(12), 1108; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11121108 - 22 Nov 2024
Abstract
As laser beams propagate through free space, power fluctuation occurs due to atmospheric turbulence, which significantly increases the bit error rate of free-space optical communication. If the precise prediction of power fluctuations can be achieved, it will be of great benefit for improving [...] Read more.
As laser beams propagate through free space, power fluctuation occurs due to atmospheric turbulence, which significantly increases the bit error rate of free-space optical communication. If the precise prediction of power fluctuations can be achieved, it will be of great benefit for improving communication efficiency. To achieve this goal, this paper proposes a novel Time Series Long Short-Term Memory Fully Connected Processing Network (TSLSTMFCPN), which consists of two long short-term memory (LSTM) network layers and a fully connected layer, for predicting the power fluctuations of laser beams caused by atmospheric turbulence. The experimental results show that the mean absolute percentage error of the TSLSTMFCPN in predicting laser power fluctuations is only 1.2%. This result indicates that this model can accurately predict the laser power fluctuations caused by atmospheric turbulence. Our results are expected to be applied in free-space optical communication systems and imaging laser radar system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Beam Propagation and Control)
9 pages, 2577 KiB  
Article
Perfect Off-Axis Optical Vortex Lattice
by Yuping Tai, Xueyun Qin, Chenying Li, Wenjun Wei, Hao Zhang and Xinzhong Li
Photonics 2024, 11(8), 709; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11080709 - 30 Jul 2024
Viewed by 790
Abstract
Optical vortex lattices (OVLs) with diverse modes show potential for a wide range of applications, such as high-capacity optical communications, optical tweezers, and optical measurements. However, vortices in typical regulated OVLs often exhibit irregular shapes, such as being narrow and elongated. The resulting [...] Read more.
Optical vortex lattices (OVLs) with diverse modes show potential for a wide range of applications, such as high-capacity optical communications, optical tweezers, and optical measurements. However, vortices in typical regulated OVLs often exhibit irregular shapes, such as being narrow and elongated. The resulting increase in asymmetry negatively impacts the efficiency of particle trapping. Additionally, the vortex radii expand with an increase in topological charge (TC), limiting the TC value of the vortices and hindering their ability to fully utilize orbital angular momentum (OAM). Herein, we propose an alternative approach to custom OVLs using off-axis techniques combined with amplitude modulation. Amplitude modulation enables the precise generation of an OVL with perfect vortex properties, known as a perfect off-axis OVL. Further, the number of vortices in the perfect off-axis OVL, the off-axis distances, and the TC can be freely modulated while maintaining a circular mode. This unique OVL will promote new applications, such as the complex manipulation of multi-particle systems and optical communication based on OAM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Beam Propagation and Control)
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38 pages, 1755 KiB  
Article
The Fresnel Approximation and Diffraction of Focused Waves
by Colin J. R. Sheppard
Photonics 2024, 11(4), 346; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11040346 - 9 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1997
Abstract
In this paper, diffraction of scalar waves by a screen with a circular aperture is explored, considering the incidence of either a collimated beam or a focused wave, a historical review of the development of the theory is presented, and the introduction of [...] Read more.
In this paper, diffraction of scalar waves by a screen with a circular aperture is explored, considering the incidence of either a collimated beam or a focused wave, a historical review of the development of the theory is presented, and the introduction of the Fresnel approximation is described. For diffraction by a focused wave, the general case is considered for both high numerical aperture and for finite values of the Fresnel number. One aim is to develop a theory based on the use of dimensionless optical coordinates that can help to determined the general behaviour and trends of different system parameters. An important phenomenon, the focal shift effect, is discussed as well. Explicit expressions are provided for focal shift and the peak intensity for different numerical apertures and Fresnel numbers. This is one application where the Rayleigh–Sommerfeld diffraction integrals provide inaccurate results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Beam Propagation and Control)
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19 pages, 1286 KiB  
Article
Three-Airy Beams, Their Propagation in the Fresnel Zone, the Autofocusing Plane Location, as Well as Generalizing Beams
by Eugeny G. Abramochkin, Svetlana N. Khonina and Roman V. Skidanov
Photonics 2024, 11(4), 312; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11040312 - 28 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 965
Abstract
A family of 2D light fields consisting of the product of three Airy functions with linear arguments has been studied theoretically and experimentally. These fields, called three-Airy beams, feature a parameter shift and have a cubic phase and a super-Gaussian circular intensity in [...] Read more.
A family of 2D light fields consisting of the product of three Airy functions with linear arguments has been studied theoretically and experimentally. These fields, called three-Airy beams, feature a parameter shift and have a cubic phase and a super-Gaussian circular intensity in the far zone. Transformations of three-Airy beams in the Fresnel zone have been studied using theoretical, numerical, and experimental means. It has been shown that the autofocusing plane of a three-Airy beam is similar to the square root of the shift parameter. We also introduce generalized three-Airy beams containing nine free parameters, and obtain their Fourier transform in a closed form. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Beam Propagation and Control)
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10 pages, 2105 KiB  
Article
Record-High Efficiency Speckle Suppression in Multimode Fibers Using Cascaded Cylindrical Piezoelectric Ceramics
by Ningning Yang, Zhicheng Li, Fanghao Li, Tingting Lang and Xiaowei Guan
Photonics 2024, 11(3), 234; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11030234 - 5 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1475
Abstract
We present a technique that utilizes cascaded resonant cylindrical piezoelectric ceramics and multimode optical fibers wound around them to effectively mitigate laser speckle. By precisely driving the ceramics at their resonant frequencies and inducing comprehensive mode scrambling within the multimode fiber, we achieve [...] Read more.
We present a technique that utilizes cascaded resonant cylindrical piezoelectric ceramics and multimode optical fibers wound around them to effectively mitigate laser speckle. By precisely driving the ceramics at their resonant frequencies and inducing comprehensive mode scrambling within the multimode fiber, we achieve a remarkable speckle suppression efficiency of up to 94%. To the best of our knowledge, this sets a new benchmark among various methods aimed at suppressing the speckle of a coherent light. Our study thoroughly explores variables influencing efficiency, including the cascading number of piezoelectric ceramics, driving voltage, fiber core diameter, and more. This method has significant promise for diverse applications that require efficient and fast control of speckle contrast. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Beam Propagation and Control)
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11 pages, 4124 KiB  
Article
The SMILE Effect in the Beam Propagation Direction Affects the Beam Shaping of a Semiconductor Laser Bar Array
by Hongyou Zhang, Yu Hu, Shuihai Peng and Yong Liu
Photonics 2024, 11(2), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11020161 - 7 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1254
Abstract
Near-field bending of a laser diode bar (i.e., the SMILE effect) degrades the laser beam brightness, adversely affecting optical coupling and beam shaping. Previous reports mainly focused on the two-dimensional near-field bending of a laser diode bar. However, the near-field bending of a [...] Read more.
Near-field bending of a laser diode bar (i.e., the SMILE effect) degrades the laser beam brightness, adversely affecting optical coupling and beam shaping. Previous reports mainly focused on the two-dimensional near-field bending of a laser diode bar. However, the near-field bending of a laser diode bar not only occurs in the laser bar growth direction, but also in the beam propagation direction. The present article proposes the three-dimensional near-field bending of a laser diode array, which is commonly known as the three-dimensional spatial SMILE effect. Through theoretical and simulated investigations, it has been found that a laser bar array not only deforms in the fast axis direction to cause the traditional two-dimensional SMILE effect but also experiences an additional deformation of approximately 2 μm in the laser emission direction simultaneously. Due to the SMILE effect in the beam propagation direction, not all emitters are aligned in a straight line, and some emitters experience defocusing during collimation. Consequently, there is an increase in the residual divergence angle and beam width, resulting in a degradation of the laser bar array’s beam quality. According to the theoretical calculations, ZEMAX simulations, and experimental results, for a FAC (fast axis collimation) with a focal length of 300 μm, the divergence angle of single emitter after collimating in the fast axis increases from 4.95 mrad to 6.46 mrad when the offsetting of the working distance between the incident beam waist and FAC lens increases from 0 μm to 2 μm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Beam Propagation and Control)
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12 pages, 1880 KiB  
Article
Thermal Blooming Effect of Power-Exponent-Phase Vortex Beams Propagating through the Atmosphere
by Feng Zhang, Zhengcheng Hou, Mingming Zhang, Fangcheng Yan, Jun Gao and Youyou Hu
Photonics 2023, 10(12), 1343; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics10121343 - 5 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1302
Abstract
The thermal blooming effect of power-exponent-phase vortex (PEPV) beam propagating in the atmosphere is investigated by employing the multiple phase screen method. The influences of propagation distance, topological charge, power exponent, wind speed, and absorption coefficient on thermal blooming effect are analyzed in [...] Read more.
The thermal blooming effect of power-exponent-phase vortex (PEPV) beam propagating in the atmosphere is investigated by employing the multiple phase screen method. The influences of propagation distance, topological charge, power exponent, wind speed, and absorption coefficient on thermal blooming effect are analyzed in detail. The results show that (1) the thermal blooming effect exhibits a significant perturbation on the intensity and phase distribution of PEPV beams, with its influence becoming more pronounced as the propagation distance increases; (2) when the power exponent is fixed at 4, comparing the thermal blooming effect of PEPV beams with different topological charges indicates that a PEPV beam with topological charges of 3 is the most sensitive to thermal blooming; (3) when the topological charge is fixed at 3, the thermal blooming effect decreases with the increase in power exponent; and (4) an increase in wind speed or a decrease in absorption coefficient can reduce the thermal blooming effect. The research results obtained in this article have guiding significance for the application of research into high-energy PEPV beams in the atmosphere. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Beam Propagation and Control)
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24 pages, 2086 KiB  
Article
Bessel–Gauss Beams of Arbitrary Integer Order: Propagation Profile, Coherence Properties, and Quality Factor
by Sara Cruz y Cruz, Zulema Gress, Pedro Jiménez-Macías and Oscar Rosas-Ortiz
Photonics 2023, 10(10), 1162; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics10101162 - 17 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1504
Abstract
We present a novel approach to generate Bessel–Gauss modes of arbitrary integer order and well-defined optical angular momentum in a gradient index medium of transverse parabolic profile. The propagation and coherence properties, as well as the quality factor, are studied using algebraic techniques [...] Read more.
We present a novel approach to generate Bessel–Gauss modes of arbitrary integer order and well-defined optical angular momentum in a gradient index medium of transverse parabolic profile. The propagation and coherence properties, as well as the quality factor, are studied using algebraic techniques that are widely used in quantum mechanics. It is found that imposing the well-defined optical angular momentum condition, the Lie group SU(1,1) comes to light as a characteristic symmetry of the Bessel–Gauss beams. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Beam Propagation and Control)
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