采用内、外曲线分别为圆形弯曲和欧拉-圆形弯曲曲线，以及内、外曲线分别为欧拉-圆形弯曲和欧拉弯曲曲线，提出并优化了两种曲率与宽度双渐变的硅基单模弯曲光波导结构。采用有限时域差分对提出的两种弯曲光波导结构进行了仿真优化，并与圆形弯曲、欧拉弯曲、欧拉-圆形弯曲和贝塞尔弯曲光波导的性能进行了比较。结果表明在等效弯曲半径为2 μm时，内、外曲线分别为圆形弯曲和欧拉-圆形弯曲的弯曲光波导损耗值仅为0.005 6 dB/90°，且具有低的损耗波长相关性。

Photonic structures with topological edge states and resonance loops are both important in optical communication systems, but they are usually two separate structures. In order to obtain a photonic system combining properties from both, we design multiple-layer nested photonic topological structures. The nested topological loops not only have topological protection immune to structural disorder and defects, but also possess both the properties of unidirectional propagation and loop resonance. Through mode analysis and simulations, we find that the transport can form diverse circulation loops. Each loop has its own resonance frequencies and can be solely excited in the nested layered structure through choosing its resonance frequencies. As a result, this work shows great application prospects in the area of reconfigurable photonic circuits.

We investigate femtosecond laser trapping dynamics of two-photon absorbing hollow-core nanoparticles with different volume fractions and two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficients. Numerical simulations show that the hollow-core particles with low and high-volume fractions can easily be trapped and bounced by the tightly focused Gaussian laser pulses, respectively. Further studies show that the hollow-core particles with and without TPA can be identified, because the TPA effect enhances the radiation force, and subsequently the longitudinal force destabilizes the trap by pushing the particle away from the focal point. The results may find direct applications in particle sorting and characterizing the TPA coefficient of single nanoparticles.

Understanding the nonlinear optical effect of novel materials plays a crucial role in the fields of photonics and optoelectronics. Herein, we theoretically and experimentally investigate the simultaneous presence of third-order locally refractive nonlinearity and thermally induced nonlocal nonlinearity saturation. We present analytical expressions for the closed-aperture Z-scan trace and the number of spatial self-phase modulation (SSPM) rings, which allows one to unambiguously and conveniently separate the contributions of local and nonlocal nonlinear refraction in the case that both effects occur simultaneously. As a test, we study both the local and thermally induced nonlocal nonlinear refraction in fullerene/toluene solution by performing continuous-wave Z-scan and SSPM measurements at two different wavelengths. This work enriches the understanding of the physical mechanism of the optical nonlinear refraction effect in solution dispersions of nanomaterials, which can be exploited for nonlinear photonic devices.

Optical trapping techniques hold great interest for their advantages that enable direct handling of nanoparticles. In this work, we study the optical trapping effects of a diffraction-limited focal field possessing an arbitrary photonic spin and propose a convenient method to manipulate the movement behavior of the trapped nanoparticles. In order to achieve controllable spin axis orientation and ellipticity of the tightly focused beam in three dimensions, an efficient method to analytically calculate and experimentally generate complex optical fields at the pupil plane of a high numerical aperture lens is developed. By numerically calculating the optical forces and torques of Rayleigh particles with spherical/ellipsoidal shape, we demonstrate that the interactions between the tunable photonic spin and nanoparticles lead to not only 3D trapping but also precise control of the nanoparticles’ movements in terms of stable orientation, rotational orientation, and rotation frequency. This versatile trapping method may open up new avenues for optical trapping and their applications in various scientific fields.

The principle of optical trapping is conventionally based on the interaction of optical fields with linear-induced polarizations. However, the optical force originating from the nonlinear polarization becomes significant when nonlinear optical nanoparticles are trapped by femtosecond laser pulses. Herein we develop the time-averaged optical forces on a nonlinear optical nanoparticle using high-repetition-rate femtosecond laser pulses, based on the linear and nonlinear polarization effects. We investigate the dependence of the optical forces on the magnitudes and signs of the refractive nonlinearities. It is found that the self-focusing effect enhances the trapping ability, whereas the self-defocusing effect leads to the splitting of the potential well at the focal plane and destabilizes the optical trap. Our results show good agreement with the reported experimental observations and provide theoretical support for capturing nonlinear optical particles.