Light-induced spiral mass transport in azo-polymer films under vortex-beam illumination

Author(s): Antonio Ambrosio, Lorenzo Marrucci, Fabio Borbone, Antonio Roviello, Pasqualino Maddalena

Abstract:

“When an azobenzene-containing polymer film is exposed to a non-uniform illumination, a light-induced mass migration process may be induced, leading to the formation of relief patterns on the polymer free surface. Despite a research effort of many years and several proposed models many aspects of this phenomenon remain not well understood. Here we report the appearance of spiral-shaped relief patterns on the polymer under the illumination of focused Laguerre-Gauss beams, having helical wavefront and an optical vortex at their axis. The induced spiral reliefs are sensitive to the vortex topological charge and to the wavefront handedness. These findings are unexpected, because the “doughnut”-shaped intensity profile of Laguerre- Gauss beams contains no information about the wavefront handedness. We propose a model that explains the main features of this phenomenon from the surface-mediated interference of the longitudinal and the transverse components of the optical field. These results may find applications in optical micro- and nanolithography and optical-field. ”

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Publication: eprint arXiv:1203.5205
Issue/Year: eprint arXiv:1203.5205 (2012)
Bibliographic Code: 2012arXiv1203.5205A

Determination of wavefront structure for a Hartmann Wavefront Sensor using a phase-retrieval method

Author(s): A. Polo, V. Kutchoukov, F. Bociort, S.F. Pereira, and H.P. Urbach

Abstract:

“We apply a phase retrieval algorithm to the intensity pattern of a Hartmann wavefront sensor to measure with enhanced accuracy the phase structure of a Hartmann hole array. It is shown that the rms wavefront error achieved by phase reconstruction is one order of magnitude smaller than the one obtained from a typical centroid algorithm. Experimental results are consistent with a phase measurement performed independently using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor.”

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Publication: Optics Express
Issue/Year: Optics Express, Vol. 20, Issue 7, pp. 7822-7832 (2012)
DOI: 10.1364/OE.20.007822

Three dimensional optical twisters-driven helically stacked multi-layered microrotors

Author(s): Jolly Xavier, Raktim Dasgupta, Sunita Ahlawat, Joby Joseph, and Pradeep Kumar Gupta

Abstract:

“We demonstrate tunable helically stacked multi-layered microrotors realized in vortex-embedded three dimensional (3D) optical twister patterns. Intensity-tunable annular irradiance profiles with higher order vortex are generated as well as simultaneously unfolded by phase-engineered multiple plane wave interference. In the individually tunable 3D helical bright arms of these unfolded vortex structures, 2 μm silica beads are optically trapped as spiraling multilayered handles of multi-armed microrotors. Further, multiple rows of such microrotors are parallelly actuated with controllable sense of rotation. We also present our observation on helical 3D stacking of micro-particles in these longitudinally gyrating multi-armed rotor traps.”

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Publication: Applied Physics Letters, (subscription required)
Issue/Year: Applied Physics Letters, Volume 100, Issue 12, (2012)
DOI: 10.1063/1.3693413

Nonimaging speckle interferometry for high-speed nanometer-scale position detection

Author(s): E. G. van Putten, A. Lagendijk, and A. P. Mosk

Abstract:

“We experimentally demonstrate a nonimaging approach to displacement measurement for complex scattering materials. By spatially controlling the wavefront of the light that incidents on the material, we concentrate the scattered light in a focus on a designated position. This wavefront acts as a unique optical fingerprint that enables precise position detection of the illuminated material by simply measuring the intensity in the focus. By combining two fingerprints we demonstrate position detection along one in-plane dimension with a displacement resolution of 2.1 nm. As our approach does not require an image of the scattered field, it is possible to employ fast nonimaging detectors to enable high-speed position detection of scattering materials.”

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Publication: Optics Letters
Issue/Year: Optics Letters, Vol. 37, Issue 6, pp. 1070-1072 (2012)
DOI: 10.1364/OL.37.001070