Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / A three dimensional analysis of the intensity distribution of backward optical transition radiation has been performed. The effects of variations in electron energy and beam divergence and on material properties such as dielectric permittivities and the resultant coherence length upon the angular distribution and polarization of optical transition radiation has been investigated. A surprising observation important to the use of optical transition radiation as a diagnostic tool for high energy electron beams is the behavior of the perpendicular component of the intensity. In contrast to low energies where the parallel component dominates, at electron energies above 200 MeV, the perpendicular component dominates. This requires the use of a polarization filter to diagnose particle beam properties at high energies. / http://archive.org/details/threedimensional00long / Lieutenant, United States Navy

In this work, we investigate the optical response of the semiconductor quantum wire array when excited by stationary UV light. The array is synthesized by selectively electro-depositing the semiconductor material in electrochemically self-assembled porous alumina templates. Our studies are based on the optical behavioral changes in CdS, ZnO, ZnSe and CdSe quantum wires of 50-, 25- and 10-nm diameters. We use a set of generalized Bloch equations to solve the interband polarization function of the semiconductors derived within the Hartree-Fock approximation, and theoretically model the UV excitation effect on the quantum wires. The solutions which consider the effects of screening, Coulomb interaction between the carriers and many body effects on excitons are generated for a quasi-equilibrium regime using a devised accelerated fixed point method. The solution technique is developed in Mathematica to iteratively solve this complex set of equations. The optical constants generated for individual quantum wires are incorporated into a finite-element electromagnetic wave simulator, HFSS, to investigate the full behavior of the array of wires. Theoretically calculated values of the dielectric permittivity of the un-excited quantum wires are shown to decrease progressively as the wire diameter reduces. We perform the experimental analysis using a pump-probe excitation scheme incorporated in a sensitive Michelson interferometer in a homodyne setup. We measure extremely small changes in the phase shift between the interfering IR probe beams and hence measure the refractive index changes caused by the UV pump. While the decreasing filling factor acts to reduce the optical activity in narrower wire arrays, the shifting of the DOS function with additional quantum confinement serves to increase it. These competing effects give rise to the size-dependent non-monotonic optical activity experimentally observed in ZnO, CdS and ZnSe nanowire arrays. The simulation results show a rapid increase in the changes in effective permittivity values of the individual quantum wires as diameter decreases. The substantial changes observed in the refractive index for the whole thin film array at intermediate wire diameter sizes may be suitable for optical phase shifting, intensity modulation and switching applications in integrated optical devices.

Les interféromètres de type Mirau sont largement utilisés dans les profilomètres et vibromètres optiques 3D plein champ et d’autres applications dans les domaines de la biologie et de la médecine ont été démontrées. Quand elle a été débutée, cette thèse était la première tentative de réalisation d’interféromètres Mirau entièrement intégrés et accordables en technologie microsystèmes électromécaniques (MEMS) silicium. La conception proposée est fondée sur l’intégration hybride 3D d’un wafer de scanners hors plan de micromiroirs de référence et d’un wafer de séparatrices de faisceaux optiques. La nouveauté majeure de la conception du scanner de miroir est l’utilisation de microactionneurs à peignes électrostatiques verticaux autoalignés réalisés à partir de wafers double Silicium sur Isolant (DSOI). Les modélisations semi-Analytiques et les simulations électromécaniques par éléments finis ont démontré que la combinaison de cet actionnement électrostatique avec des ressorts en serpentins optimisés permet d’obtenir une translation de grande course, bidirectionnelle et symétrique (+/-20µm) du miroir de référence. Un procédé de fabrication original de ce scanner de miroir, reposant largement sur la gravure ionique profonde (DRIE) et des techniques innovantes de délimitation de motifs avec des films secs photosensibles, a été étudié, et les principales étapes critiques de fabrication ont été démontrées avec succès avec des substrats de Si, SOI et DSOI commetciaux. La séparatrice semi-Réfléchissante large bande a été conçue pour être réalisée par une technologie de fabrication de membranes diélectriques multicouches SiO2/SiNx développée précédemment à l’IEF. L’assemblage des wafers de scanners de miroir et de séparatrices sera étudiée dans l’avenir pour obtenir des matrices d’interféromètres Mirau accordables permettant des mesures parallélisées d’interférométrie à décalage de phase ou d’interférométrie faiblement cohérente à balayage dans différentes gammes de longueurs d’onde. / Mirau-Type interferometers are widely used in full field optical 3D profilometers and vibrometers and other applications in biology and medicine fields have been demonstrated. When it was started, this thesis was the first attempt towards the realization of a fully integrated and tunable Mirau interferometer in silicon MEMS technology. The proposed design is based on 3D hybrid integration of an out-Of plane reference micro-Mirror scanner wafer and a optical beam splitter wafer. The major novelty of the micro-Mirror scanner design is the use of self-Aligned vertical electrostatic combs micro-Actuators made from double SOI (DSOI) wafers. Electromechanical modeling by semi-Analytical modeling and finite element simulations demonstrated that the combination of this electrostatic actuation with optimized serpentine suspension springs allows a large range, bidirectional and symmetrical vertical translation (+/-20µm) of the reference mirror. An original fabrication process of this mirror scanner, largely relying on Deep Reactive Ion Etching and on innovative patterning techniques with dry photosensitive films, was investigated, and the main critical fabrication steps were successfully demonstrated with commercial Si, SOI and DSOI substrates. The semi-Reflective broadband beam splitter was designed to be realized by a dielectric SiO2/SiNx multilayer membrane technology previously developed at IEF. Assembly of the mirror scanner and the beam splitter wafers will be investigated in the future to obtain integrated tunable Mirau interferometer arrays allowing parallelized phase shifting interferometry and low coherence scanning interferometry measurements in various wavelength ranges.

Orientador: Cláudio Kitano / Abstract: Interferometers are extremely sensitive measurement devices, which use the principle of interference between two or more sources of light to generate a pattern of constructive and destructive interference. This pattern contains information about the physical phenomenon under study, and their light intensity can be used to calculate the optical path difference traveled by the two beams. The optical path difference and light intensity relationship is given by a cosine type function. Large disturbances can change the interferometer operation point, reaching nonlinear regions of the interferometric curve and even inducing ambiguities due to the periodicity of the input/output relationship. The present work concerns with the modeling, development and application of a control strategy based on sliding mode control, in a two-beam quadrature interferometer. It was used the high gain approach, which consists in to fully compensate the phase shifts induced on the sensor arm with the control system, in such a way that the voltage control signal becomes proportional to the phase disturbances. Therefore, the demodulation process does not require phase unwrapping algorithms. This implemented system showed capability to improve dynamic range and bandwidth when compared with other control systems in literature that were based on different high gain approach topologies. Also a new method of interferometric phase demodulation is proposed allying this control strategy to a virtual emulated inte... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Resumo: Interferômetros são dispositivos de medição extremamente sensíveis, os quais utilizam o princípio de interferência entre duas ou mais fontes de luz para gerar um padrão de interferência construtiva e destrutiva. Este padrão contém informação sobre os fenômenos físicos sob estudo, e sua intensidade luminosa pode ser usada para calcular a diferença de caminho óptico acumulada pelos dois feixes de luz. A diferença de caminho óptico e a intensidade de luz são relacionadas por uma função cossenoidal. Grandes distúrbios podem alterar o ponto de operação do interferômetro, alcançando regiões não lineares da curva característica do interferômetro e até mesmo induzindo ambiguidades, devido à periodicidade da relação entrada/saída. Este trabalho preocupou-se com o modelamento, desenvolvimento e aplicação de uma estratégia de controle baseada em controle com modos deslizantes, em um interferômetro de dois feixes em quadratura. Foi utilizada a abordagem de alto ganho, a qual consiste em utilizar o sistema de controle para compensar completamente os deslocamentos de fase induzidos no braço sensor, de tal forma que o sinal de controle se relaciona com os deslocamentos de fase por uma equação de reta. Portanto o processo de demodulação não necessita de algoritmos de desdobramento de fase. O sistema implementado mostrou capacidade de melhorar a faixa dinâmica e largura de banda quando comparado com outros sistemas de controle na literatura, também baseados na abordagem de alto ganho. Destaca... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Doutor

This thesis investigates the direct measurement of the thermal noise spectral distribution. Long base line gravitational wave detectors, being commissioned around the world, are limited in sensitivity in the intermediate frequencies by the thermal noise. These detectors are utilising suspended test mirrors for the detection of gravitational waves by measuring their relative displacement. One of the fundamental noise sources in these detectors is the thermally induced displacement of the suspension onto and within the mirrors. This thermally induced motion of the test mirrors limits the displacement sensitivity of the gravitational wave detectors. Knowledge of the spectral behavior of thermal noise over a wide frequency range will improve predictions and understanding of the behavior of the suspension and test mirrors.¶ In this thesis the direct measurement of the thermal noise spectral distribution of a mechanical flexure resonator is described. The mechanical flexure resonator is an unidirectional ’wobbly table’ made from copper-beryllium, which hinges around four thin flexures 15 mm wide, 1 mm high and ~116 µm thick. The mechanical flexure resonator has a resonant frequency of 192 Hz, with a quality factor of ~3000.¶ The thermal noise induced displacement of the mechanical flexure resonator was measured using an optical cavity. The end mirror of a two mirror optical cavity was mounted on the mechanical flexure resonator. A laser was made resonant with the test cavity by use of a locking control system. Thermal noise induced displacement moved the test cavity away from resonance. By measuring the error-signal in the control system, the equivalent thermal noise displacement was obtained.¶ The thermal noise induced displacement of the mechanical flexure resonator was predicted to be in the order of 10^(−12) to 10^(−17) m/sqrtHz over a frequency range of 10 Hz to 10 kHz. All other external noise sources needed to be suppressed to below this level. A major noise source was the laser frequency fluctuations. When the test cavity was locked to the laser, the laser frequency fluctuations dominated the read out signal. To suppress the frequency fluctuations, the laser was locked to a rigid long optical reference cavity. This allowed the frequency fluctuations to be suppressed to below the equivalent thermal noise displacement of the test cavity over the frequency range of interest.¶ Acoustic noise was suppressed by placing the whole experiment inside a vacuum chamber, and evacuating the air inside the chamber down to a pressure level of 10^(−4) mbar. A seismic vibration isolation system was used to suppress the seismic noise in the laboratory to below 10^(−14) m/sqrtHz at frequencies above 4 Hz.¶ With the experimental set up, the thermal noise displacement of the mechanical flexure resonator has been measured. Due to the degradation of the isolator performance, measurement of the thermal noise behavior over a wide frequency range of the mechanical flexure resonator was unsuccessful. By using an analytical curve fitting routine around the fundamental and first order resonant modes of the resonator, a loss factor of (3.5 ± 1.5 − 3.7 ± 1.5) × 10^(−4) for the copper-beryllium mechanical flexure resonator was obtained and structural damping was inferred.

This research represents the first effort to apply vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) to the monitoring of interferometric fiber optic sensors. Modulation of the drive current causes thermal tuning of the laser light frequency. Reflection of this frequency-modulated light from a fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FFPI) sensor produces fringe patterns which can be used to measure the optical path difference of the sensor. Spectral characteristics were measured for 850nm VCSELs to determine the combination of dc bias current, modulation current amplitude and modulation frequency for which single mode VCSEL operation and regular fringe patterns are achieved. The response characteristics of FFPI sensors were determined experimentally for square, triangular, saw-tooth waveforms at frequencies from 10kHz to 100kHz. The dependence of VCSEL frequency on the dc bias current was determined from spectral measurements to be ~165GHz/mA. An independent measurement of this quantity based on counting fringes from the FFPI sensor as the laser modulated was in good agreement with this value. The effect of optical feedback into the laser was also studied. By observing the fringe shift as the FFPI sensor was heated, a fractional change in optical length with temperature of 6.95 X 10-6/°C was determined in good agreement with previous measurements on a 1300nm single mode fiber. The performance of 850nm VCSEL/FFPI systems was compared with their counterparts using 1300nm distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. The results of these experiments show that the 850nm VCSEL/FFPI combination gives regular fringe patterns at much lower bias current and modulating current amplitudes than their 1300nm DFB/FFPI counterparts.

The research institute ETC in Piteå is working with energy technical research and development. Today, much work revolves around research about renewable sources for fuel. In one project, biomass such as wood pellet is heated up while producing synthesis gas. The synthesis gas is then analyzed using three different GC techniques. ETC wanted to be able to make all their analysis on one instrument and with a faster speed. They contacted the company Rowaco in Linköping for help with developing a method on FTIR for analysis of the synthesis gas and that has been the aim for this thesis. A method has been developed for analysis of water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane. The results from this thesis show that the concentrations of the molecules in the synthesis gas are outside the calibration curved that has been made and that the high concentrations give much interference to other molecules. The thesis also shows that many areas in the spectrum from the process are roof absorbers and there is also a contamination of water and carbon dioxide in the system. Suggested improvements are to find the source for the contamination, to develop calibration points with higher concentrations, to reduce the length of the gas cell and to dilute the gas before entering the FTIR.

This thesis describes the development of a Mach-Zehnder interferometric filter based planar Doppler velocimetry (MZI-PDV) flow measurement technique. The technique uses an entirely new optical system, an unbalanced MZI incorporating glass blocks for wavefront-matching, to replace the iodine cell currently used in conventional PDV. The free spectral range of the interferometric filter can be selected by adjusting the optical path difference of the MZI. This allows the velocity measurement range, sensitivity and resolution to be varied. This system offers no restricts to the choice of laser wavelength of operation which is not the case with most techniques. Two techniques to process the interference fringe images are presented. The first uses the shift of the fringe pattern to determine the Doppler frequency shift along profiles. The second provides a full-field measurement by normalising the received light intensity at each pixel in the image. With the single camera MZI-PDV scheme, exact alignment of the two output images on the active area of the camera is automatic. This eliminates the pixel-matching problem in conventional two camera PDV systems. The technique allows the measurement of up to three components of the flow velocity across a plane defined by a laser light sheet. The construction of a single velocity component MZI-PDV system that incorporates a phase-locking system designed to stabilise the filter is described. Measurements are made on the velocity field of a rotating disc with maximum velocities of ~±70ms-1 and an axis-symmetric air jet (with a nozzle diameter of 20mm) with an exit velocity of ~85ms-1. Standard deviations in the measured velocities were found to be about 2.9 and 2ms-1 for the two processing methods respectively. The system was then modified to make 3-component velocity measurements using imaging fibre bundles to port multiple views to a single detector head, and the standard deviation of the velocity error is around ±3ms-1 for a maximum velocity of ~±30ms-1 in the field of view. The factors that will affect the quality of the interference fringe image are investigated including polarisation sensitivity of the two beam splitters and flatness of the optical components. The inclination angle and the optical path deviation have little effect on the contrast of the interference fringes since collimated light beams, rather than divergent ones, are used in the interferometer.

This thesis describes the design, development, and implementation of a pulsed source of polarization-entangled photons using spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a Sagnac interferometer. A tangle of 0.9286 ± 0.0015, fidelity to the state (|10〉 + |01〉)/√2 of 0.9798 ± 0.0004 and a brightness of 597 pairs/s/mW were demonstrated. Spontaneous parametric down-conversion is a nonlinear optical process in which one photon is split into two lower-frequency photons while conserving momentum and energy, in this experiment nearly degenerate photons are produced. These photons are then interfered at the output beamsplitter of the interferometer, exchanging path entanglement for polarization entanglement and generating the desired polarization-entangled photon pairs.

This thesis describes the design, development, and implementation of a pulsed source of polarization-entangled photons using spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a Sagnac interferometer. A tangle of 0.9286 ± 0.0015, fidelity to the state (|10〉 + |01〉)/√2 of 0.9798 ± 0.0004 and a brightness of 597 pairs/s/mW were demonstrated. Spontaneous parametric down-conversion is a nonlinear optical process in which one photon is split into two lower-frequency photons while conserving momentum and energy, in this experiment nearly degenerate photons are produced. These photons are then interfered at the output beamsplitter of the interferometer, exchanging path entanglement for polarization entanglement and generating the desired polarization-entangled photon pairs.