Jian-Da Shao's research while affiliated with Chinese Academy of Sciences and other places

Optical metamaterials have attracted intensive attention in recent years for their broad applications in superlenses, electromagnetic cloaking, and bio-sensing. Negative refractive index (NRI) metal–dielectric–metal fishnet metamaterials (MMs) are typically used for beyond-diffraction-limit imaging. However, there are few reports about the substrate-thickness dependence of NRI, which strongly affects the practical application. In our study, it is demonstrated that the membrane-based NRI MMs with a more negative index work better than the bulk substrate-based counterparts. In addition, a regular periodic vibration of NRI with the thickness of the membrane substrate was theoretically studied. The destructive interference of the thin film can explain this phenomenon. Furthermore, the proposed explanation was further proved by substituting the dielectric spacer with a larger permittivity. Therefore, an NRI structure on a membrane substrate with constructive interference can be a good choice in ultra-compact photoelectronic devices. This study can be a guide to the practical application of ultracompact NRI devices.

The effects of laser-induced heat on the performance degradation of liquid crystal (LC) devices are critically important in applications involving laser systems. In this study, we investigated the influences of 1064-nm continuous-wave (CW) laser loading on an LC variable retarder (LCVR). The results show that thermal deposi-tion initially causes an overall downward shift in the electronically controlled phase retardation curve. This phase retardation reduction is restored under a certain voltage and laser power by reducing the driving voltage. For common nematic LC wave plates that do not require voltage application, the decrease in phase retardation can be pre-compensated by increasing the corresponding LC cell thickness. For electrically controlled LC devices, the phase retardation under a high-power CW laser can be preconfigured by plotting phase response curves versus voltages at different laser powers. Based on these calibration curves, the LC devices can still service high-power CW lasers as long as the resulting temperature does not reach the clear point of the LC material. These results clarify the fundamental mechanisms of phase modulation variation induced by thermal deposition and could be useful for the fabrication optimization and effective implementation of LC devices in high-power laser systems.

To speed up the fabrication of optical metamaterials by making use of the fast speed advantage of femtosecond laser preparation, a metamaterial appropriate for femtosecond laser processing was designed, and the interaction between femtosecond laser and metal-dielectric-metal fishnet stacks was investigated in detail. Two kinds of processing mechanisms, thermal melting and stress break, were revealed during the fabrication. The thermal melting process, dominated by the interaction of femtosecond laser with metals, makes the upper and lower metal layers adhere to each other, which leads to the magnetic resonance impossible. The stress break process, dominated by the interaction of femtosecond laser with dielectrics, can keep the upper and lower metal coatings isolated. Fishnet optical metamaterial was fabricated by femtosecond laser-induced stress break technique, using back side ablation, high numerical aperture and super-Gaussian beam. The resolution and speed can reach 500 nm, and 100 units/s, respectively. Spectrophotometer measurement results proved that the magnetic resonances were found in the fishnet nanostructure. The theoretical refractive index of the metamaterial on a glass substrate reached −0.12 at the wavelength of 3225 nm. It proved that femtosecond laser-induced stress break was a good and fast tool during the fabrication of optical metamaterials.

A combined-method based on local optimization and needle optimization is proposed to design broadband dispersion mirrors. The broadband dispersion mirrors are designed by using needle optimization combined with cross application of local optimization and changing high refractive index materials. We combine high efficiency of the local optimization and accuracy of needle optimization. This method can efficiently prevent optimizing process from being captured in a local minimum and obtain higher reflectivity and more smooth group delay dispersion (GDD) curves. The designed dispersion mirrors have a few numbers of layers, which do not have the thin layers that are not easily deposited.

Dispersive mirrors in the wavelength range of 960–1110nm, 700–900nm, 950–1150nm, 600–900nm, 900–1200nm, 600–1000nm and 550–1050nm are designed, respectively. From the design results, we analyse the choice of material and the approach to dispersion compensation. Furthermore, along with the increase of bandwidth, interaction between group delay dispersion (GDD) oscillation and high reflectivity, and influence of bandwidth on both GDD ripple and reflectivity are discussed.

The paper summarizes the recent progress on the optical materials and components for the high power laser system in China. The amplifier material, Nd glass, has been developed with continuous melt. Non-linear crystals, KDP/DKDP, have been grown with rapid and traditional growth method. Fused silica and K9 glass has been achieved high quality. Some potential materials for next generation high power laser system are also evinced in this summary.

Ta2O5 films are deposited on fused silica substrates by conventional e-beam evaporation. Surface topography and chemical composition are examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The calculation of electron structures of Ta2O5 and Ta2O5-x is attempted using a first-principle pseudopotential method within the local density approximation. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) is performed at 1064, 532 and 355 nm in 1-on-1 regime, respectively. The results show that the LIDT increases with the wavelength increasing, which is in agreement with the wavelength effect. However, the LIDT results are not consistent with the empirical equation (I(lambda) = alambdam), which may be attributed to the intrinsic absorption of Ta2O5 at the wavelengths of 532 or/and 355nm. Moreover, different damage morphologies are observed when the films are irradiated at different wavelengths. It is concluded that the laser damage at 1064 nm is the defect dominant mechanism and at 355 nm it is the intrinsic absorption dominant mechanism, whereas at 532 nm it is the combined defect and intrinsic absorption dominant mechanism.

A thermal model is considered in order to better understand the mechanism of laser induced damage in KDP and DKDP crystals. We demonstrate that the expressions of pinpoint density and damage probability, predicted by the thermal model, are consistent with the experimental data. We also discuss the effect of particle interaction on the thermal model.

Gires–Tournois interferometer mirrors are designed and deposited. Because of deviation between the measured group-delay dispersion and the designed character, based on the measured layers' thickness, we fit group-delay dispersion measured values to analyse the errors produced during the deposition. When considering thickness deviation and the refractive index inhomogeneity, the fitted curve has a good agreement with the measurement result. Therefore, thickness errors and refractive index inhomogeneity are the main factors in manufacturing the Gires–Tournois interferometer mirrors. At the same time, the fitted actual manufactured thickness of every layer and the degree of refractive index inhomogeneity are obtained from the fitted curve.