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We study free-space coupling of optical fields to the whispering-gallery-mode resonators by employing self-accelerating beams orbiting a semicircle. The best coupling condition is obtained through theoretical analysis, in accord with the numerical results. Comparing with the conventional Gaussian-like beams, much enhanced coupling efficiency is achieved with such self-accelerating beams, particularly when a large numerical aperture of an optical system is used or a higher-order azimuthal mode is considered. Conditions with slight deviation from the ideal radius of self-accelerating beams are further discussed, aiming to realize an optimized high coupling efficiency.

We demonstrate an all-fiber single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) narrow-linewidth ring laser stabilized by a microsphere resonator and fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with a large continuous wavelength tuning range from 1540 nm to 1570 nm. In the experiment, stable lasing with a linewidth smaller than 5 kHz was obtained. The laser wavelength was linearly and continuously tuned in the range of 0.15 nm by increasing the pump power and discretely tuning with a step of 0.1 nm by stress-controlled FBGs. The tuning range of the proposed laser configuration was determined by the FBG, and the SLM state was ensured by the coupling between the few-mode tapered fiber and the microsphere, which was simpler in alignment than other ring lasers utilizing microresonators.

The d1-d2-d3-d4-d5 gradient-type spoof surface plasmons (SSP) grating was designed and found to exert an obvious effect on electric field localization. Two gradient-shaped planar ports were added to the bottom of this grating to form a gradient-type slotted SSP grating and achieve tight focusing and local electric field enhancement for a terahertz wave. The size of the focal spot was optimized to 0.01λ. The single-gradient-type slotted SSP grating was considered as a unit and arranged in one and two dimensions to generate a longitudinal focal line and square focal spots array. This did not only improve the resolution of terahertz imaging, but also simultaneously scan multiple focal spots to increase the speed of terahertz imaging. This work makes the manipulation of terahertz wave more flexible and efficient which has great potential in terahertz high-resolution near-field scanning imaging.

This paper theoretically investigated type-I optical parametric oscillations (OPOs) in lithium niobate (LN) ellipsoidal microcavities. We calculated the dependence of signal (idler) wavelength on temperature and found that multiple OPO channels are universal phenomenon in LN whispering gallery mode (WGM) microcavities. Additionally, We discovered OPOs in LN WGM microcavities, instead of having a lower-temperature limit, have an upper-temperature limit beyond which no OPO takes place. The dependence of the OPO tuning behaviors on the cavity geometry and pump wavelength was discussed systematically. Our investigations provide new conceptions for OPOs in LN WGM microcavities and may benefit the research on tunable laser sources or high-order entangled photon sources.

In this paper, the general formula for tightly focusing radially polarized beams (RPB) superposed with off-axis vortex arrays is derived based on Richard-Wolf vector diffraction theory. The off-axis vortex breaks the rotational symmetry of the energy flow along the axial direction and leads to the spatial redistribution of intensity within the focal plane. The dependence of the consequent focal intensity redistribution on the off-axis distance of vortices as well as the numerical aperture of the lens is theoretically studied. Based on this intriguing feature, generation of equilateral-polygon-like flat-top focus (EPFF) with a flat-top area on the level of sub-λ2 is realized. The demonstrated method provides new opportunities for focus shaping and holds great potentials in optical manipulation and laser fabrication.

In this paper, we report the fabrication of lithium niobate (LN) microdisk resonators on a pulsed-laser deposited polycrystalline LN film on a silicon substrate rather than commercially provide LN film on insulator. The quality factor of these polycrystalline LN microdisks were measured above 3.4×104 in the 1550-nm band. Second harmonic generation was demonstrated in the fabricated microresonators. Because the properties of homemade LN film can be easily tuned by doping various ions, LN devices on homemade LN film may have more flexible functions and broad applications.

The feasibility of the quasicritical coupling based on the high order scalar modes in tapered fiber was presented and discussed in detail theoretically. As its applications, the bandwidth evolution of the coupling process both in the Through port and the Drop port were also included in the calculations and demonstrated in the experiment. As a result, tunable bandwidth filters with stable insertion loss were realized by changing the gap between the few-mode tapered fiber and microcavity working under a state of quasicritical coupling. The bandwidth at the Through port is from 4.8 MHz to 327.1 MHz and that at the Drop port is from 15.3 MHz to 327.1 MHz, with the insertion loss fluctuation less than 10%. The combination of stable efficiency, narrow band, and bandwidth fine tunability may benefit its application in narrow-linewidth lasers, microwave photonics and nonlinear optics.

An all-fiber tunable laser was fabricated based on an acousto-optic tunable filter and a tapered fiber. The structure was of a high signal-to-noise ratio, therefore, no extra gain flattening was needed in the laser. In the experiment, the wavelength of the laser could be tuned from 1532.1 nm to 1570.4 nm with a 3-dB bandwidth of about 0.2 nm. Given enough nonlinearity in the laser cavity, it could also generate a sliding-frequency pulse train. The laser gains advantages of fast tuning and agility in pulse generation, and its simple structure is low cost for practical applications.

An in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer was proposed and fabricated, which was based on a sandwich-like etched single mode fiber driven by only one acoustic transducer. It succeeded the feature of fast tuning and would not introduce frequency shift in the transmission spectrum. Based on it, a fast tuning dual-wavelength laser with a two-wavelength spacing around 3.5 nm was proved with a tuning range of about 3.6 nm, covering wavelengths from 1561.6 nm to 1568.9 nm.

In this article, we reported self-pumped stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS)-induced fast light in a micro-resonator. The optically induced thermal effect in the micro-resonator will lead to a shift of the dispersion spectrum and make the SBS gain occurred in the anomalous dispersion regime. The group delay could be experimentally optimized from -91.0 microsecond to 2.6 microsecond by changing the modulation frequency in a microsphere with its diameter of 175 μm. The experimental results will benefit applications utilizing anomalous dispersion such as gyroscope.

An extended theory of the mutually modulated cross-gain modulation was developed to make it valid under considerable modulated wavenumber-interaction length product. Parametric analysis of the extended theory shows that, in the modulated probe beam out of the gain medium, the spectral sensitivity of the first harmonic wave is associated with its amplitude. The larger the sensitivity is, the smaller the amplitude will be. An effective method was provided to monitor and achieve high spectral sensitivity at a pre-selected frequency detuning in practice. The validity of the extended theory was confirmed by a sensing experiment in a piece of ∼10-km fiber with 10 kHz modulation frequency, in which a fast light propagation with a sensitivity of 0.592 mrad/kHz was achieved.

We report the experimental observation and theoretical analysis of thermo-optic effects in high-Q on-chip lithium-niobate (LN) microdisks. We find that the resonance transmission dip of a LN microdisk was broadened or compressed when the wavelength of the input laser was tuned to the shorter or the longer wavelengths at a wavelength sweeping speed of 4.8 pm/s. When the laser wavelength was shifted with a fast rate (4.8 nm/s), the tendencies of the change in the shape of the transmission dip reverse completely. An oscillatory behavior in the transmission spectra was also observed when the laser wavelength was slowly shifted to the shorter wavelengths. The experimental results were successfully explained by using a theoretical mode considering for a fast thermo-optic effect of LN crystal and a slow heat dissipation process from the LN microdisk to the substrate and surroundings that leads to the reduction of the resonance wavelength through the deformation of the LN microdisk.

We demonstrated superluminal light propagation with a negative group velocity of -5.7 m/s in a photorefractive Bi 12SiO20 crystal by using the dispersive phase coupling effect in a nondegenerate two-wave mixing process. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first experimental demonstration of superluminal light propagation at room temperature in solids by using a classical wave mixing technique. In addition, we showed the tunability of the group velocity of light between the negative (superluminal light) and the positive (subluminal light) by simply tuning the experimental conditions such as the frequency of the coupling beam, the incident intensity, and the externally applied electric fields.

We report the formation of a photonic molecule by vertically coupling two microdisk resonators. We show that mode splitting monotonously increases when one resonator vertically approaches the other. However, when the vertical distance is kept fixed and one resonator is moved horizontally with respect to the other, the strength of coupling and hence the mode splitting demonstrate an oscillatory behavior. This is attributed to the interference of light coupled into the resonators through multiple coupling regions as confirmed by a theoretical model based on coupled mode theory.

Lithium niobate (LN) microdisk resonators on a LN-silica-LN chip were fabricated using only conventional semiconductor fabrication processes. The quality factor of the LN resonator with a 39.6-μm radius and a 0.5-μm thickness is up to 1.19 × 10(6), which doubles the record of the quality factor 4.84 × 10(5) of LN resonators produced by microfabrication methods allowing batch production. Electro-optic modulation with an effective resonance-frequency tuning rate of 3.0 GHz/V was demonstrated in the fabricated LN microdisk resonator.

Based on the evanescent-field coupling between the cladding modes of two adjacent and parallel all-fiber acousto-optic tunable filters, tunable broadband light coupling with relatively uniform insertion loss of trapping spectrum was achieved. In the experiments, a wide spectral tuning range from 1490 nm to 1610 nm, covering the whole C- and L-band and parts of S-bands, was demonstrated with a wavelength tunability slope of -0.72 nm/kHz. The insertion loss of the trapping spectrum was uniform (around -5.0 dB, which can be improved with a longer evanescent-field coupling length) within the whole tuning spectral range. Such a light coupling structure would be useful in tunable broadband light coupler and broadband optical fiber add/drop multiplexer for applications in coarse wavelength division multiplexing systems.