A multi-direction bending sensor based on spot pattern demodulation of a dual-hole fiber (DHF) is proposed. By using the interference and scattering in a DHF, the related multidirectional variations can be captured by the optical field. Furthermore, the multi-directional bending characteristics of the fiber are quantitatively described by the pattern of the output light spot, achieving multidirectional bending sensing. In addition, considering the subtle changes in the deformation patterns over time, a convolutional neural network (CNN) model based on deep learning is introduced for accurate recognition and prediction of the bending angle. The experimental results show that the sensor can perceive different bending angles in four directions. These outstanding results indicate that the multi-directional bending sensor based on dual-hole interference pattern decoding has potential applications in multi-directional quantitative sensing and artificial intelligence perception.

With different interactions between material and femtosecond lasers, two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) waveguide couplers, whose separation distances are fabricated in z-cut lithium niobate crystal by femtosecond laser writing, are reported. Experimentally and numerically, it is shown from results that the guidance is only propagating along TM polarization due to the Type I modification and holds equal splitting ratios, which are the same as power splitters at 632.8 nm. The propagation losses of 2D and 3D waveguide couplers exhibit better transmission properties than those of the previously reported Type I Y-junction waveguide splitters.

We implement Monte Carlo-based parallel ray tracing to achieve quick irradiance evaluation for freeform lenses with non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) surfaces. We employ the inverse transform sampling method to sample rays uniformly from the Lambertian light source and adopt the analytical form of the B-spline basis function to achieve fast surface interpolation. When performing parallel calculations for the intersections between the rays and the NURBS surfaces, we propose a parameter transformation method to avoid the parameters escaping from the defined range in the iteration process. Simulation results of two complex picture-generating freeform lenses show that our method is fast and effective.

In this Letter, we presented a flexible omnidirectional reflective film made of polymer substrates and multiple alternating layers of two chalcogenide glasses for full-angle CO2 laser protection. The structure parameters of the device were simulated for theoretical prediction of best device structure. The reflector was fabricated by alternate thermal evaporation of two chalcogenide glasses with large refractive index contrast. The reflectivity was greater than 78% at 10.6 µm. The flexible reflective film can provide an effective solution for full-angle CO2 laser protection of the moving targets, such as laser operators and mobile optical components, with potential applications for wearable laser protective clothing.

Depressed cladding waveguides are fabricated in Pr:LiYF₄ (YLF) crystal by femtosecond laser inscription following a helical scheme. With the optimized parameters, the propagation loss of the waveguide is around 0.12 dB/cm for multimode guiding. Under optical pumping with InGaN laser diodes at 444 nm, efficient waveguide lasers in the orange around 604 nm (π-polarized) are achieved with minimum lasing threshold of 119.8 mW, maximum slope efficiency of 16.6%, and maximum output power of 120.6 mW. Benefiting from their optimized performances, the waveguides produced in this work are promising for applications as compact orange laser sources.

Plasmonics could provide compact and powerful solutions for manipulating light in deep-subwavelength dimensions, which is promising for a great range of nanophotonic technologies such as plasmonic rulers and sensors. However, the effective area of enhanced localized field induced by surface plasmon polaritons is typically restricted to the structural boundaries. In this work, we propose a method to generate high quality-factor extended electromagnetic fields via hybridizing the super-radiant state and the quasi bound state in the continuum of graphene metasurfaces. The coupling interaction involved operates as a three-level system with multiple sharp resonances immune to the polarization, which holds great promise for developing nanodevices with high sensing capacity in two dimensions.

The microresonator-based soliton microcomb has shown a promising future in many applications. In this work, we report the fabrication of high quality (Q) Si3N4 microring resonators for soliton microcomb generation. By developing the fabrication process with crack isolation trenches and annealing, we can deposit thick stoichiometric Si3N4 film of 800 nm without cracks in the central area. The highest intrinsic Q of the Si3N4 microring obtained in our experiments is about 6×106, corresponding to a propagation loss as low as 0.058 dBm/cm. With such a high Q film, we fabricate microrings with the anomalous dispersion and demonstrate the generation of soliton microcombs with 100 mW on-chip pump power, with an optical parametric oscillation threshold of only 13.4 mW. Our Si3N4 integrated chip provides an ideal platform for researches and applications of nonlinear photonics and integrated photonics.

In order to realize the ultrastrong absorption of graphene with electrical modulation properties, we designed a composite structure of graphene and parity-time (PT) symmetry photonic crystal, which is achieved by placing the graphene layer on the top layer of the PT symmetry photonic crystal. In this paper, the absorption properties of graphene and the electrical modulating properties of the structure were theoretically analyzed based on the transfer matrix method. The result shows that the proposed structure can achieve the absorption of 31.5 dB for the communication wavelength of 1550 nm; meanwhile, by setting the electric field intensity to ±0.02V/nm, the absorption of graphene can be largely modulated to realize an electrically switchable effect, the modulation depth of graphene absorption can reach nearly 100%, and the operation speed is also close to 8.171 GHz. This investigation provides a novel approach to design graphene-based optoelectronic devices and optical communication devices.

It is well known that cats have fascinating eyes with various colors, such as green, blue, and brown. In addition, they possess strong night vision ability, which can distinguish things clearly even in a poor light environment. These drive us to reveal the secrets behind them. In fact, cats’ eyes can be considered as special lenses (which we would like to mimic by using a Luneburg lens). We make an analysis of the role of photonic crystals behind the lens and demonstrate that the integration of photonic crystals into Luneburg lens can be regarded as a retroreflector and greatly improve the light focusing intensity of the lens in a broad band of frequencies. This wonderful bioinspired phenomenon is expected to design more interesting and serviceable devices by combining photonic crystals with transformation optics.

We report the observation of second order Bragg resonance (2nd-OBG) produced by tilted fiber gratings (TFGs) fabricated using phase mask UV inscription. The theoretical analysis has revealed that the generation of high order Bragg resonance of gratings is induced by a square-shape refractive index profile, which is caused by over-saturated UV exposure. In the experiment, we have studied the TFGs with different tilt angles under over-saturated UV exposure, in which all gratings have showed the 2nd-OBR, and the larger tilt angle of the grating has the stronger 2nd-OBR. When the tilt angle of the grating is ∼45°, the Bragg resonance exhibits very strong polarization dependence, because the 2nd-OBR wavelength is located within the polarizing bandwidth of 45° TFG. Finally, we have demonstrated an erbium-doped fiber laser with >99.9% degree of polarization, and, by applying mechanical stretching on the grating, a wavelength tunable laser output has been achieved. The output laser shows ∼0.2dB amplitude variation within 1 h continuous monitoring of the laser.