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Introduction to Design of Optical Systems
Abstract
This textbook is devoted to the fundamentals of optical system design and analysis.
It is part of series on applied optics covering the math and theory of the Optical phenomena.
The book starts with short overview of the wave optics and transitions to the theory of geometric optics and its limitations. Only basic Fourier optics is covered that relate to the applications and design of optical and imaging systems. The third chapter covers concepts of simple imaging systems. The last fourth chapter, discusses the theory of third order aberrations.
The text is more appropriate for researchers, grad students, undergrad students, with interests in the realm of Optics. The content is presented in language that is accessible for large audience, however, calculus is highly recommended as it goes in depth discussing the topics.
The book does not cover the use of specific raytracing software for optimization.
Length: 201 pages
80 figures in color
... can be produced from multiply ionized plasmas in (Fig. 5 (A)) and He (Fig. 5 (B)), while macroscopic phase matching will limit the usable highest photon energies to lower cutoffs. Raytracing reveals space-time focusing is possible up to = 10 focal length, producing the intensity of 5x10 15 W/cm2 used in these calculations [13,31]. Since short-pulse high-energy optical parametric amplifiers are not available in the UV-VIS, the efficiency of a wavelength-tunable X-ray source using short-wavelength drivers can be straightforwardly investigated using the demonstrated approach. ...
We demonstrate a versatile technique for generating continuously wavelength-tunable laser waveforms, with mJ pulse energies and ultrashort pulse durations down to few-cycle in the ultraviolet C and visible spectral ranges. Using the processes of self-phase modulation or Raman-induced spectral broadening, we substantially expand the spectrum of a femtosecond 1030 nm Yb:CaF$_{2}$ laser, allowing for an extensive wavelength-tunability of the second and fourth harmonics of the laser within the visible and ultraviolet C spectral regions at 460-580 nm and 230-290 nm. In addition, our approach exploits nonlinearly assisted self-compression in the second harmonic upconversion of the spectrally broadened infrared pulses with high-order dispersion. This results in 8-30 femtosecond pulses in the visible with an intensity enhancement of up to 30 times. Such an ultrashort visible and ultraviolet C source is ideal for investigating ultrafast dynamics in molecules, solids, and bio and nano systems. Furthermore, this tunable light source enables the generation of bright, narrow-bandwidth, continuously wavelength-tunable, coherent light in the extreme ultraviolet to soft X-ray spectral region. Theoretically, the X-ray pulse structure can consist of sub-200 as pulse trains, making such a source highly suitable for dynamic multidimensional imaging. This includes coherent diffractive imaging of ferromagnetic nanostructures where resonant X-ray scattering is essential, as well as X-ray absorption spectroscopies of advanced quantum materials at pico-nanometer spatial and atto-femtosecond temporal scales.
... These pulses are focused into a second-harmonic Type I BBO crystal with a high conversion efficiency of ~70% (see Fig. 1). The 515 beam of 56 energy per pulse at 100 and a shorter 180 pulse duration, due to the nonlinear intensity dependence in upconversion, is then focused by a long focal length lens of = 1 , ensuring a long Rayleigh range of interaction of more than 18 [24]. While our 1030 nm amplifier has negligible femtosecond-to-picosecond pedestal in the time domain, the second harmonic generation process cleans any weak intensity temporal structure due to the nonlinear dependence on the intensity. ...
We demonstrate a remarkably effective single-stage compression technique for ultrafast pulses in the visible electromagnetic spectrum using second-harmonic pulses at 515 nmderived from a 1030 nm Yb-based femtosecond regenerative amplifier. By employing an advanced multi-plate scheme, we achieve more than fourfold compression from 180 fs to 40 fs with an extremely high spectral broadening efficiency of over 95%, and a temporal compression efficiency exceeding 75%. In addition, our method leverages a low nonlinearity medium to attain the shortest pulse durations for a single compressor while maintaining a superb spatial beam quality with 97% of the energy confined in the main lobe of the Arie disk. Moreover, our technique enhances the temporal pulse quality at 515 nm without generating substantial femtosecond-to-picosecond pulse pedestals. The resulting intense visible laser pulses with excellent spatio-temporal parameters and high repetition rate of 100 kHz to 1 MHz open up new frontiers for extreme nonlinear optics and ultrabright EUV and X-ray high-harmonic generation using short VIS wavelength.
... In addition, to maximize the VIS laser intensity and, correspondingly, to extend the X-ray cutoff in this geometry, we use a very short 15 focusing spherical mirror at a 3° incidence angle. These parameters are selected by a Neural-Network optimization using 3+1D Monte-Carlo ray tracing for the highest peak-intensity-product 1/ω x ω y τ at the focus in restricted parameter space, where ω x , ω y , τ are the beam waists in and direction and the temporally broadened pulse duration due to space-time aberrations in the focusing geometry (Fig. 5), respectively [31,32]. In addition, we vary the location where the peak-intensity product is estimated and effectively define the focus at the position of the circle of least confusion. ...
We demonstrate a novel technique for producing high-order harmonics with designer spectral combs in the extreme ultraviolet-soft X-ray range for resonance applications using spectrally controlled visible lasers. Our approach enables continuous tunability of the harmonic peaks while maintaining superb laser-like features such as coherence, narrow bandwidth, and brightness. The harmonics are conveniently shifted towards lower or higher energies by varying the infrared pulse parameters, second harmonic generation phase-matching conditions, and gas density inside a spectral-broadening waveguide. In the time domain, the X-rays are estimated to emerge as a train of sub-300 attosecond pulses, making this source ideal for studying dynamic processes in ferromagnetic nanostructures and other materials through resonant multidimensional coherent diffractive imaging or other X-ray absorption spectroscopy techniques. Moreover, the visible driving laser beams exhibit an ultrashort sub-10 fs pulse dues to nonlinear self-compression with a more than 30-fold enhancement in peak intensity that also extends the tunability of the linewidth of the harmonic combs.
A novel ray-tracing algorithm to cope with the phase errors due to incorrect ray path computations in ray-launching approaches is presented. The algorithm utilizes bidirectional ray-tracing to collect information about wavefronts incident on an interaction surface and yields considerable improvements in accuracy as compared to conventional unidirectional ray-tracing. The points, where exact ray paths intersect with the surface, are obtained according to the Fermat principle of least time. If the interaction surface is aligned with diffraction edges, the corresponding critical points of second kind can also be retrieved and complicated diffraction treatments by shooting diffracted rays on Keller cones can be avoided. Thus, a substantial reduction in the number of rays can be achieved. Furthermore, a typical problem encountered in traditional ray-tracing due to the reception sphere mechanism, i.e., incorrect ray contributions, can mostly be evaded. Numerical results demonstrate the capabilities of the new algorithm and its advantages against traditional techniques.
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