Jacobson Larsen (vesselbag03)
A driven high-Q Si microcavity is known to exhibit limit cycle oscillation originating from carrier-induced and thermo-optic nonlinearities. We propose a novel nanophotonic device to realize synchronized optical limit cycle oscillations with coupled silicon (Si) photonic crystal (PhC) microcavities. Here, coupled limit cycle oscillators are realized by using coherently coupled Si PhC microcavities. By simulating coupled-mode equations, we theoretically demonstrate mutual synchronization (entrainment) of two limit cycles induced by coherent coupling. Furthermore, we interpret the numerically simulated synchronization in the framework of phase description. Since our proposed design is perfectly compatible with current silicon photonics fabrication processes, the synchronization of optical limit cycle oscillations will be implemented in future silicon photonic circuits.We experimentally demonstrate efficient broadband self-powered photo-detection and power generation in thin films of polycrystalline bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) semiconductors under inhomogeneous strain. The developed simple, junction-free, lightweight, and flexible photo-detectors are composed of a thin active layer and Ohmic contacts on a flexible plastic substrate, and can operate at room temperature and without application of an external bias voltage. We attribute the observed phenomena to the generation of an electric field due to a spontaneous polarization produced by strain gradient, which can separate both photo-generated and thermally-generated charge carriers in bulk of the semiconductor material, without a semiconductor junction. SL-327 mw We show that the developed photo-detectors can generate electric power during both the daytime and the nighttime, by either harnessing solar and thermal radiation or by emitting thermal radiation into the cold sky. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the power generation in a simple junction-free device under negative illumination, which exhibits higher voltage than the previously used expensive commercial HgCdTe photo-diode. Significant improvements in the photo-detector performance are expected if the low-charge-mobility polycrystalline active layer is replaced with high-quality single-crystal material. The technology is not limited to Bi2Te3 as the active material, and offers many potential applications in night vision, wearable sensors, long-range LIDAR, and daytime/nighttime energy generation technologies.Complex polarization-phase transformations that are realized using easy-to-manufacture optical elements are considered. The manufacturing technology of such elements is based on the angular discretization of the required polarization and phase distributions, which allows one to make optical elements in the form of sector sandwich structures consisting of polarized and phase plates stacked together. We analyze analytically and study numerically the main types of such sector sandwich structures for the formation of cylindrical polarizations of various orders. New effects are observed, which result in the appearance of complex polarized beams with vortices of various orders, arising after the passage through polarizing plates and their combinations with differently rotated phase plates. The results of the experimental study of the formed beams using a multichannel diffraction filter are consistent with theory.It is widely discussed in the literature that a problem of reduction of thermal noise of mid-wave and long-wave infrared (MWIR and LWIR) cameras and focal plane arrays (FPAs) can be solved by using light-concentrating structures. The idea is to reduce the area and, consequently, the thermal noise of photodetectors, while still providing a good collection of photons on photodetector mesas that can help to increase the operating temperature of FPAs. It is shown that this approach can be realized using microconical Si light concentrators with (111) oriented sidewalls, which can be m