There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Statistics for Spatial Data.

Metamaterials are artificially fabricated materials that allow for the control of light and acoustic waves in a manner that is not possible in nature. This Review covers the recent developments in the study of so-called metasurfaces, which offer the possibility of controlling light with ultrathin, planar optical components. Conventional optical components such as lenses, waveplates and holograms rely on light propagation over distances much larger than the wavelength to shape wavefronts. In this way substantial changes of the amplitude, phase or polarization of light waves are gradually accumulated along the optical path. This Review focuses on recent developments on flat, ultrathin optical components dubbed 'metasurfaces' that produce abrupt changes over the scale of the free-space wavelength in the phase, amplitude and/or polarization of a light beam. Metasurfaces are generally created by assembling arrays of miniature, anisotropic light scatterers (that is, resonators such as optical antennas). The spacing between antennas and their dimensions are much smaller than the wavelength. As a result the metasurfaces, on account of Huygens principle, are able to mould optical wavefronts into arbitrary shapes with subwavelength resolution by introducing spatial variations in the optical response of the light scatterers. Such gradient metasurfaces go beyond the well-established technology of frequency selective surfaces made of periodic structures and are extending to new spectral regions the functionalities of conventional microwave and millimetre-wave transmit-arrays and reflect-arrays. Metasurfaces can also be created by using ultrathin films of materials with large optical losses. By using the controllable abrupt phase shifts associated with reflection or transmission of light waves at the interface between lossy materials, such metasurfaces operate like optically thin cavities that strongly modify the light spectrum. Technology opportunities in various spectral regions and their potential advantages in replacing existing optical components are discussed.

Flat Optics With Designer Metasurfaces

Using a metasurface comprising an array of nanorods with different orientations and a backreflector, a hologram image can be obtained in the visible and near-infrared with limited loss of light intensity.

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Metasurface holograms reaching 80% efficiency

Switches, and Actuators Masahiro Irie,*,† Tuyoshi Fukaminato,‡ Kenji Matsuda, and Seiya Kobatake †Research Center for Smart Molecules, Rikkyo University, Nishi-Ikebukuro 3-34-1, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171-8501, Japan ‡Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, N20, W10, Kita-ku, Sapporo 001-0020, Japan Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka City University, Sugimoto 3-3-138, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan

Photochromism of Diarylethene Molecules and Crystals: Memories, Switches, and Actuators

We propose and demonstrate a volume holographic printing method for dynamic three-dimensional (3D) display with an expanded space-bandwidth product (SBP) using unconventional angular multiplexing techniques. By wavefront encoding of the 3D scene, with the help of computer-generated holography, the object beam is loaded onto a 2D phase spatial light modulator (SLM) with a limited SBP. The printing method then writes a single hologram through the interference of the object beam with a reference beam as a holographic element (hogel) in the volume holographic polymer. In addition, multiple 3D scenes can be recorded and dynamically reconstructed by angular multiplexing in the same hogel location. The SBP can be increased by two orders of magnitude compared to the conventional holographic printing method, showing the potential to realize a dynamic and high-resolution 3D display.

Volume holographic printing using unconventional angular multiplexing for three-dimensional display.

The general aberration theory of arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is proposed in this paper The derived conclusions can be applied to any symmetrical AWGs With the aberration theory, the spectral response can be optimized Some performances of an AWG, for example, crosstalk and channel number, are expected to be improved by reducing the aberrations A common AWG with the Rowland geometry has low aberrations for the absence of the second-order aberration To further reduce the aberrations, nonstandard AWGs are considered The AWG based on three stigmatic points is proved to have a perfect performance

Aberration theory of arrayed waveguide grating

A time-division multiplexing method for computer-generated holograms (CGHs) is proposed to solve the problem of the limited space-bandwidth product. A three-dimensional (3-D) scene is divided into multiple layers at different depths. The CGH corresponding to each layer is calculated by an angular-spectrum algorithm that is effective at a wide range of propagation distances. All of the CGHs are combined into several group-CGHs. These group-CGHs are sequentially uploaded onto one spatial light modulator at a high frame rate. The space-bandwidth product can be benefited by the time-division processing of the CGHs. The proposed method provides a new approach to achieve high quality 3-D display with a fast and accurate CGH computation.

Time-division multiplexing holographic display using angular-spectrum layer-oriented method (Invited Paper)

In this paper, the influence of the pulse exposures repetition frequencies on volume holograms recording in photopolymer films is studied. Using a pulsed diode-pumped YAG laser (532-nm wavelength) as recording source, volume holograms are recorded with the same pulse energy fluence (0.1mJ/cm 2 per pulse) but different pulse exposures repetition frequencies. The diffraction efficiency and light scattering are real-time measured as the holographic grating is formed. Experimental results show that the maximum diffraction efficiency and refractive index modulation can be obtained at an optimal repetition frequency. And an upper limit for total exposure energy and an optimal pulse repetition frequency are necessary to keep low scattering noise.

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Properties of volume holograms recording in photopolymer films with various pulse exposures repetition frequencies

We report on the enhanced holographic performance by employing a strong volume holographic absorption grating induced by localized surface plasmon resonance effect in a bulk gold nanoparticles doped photopolymer. The contributions of plasmon-induced volume holographic absorption grating is characterized through the Kogelnik's coupled wave model and demonstrated experimentally by using two-beam interference technology. At the 0.05 vol. % concentration of the gold nanoparticles in the bulk photopolymer, 101.8% increase in the diffraction efficiency and more than four times suppression of the first side lobe in angular selectivity have been achieved.

Guofan Jin

Papers

Volume holographic printing using unconventional angular multiplexing for three-dimensional display.

Aberration theory of arrayed waveguide grating

Time-division multiplexing holographic display using angular-spectrum layer-oriented method (Invited Paper)

Properties of volume holograms recording in photopolymer films with various pulse exposures repetition frequencies

Improvement of volume holographic performance by plasmon-induced holographic absorption grating