Our new paper in Optical Engineering is entitled Generating multiple polarization outputs using random binary patterns with cascaded spatial light modulators. The preprint is available here.
In this work we apply an optical system with two cascaded LC-SLMs to produce multiple outputs with intensity and polarization control. We use a non-standard modulation configuration where the first LC-SLM operates as a phase-only modulator to encode a Fourier transform hologram multiplexing the desired multiple output beams, all with the same polarization. Next, the Fourier transform is optically formed onto the second LC-SLM, where each output beam is focused on different physical locations. The two SLMs have the LC director axis oriented horizontally. Thus, by rotating the linearly polarized output beams emerging from the first LC-SLM by 45 deg, we operate the second LC-SLM as a variable retarder. Then, by applying different phase-shifts at the different areas of the second LC-SLM, we can vary the polarization state of each output beam.
The work has been done in collaboration with our colleagues Prof. Jeffrey A. Davis and Prof. Don M. Cottrell from San Diego State University.
María del Mar Sánchez-López attended the SEDOPTICA conference XIV Reunión Nacional de Óptica – RNO 2024, held in Murcia in July 3rd – 5th, 2024.
She delivered the talk entitled «Compound liquid-crystal anisotropic axicon with tunable polarization modulation of the generated Bessel beam«, where she presented our recent work published in Optics and Laser Technology (link).
The work was done in collaboration with Dr. Noureddine Bennis and his colleagues at the Military University of Technology, in Warsaw.
On May 6th 2024, Esther Nabadda made the defense of her PhD Thesis within the UMH Doctoral Program in Bioengineering.
The jury was composed by Prof. Carlos R. Fernández-Pousa, from UMH, Prof. Morten Geday, from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Prof. Irene Estévez, from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
The Thesis, entitled «Liquid-crystal modulators in optical phase-shifting interferometry and polarimetric imaging«, was supervised by Ignacio Moreno and María del Mar Sánchez-López, and it was presented as a compendium of 5 articles:
Mueller matrix imaging polarimeter with polarization camera self-calibration applied to structured light components, Journal of the European Optical Society – Rapid Publications 20, 5 (2024). PDF
Retrieving the phase of diffraction orders generated with tailored gratings, Optics Letters 48(2), 267-270 (2023). Post-print
Mueller matrix polarimetric analysis applied to characterize the physical parameters of a twisted-nematic liquid-crystal modulator, Optics & Laser Technology 156, 108567 (2022). PDF
Ferroelectric liquid-crystal modulator with large switching rotation angle for polarization-independent binary phase modulation, Optics & Lasers in Engineering 159, 107204 (2022). PDF
Phase-shifting common-path polarization self-interferometry for evaluating the reconstruction of holograms displayed on a phase-only display, Frontiers in Physics 10:920111 (2022). PDF
CONGRATULATIONS ESTHER!
María del Mar Sánchez-López and Shang Gao attended the SPIE Photonics Europe conference held in Strasbourg, France, in 7 – 11 April 2024.
María del Mar presented an invited talk entitled Dynamic control of polarization oscillating Bessel beams through liquid-crystal anisotropic axicons.
Shang presented the poster entitled Feasibility study of liquid-crystal spatial light modulators for displaying triplicator gratings at their spatial resolution limit.
Both works were presented within the conference Liquid Crystals Optics and Photonic Devices, where María del Mar also participates as a Program Committee member.
Our last paper entitled Mueller matrix imaging polarimeter with polarization camera self-calibration applied to structured light components is published at JEOS-RP. The paper is open access and available at PDF
The work presents a complete Mueller matrix imaging polarimeter that uses three liquid-crystal retarders and a polarization camera. The polarimeter is characterized and optimized with a standard correction procedure here adapted to be performed fully in-situ, without any additional element, based on considering the polarization camera as the reference. The accuracy limit caused by the extinction ratio in the camera micro-polarizers is analyzed. Finally, the imaging polarimeter is tested experimentally by analyzing well-known samples for structured light applications such as patterned retarders, a patterned polarizer, and a liquid-crystal depolarizer. The work is presented in a tutorial style useful to reproduce the procedure by non-experts in polarimetry.
This paper is part of the PhD Thesis of Esther Nabadda, and it has been done in collaboration with our colleagues Asticio Vargas, from the Universidad de La Frontera in Chile, and Angel Lizana and Juan Campos from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Our last paper is now published in Chinese Optics Letters entitled Experimental implementation of phase triplicator gratings in a spatial light modulator.
It reports on the different methods for implementing a triplicator, a phase grating that generates three equi-intense diffraction orders. The design with optimal efficiency features a continuous phase profile, which cannot be easily reproduced, and is typically affected by quantization. We compare its performance with binary and sinusoidal phase profiles. We also analyze the effect of quantizing the phase levels. Finally, a random approach is adopted to eliminate the additional harmonic orders.
In all cases, a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator is employed to experimentally verify and compare the different approaches.
This work is part of the PhD thesis of Shang Gao.
Ignacio Moreno attended SPIE Photonics West held in San Francisco from January 27th to February 1st, 2024.
There he presented our work entitled Analysis of polarization diffractive patterned polarizers and retarders, within the conference Complex Light and Optical Forces XVIII.
TecnOPTO participated at the kick-off meeting of FASLIGHT, the Spanish Network on Fundamentals and Applicationc of Structured Light, held in Salamanca in January 18th-19th, 2024.
TecnOPTO is one of groups participating in the newtwork. David Marco, Pascuala Garcia, María del Mar Sánchez-López and Ignacio Moreno attended the first meeting.
We had the visit of Prof. Gladys Mínguez, from the Group of Optics (GROC) of the University Jaume I de Castellón (UJI).
She was invited within the frame of the UMH Master of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, where she delivered an excellent presentation entitled «Synthesis of nanomaterials with pulsed lasers and their bioapplications».
sábado, 16 de diciembre de 2023
i.moreno
On May 17th 2023, Pascuala Garcia-Martinez was interviewed at «Oscilador Armónico”, the podcast broadcast about physics made at IFIC – Instituto de Física Corpuscular, a joint center of CSIC and teh University of Valencia.
The full interview is now available at the following link.
The program of that day was entitled «Óptica, Fotónica y la Física de la Luz» and along the interview, Pascuala talked about the International Day of Light, some of the many applications that Optics and Photonics has nowadays, and about her work and research.
