Advanced Research In Photonics

This book focuses on the state-of-the-art photonic technologies and their potential applications in various fields of human activity. It is quite fascinating to witness the paradigm change, which the field of photonics has witnessed in the last 10 years. Particularly, advanced photonics has shifted from the research laboratories to commercial manufacturing industries. This book offers a comprehensive overview regarding photonics, from the quantum mechanics and electrodynamic fundamentals to the scales of photonic building blocks and components such as amplifiers, lasers, modulators, detectors, and waveguides. The book can serve both as a reference work as well as a comprehensive textbook for students or scientists. Theoretical results and relations are typically derived from fundamental principles with suitable and state-of-the-art tools, which provide deeper understanding along with familiarization with mathematical architectures, used in the relevant research articles. Some of the significant subject matters include polarization optics, beam and pulse propagation, light-matter interaction, waveguides, transient, and stationary behavior of lasers, semiconductor optics (which include low-dimensional quantum systems for example, quantum wells), photometry, colorimetry, and detector technology. Microwave photonics are illustrated comprehensively. The book is proposed for a diverse range of audiences which include the students of electronics and physics and the scientists from various fields such as optical communications, laser technology, medical laser applications and laser materials processing. This book has the potential to provide an in-depth understanding of various photonic principles. In Chapter 1, the fundamental concepts of photonics and optics are discussed. Moreover, the significance of photonics in several fields has also been illustrated in Chapter 1. The field of micro-photonics has a significant impact in commercial photonic applications. Chapter 2 discusses the significance and applications of microwave photonics in various industrial fields. Environment and health play an essential role in the well-being of human creature. The applications of photonics in health and environment sector are detailed in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 discusses the fundamental principles of developing semiconducting nanostructures for photonic switching devices. Presently, the use of plasmon lasers (advanced photonic based lasers) as a uniform and coherent source of energy is trending. Chapter 5 discusses the use of plasmon lasers as an advanced source of energy for various applications. The world is now shifting towards advanced photovoltaic devices which are a superior substitute for conventional energy generating devices. Chapter 6 critically discusses the use of photonic principles for developing modern photovoltaic devices. Space exploration is one of the fundamental priorities of the modern developing nations and the research for advances in space applications is being carried out extensively. Chapter 7 contains the detailed presentation regarding the space application of modern photonic devices. Finally, Chapter 8 unfolds a technological roadmap for photonics applications in the field of memory systems. The roadmap of the electronics and photonics industry development signifies that advanced photonics will remain the fundamental source of micro-and-nono-electronics. Therefore, intricate yet efficient photonic devices will serve as an essential component for manufacturing of next-generation electronic and photonic architectures. Book jacket.

This book brings together reviews by internationally renowed experts on quantum optics and photonics. It describes novel experiments at the limit of single photons, and presents advances in this emerging research area. It also includes reprints and historical descriptions of some of the first pioneering experiments at a single-photon level and nonlinear optics, performed before the inception of lasers and modern light detectors, often with the human eye serving as a single-photon detector. The book comprises 19 chapters, 10 of which describe modern quantum photonics results, including single-photon sources, direct measurement of the photon's spatial wave function, nonlinear interactions and non-classical light, nanophotonics for room-temperature single-photon sources, time-multiplexed methods for optical quantum information processing, the role of photon statistics in visual perception, light-by-light coherent control using metamaterials, nonlinear nanoplasmonics, nonlinear polarization optics, and ultrafast nonlinear optics in the mid-infrared.

Optics and photonics technologies are ubiquitous: they are responsible for the displays on smart phones and computing devices, optical fiber that carries the information in the internet, advanced precision manufacturing, enhanced defense capabilities, and a plethora of medical diagnostics tools. The opportunities arising from optics and photonics offer the potential for even greater societal impact in the next few decades, including solar power generation and new efficient lighting that could transform the nation's energy landscape and new optical capabilities that will be essential to support the continued exponential growth of the Internet. As described in the National Research Council report Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation, it is critical for the United States to take advantage of these emerging optical technologies for creating new industries and generating job growth. The report assesses the current state of optical science and engineering in the United States and abroad-including market trends, workforce needs, and the impact of photonics on the national economy. It identifies the technological opportunities that have arisen from recent advances in, and applications of, optical science and engineering. The report also calls for improved management of U.S. public and private research and development resources, emphasizing the need for public policy that encourages adoption of a portfolio approach to investing in the wide and diverse opportunities now available within photonics. Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation is a useful overview not only for policymakers, such as decision-makers at relevant Federal agencies on the current state of optics and photonics research and applications but also for individuals seeking a broad understanding of the fields of optics and photonics in many arenas.

Photonics has long been considered an attractive substrate for next generation implementations of machine-learning concepts. Reservoir Computing tremendously facilitated the realization of recurrent neural networks in analogue hardware. This concept exploits the properties of complex nonlinear dynamical systems, giving rise to photonic reservoirs implemented by semiconductor lasers, telecommunication modulators and integrated photonic chips.

The technology surrounding the design and fabrication of optical microresonators has matured to a point where there is a need for commercialization. Consequently, there is a need for device research involving more advanced architectures and more esoteric operating principles. Photonic Microresonator Research and Applications explores advances in the fabrication process that enable nanometer waveguide separations, exceptionally smooth surfaces essential to reach Q factors in the order of 106- 108 and high index contrast materials.

Although it took some time to establish the word, photonics is both widely accepted and used throughout the world and a major area of activity concerns nonlinear materials. In these the nonlinearity mainly arises from second-order or third-order nonlinear optical processes. A restriction is that second-order processes only occur in media that do not possess a centre of symmetry. Optical fibres, on the other hand, being made of silica glass, created by fusing SiO molecules, are made of material with a centre of z symmetry, so the bulk of all processes are governed by third-order nonlinearity. Indeed, optical fibre nonlinearities have been extensively studied for the last thirty years and can be truly hailed as a success story of nonlinear optics. In fact, the fabrication ofsuch fibres, and the exploitation oftheir nonlinearity, is in an advanced stage - not least being their capacity to sustain envelope solitons. What then ofsecond-order nonlinearity? This is also well-known for its connection to second-harmonic generation. It is an immediate concern, however, to understand how waves can mix and conserve both energy and momentum ofthe photons involved. The problem is that the wave vectors cannot be made to match without a great deal of effort, or at least some clever arrangement has to be made - a special geometry, or crystal arrangement. The whole business is called phase matching and an inspection ofthe state-of-the-art today, reveals the subject to be in an advanced state.

In this age of the photon, information optics and photonics represent the key technologies to sustain our knowledge-based society. New concepts in classical and quantum-entangled light, coherent interaction with matter, and novel materials and processes have led to remarkable advances in today's information science and technology. The ICO is closely involved with information optics, as exemplified by the ICO topical meeting on Optoinformatics / Information Photonics (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2006), the ICO/ICTP Winter College on Quantum and Classical Aspects of Information Optics (Trieste, Italy, 2006), and the many ICO Prizes recently awarded on outstanding contributions on these topics. This book is in part based on these ICO activities.

Optical science and engineering affect almost every aspect of our lives. Millions of miles of optical fiber carry voice and data signals around the world. Lasers are used in surgery of the retina, kidneys, and heart. New high-efficiency light sources promise dramatic reductions in electricity consumption. Night-vision equipment and satellite surveillance are changing how wars are fought. Industry uses optical methods in everything from the production of computer chips to the construction of tunnels. Harnessing Light surveys this multitude of applications, as well as the status of the optics industry and of research and education in optics, and identifies actions that could enhance the field's contributions to society and facilitate its continued technical development.

"Extreme Photonics & Applications" arises from the 2008 NATO Advanced Study Institute in Laser Control & Monitoring in New Materials, Biomedicine, Environment, Security and Defense. Leading experts in the manipulation of light offered by recent advances in laser physics and nanoscience were invited to give lectures in their fields of expertise and participate in discussions on current research, applications and new directions. The sum of their contributions to this book is a primer for the state of scientific knowledge and the issues within the subject of photonics taken to the extreme frontiers: molding light at the ultra-finest scales, which represents the beginning of the end to limitations in optical science for the benefit of 21st Century technological societies. Laser light is an exquisite tool for physical and chemical research. Physicists have recently developed pulsed lasers with such short durations that one laser shot takes the time of one molecular vibration or one electron rotation in an atom, which makes it possible to observe their internal electronic structure, thereby enabling the study of physical processes and new chemical reactions. In parallel, advances in micro- and nano-structured photonic materials allow the precise manipulation of light on its natural scale of a wavelength. Photonic crystals, plasmons and related metamaterials - composed of subwavelength nanostructures - permit the manipulation of their dispersive properties and have allowed the experimental confirmation of bizarre new effects such as slow light and negative refraction. These advances open a vista on a new era in which it is possible to build lasers and engineer materials to control and use photons as precisely as it is already possible to do with electrons. http://www.photonics.uottawa.ca/nato-asi-2008/

Advances in Nonlinear Photonics combines fundamental principles with an overview of the latest developments. The book is suitable for the multidisciplinary audience of photonics researchers and practitioners in academia and R&D, including materials scientists and engineers, applied physicists, chemists, etc. As nonlinear phenomena are at the core of photonic devices and may enable future applications such as all-optical switching, all-optical signal processing and quantum photonics, this book provides an overview of key concepts. In addition, the book reviews the most important advances in the field and how nonlinear processes may be exploited in different photonic applications. Introduces fundamental principles of nonlinear phenomena and their application in materials and devices Reviews and provides definitions of the latest research directions in the field of nonlinear photonics Discusses the most important developments in materials and applications, including future prospects