Search

In biomedical optics, the mean fluence rate of photons, assessed in a sub-volume of a propagating medium, is classically obtained in Monte Carlo simulations by taking into account the power deposited by the absorbed photons in the sub-volume. In the present contribution, we propose and analytically demonstrate an alternative method based on the assessment of the mean pathlength traveled by all the photons inside the sub-volume. Few practical examples of its applications are given. This method has the advantage of improving, in many cases, the statistics and the convergence of the Monte Carlo simulations. Further, it also works when the absorption coefficient is nil and for a non-constant spatial distribution of the absorption coefficient inside the sub-volume. The proposed approach is a re-visitation of a well-known method applied in radiation and nuclear physics in the context of radiative transfer, where it can be derived in a more natural manner.

Code verification is an unavoidable step prior to using a Monte Carlo (MC) code. Indeed, in biomedical optics, a widespread verification procedure for MC codes is still missing. Analytical benchmarks that can be easily used for the verification of different MC routines offer an important resource.We aim to provide a two-step verification procedure for MC codes enabling the two main tasks of an MC simulator: (1) the generation of photons' trajectories and (2) the intersections of trajectories with boundaries separating the regions with different optical properties. The proposed method is purely based on elementary analytical benchmarks, therefore, the correctness of an MC code can be assessed with a one-sample t-test.The two-step verification is based on the following two analytical benchmarks: (1) the exact analytical formulas for the statistical moments of the spatial coordinates where the scattering events occur in an infinite medium and (2) the exact invariant solutions of the radiative transfer equation for radiance, fluence rate, and mean path length in media subjected to a Lambertian illumination.We carried out a wide set of comparisons between MC results and the two analytical benchmarks for a wide range of optical properties (from non-scattering to highly scattering media, with different types of scattering functions) in an infinite non-absorbing medium (step 1) and in a non-absorbing slab (step 2). The deviations between MC results and exact analytical values are usually within two standard errors (i.e., t-tests not rejected at a 5% level of significance). The comparisons show that the accuracy of the verification increases with the number of simulated trajectories so that, in principle, an arbitrary accuracy can be obtained.Given the simplicity of the verification method proposed, we envision that it can be widely used in the field of biomedical optics.

In this paper we deal with the influence on absorption of the diffusive media characteristics framing the problem in connection with the invariance property (IP) of the mean path length. We show that the IP is an important issue that regulates but not prevent the search of absorption maximization by scattering characteristics. We find that the scattering may increase the absorption or even be detrimental, depending on the geometry of the medium and the conditions of its illumination.

The research in optical sensors has been largely encouraged by the demand for low-cost and less or non-invasive new detection strategies. The invention of the random laser has opened a new frontier in optics, providing also the opportunity to explore new possibilities in the field of sensing, besides several different and peculiar phenomena. The main advantage in exploiting the physical principle of the random laser in optical sensors is due to the presence of the stimulated emission mechanism, which allows amplification and spectral modification of the signal. Here, we present a step forward in the exploitation of this optical phenomenon by a revisitation of a previous experimental setup, as well as the measurement method, in particular to mitigate the instability of the results due to shot-to-shot pump energy fluctuations. In particular, the main novelties of the setup are the use of optical fibers, a reference sensor, and a peristaltic pump. These improvements are devoted to: eliminating optical beam alignment issues; improving portability; mitigating the variation in pump energy and gain medium performances over time; realizing an easy and rapid change of the sensed medium. The results showed that such a setup can be considered a prototype for a portable device for directly measuring the scattering of liquid samples, without resorting to complicated numerical or analytic inversion procedures of the measured data, once the suitable calibration of the system is performed.

In this work, special invariance properties of a class of exact solutions of the radiative transfer equation (RTE) pertaining to a uniform Lambertian illumination of any non-absorbing homogeneous and inhomogeneous volume are presented and discussed. This class of solutions of the RTE traces a reference ground under which light propagation can be studied in a special simplified regime. Despite the difficulties to obtain general solutions of the radiative transfer equation, the condition of Lambertian illumination determines a unique regime of photon transport where quite easy and simple invariant solutions can be obtained in all generality for homogeneous and inhomogeneous geometries. These solutions are invariant both with respect to the geometry (size and shape of the volume) and with respect to the scattering properties, i.e. scattering coefficient, scattering function and homogeneity of the considered domain. Another evident advantage of these solutions is that they are exact solutions known with arbitrary precision and can thus be used as reference standard for photon migration studies.

Optical sensing is a very important method for investigating different kinds of samples. Recently, we proposed a new kind of optical sensor based on random lasing [ Sci. Rep.6, 35225 (2016)], that couples the advantages of stimulated emission in detecting small variations on scattering properties of a sensed material, to the needs of no alteration of the sample under investigation. Here, we present a method to achieve a quantitative measurement of the scattering properties of a material. The results on samples of calibrated microspheres show a dependence of the peak intensity of the emission spectrum on the transport mean free path of the light within the sample, whatever the dimension (down to ≈100 nm of particle diameter) and the concentration of scatterers dispersed in the sensed material. A direct and fast measurement of the scattering properties is obtained by calibration with a well-known and inexpensive reference medium.

We report experimental results on the propagation temporal characteristics of the precursor in an inhomogeneous sample. The transient behavior of a step-like pulse in an atomic hot medium is two orders of magnitude faster than the radiative broadened case up to now presented in the literature. Moreover, we show the dependence on the resonant or nonresonant condition. Numerical simulations compare favorable to experimental results.

A set of time-domain analytical forward solvers for Raman signals detected from homogeneous diffusive media is presented. The time-domain solvers have been developed for two geometries: the parallelepiped and the finite cylinder. The potential presence of a background fluorescence emission, contaminating the Raman signal, has also been taken into account. All the solvers have been obtained as solutions of the time dependent diffusion equation. The validation of the solvers has been performed by means of comparisons with the results of "gold standard" Monte Carlo simulations. These forward solvers provide an accurate tool to explore the information content encoded in the time-resolved Raman measurements.

We show how the velocity of an optical pulse propagating through a dispersive medium depends on the pulse duration. A transition from the group velocity for long pulses to the in-vacuum velocity for short pulses is shown both in experimental results and in theoretical predictions. The temporal duration of the experimental pulses are 150 ps and 3.5 ns. A description of the pulse propagation in terms of the time “center of mass” of the energy flow allows an intuitive overview of the results.

We present an experimental and theoretical investigation of Ramsey-type interference fringes using high-order harmonic generation. The ninth harmonic (lambda = 88nm) of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser was used to excite a pair of autoionizing states of krypton. The outcome of the ionization process, detected by an ion-mass spectrometer, shows the characteristic quantum interference pattern. The behavior of the fringe contrast was interpreted on the basis of a simple analytical model, which reproduced well the experimental results without any free parameter. Finally, we also present a proposal for a similar experiment to be performed on high-lying bound state of atomic argon, with the aim of achieving even higher resolving power.

We present a laser source with several desirable characteristics, such as tunable wavelength in the near infrared, single-longitudinal-mode emission and variable pulse temporal duration in the nanosecond regime. The laser is based on an injection-seeded Titanium-doped-sapphire ring cavity. Our experiments show how the pulse duration can be varied in a controllable fashion either by changing the cavity length or by changing the pump energy. We present a theoretical model which successfully reproduces the experimental results by treating the operation of this type of laser as a gain-switching technique. As far as the stabilization of the laser cavity, we also present a novel solution involving the use of an avalanche photodiode.

We built and characterized a high-energy, injection-seeded, single-longitudinal-mode pulsed titanium-doped-sapphire laser with tuneable wavelength in the near-infrared and variable pulse temporal duration in the nanosecond regime. We show experimentally how the pulse duration can be easily varied either by changing the cavity length or by changing the pump energy. We successfully interpreted these results on the basis of a theoretical model which treats the operation of this type of laser as a gain-switching technique. Also, as far as the stabilization of the laser cavity, compared to the traditional techniques we employed a novel simplified solution involving the use of an avalanche photodiode.

We present a study of the temporal compression of nanosecond laser pulses resulting from the coherent control peculiarities of the propagation dynamics in a regime of electromagnetically induced transparency. We describe the general theoretical framework and discuss the crucial conditions required in order to experimentally realize such a temporal compression scheme. A proof-of-concept experimental realization of a scheme of this type in a sample of hot sodium vapors is currently being implemented: we describe in detail the experimental setup designed for this purpose.

We propose the use of focusing devices based on Fresnel diffraction (such as a Fresnel zoneplate) as a means to enhance the efficiency of nonlinear-optical processes starting from radiation in the ultraviolet region, where ordinary lenses cannot be used. We present experimental results of a proof-of-concept experiment involving the efficient generation of second-and third-harmonic laser radiation in the visible range. An enhancement of a factor 6 in the third-harmonic yield is obtained by simply limiting the laser beam with a circular aperture. Higher enhancement factors (up to 16) are obtained using a Fresnel zoneplate. The experimental findings are in good agreement with the results of a simple theoretical analysis.

In this work, we have tested the optimal estimation (OE) algorithm for the reconstruction of the optical properties of a two-layered liquid tissue phantom from time-resolved single-distance measurements. The OE allows a priori information, in particular on the range of variation of fit parameters, to be included. The purpose of the present investigations was to compare the performance of OE with the Levenberg–Marquardt method for a geometry and real experimental conditions typically used to reconstruct the optical properties of biological tissues such as muscle and brain. The absorption coefficient of the layers was varied in a range of values typical for biological tissues. The reconstructions performed demonstrate the substantial improvements achievable with the OE provided a priori information is available. We note the extreme reliability, robustness, and accuracy of the retrieved absorption coefficient of the second layer obtained with the OE that was found for up to six fit parameters, with an error in the retrieved values of less than 10%. A priori information on fit parameters and fixed forward model parameters clearly improves robustness and accuracy of the inversion procedure.

We developed an ultra-stable and accurately-controllable Michelson interferometer to be used in a deeply unbalanced arm configuration for split-pulse XUV Ramsey-type spectroscopy with high-order laser harmonics. The implemented active and passive stabilization systems allow one to reach instabilities in the nanometer range over meters of relative optical path differences. Producing precisely delayed pairs of pump pulses will generate XUV harmonic pulses that may significantly improve the achievable spectral resolution and the precision of absolute frequency measurements in the XUV.

Unlike a conventional optical cavity laser, a random laser system is generally characterized by a nondirectional output emission. In this work we report an experimental and theoretical study on the angular properties of the random laser emission and its dependence on the diffusive properties of the sample and the spatial gain profile, showing the possibility of controlling it by the total amount of available energy. We show that the directional characteristics are associated with the statistical regime of fluctuations in the emission spectrum and, in particular, with a L\'evy statistical regime. A model based on a phase-insensitive feedback mechanism has been used in order to explain the experimental data and two different L\'evy subregimes have been identified.

We present a study of temporal compression resulting from the coherent control peculiarities of electromagnetically induced transparency propagation dynamics. We discuss the crucial conditions required to accomplish temporal compression in an experiment with a sample of hot atoms.

We present a Ramsey technique using high-order harmonics for high-resolution atomic spectroscopy in the extreme ultraviolet. Pairs of time-delayed and phase-coherent harmonic pulses generated by the interaction of ultrashort and intense laser pulses with a noble gas are used to study excited states of krypton.

The effect of temporal coherent control on the third harmonic generation into the continuum of ionization of an atomic system is studied by means of a pair of identical laser pulses in a two-photon resonant transition. The process shows quantum interference, producing deep modulation of the harmonic intensity. The transition from the resonant to the non resonant case is also discussed.

In this paper, we present an experimental setup to study photoionization of atoms and molecules using the high-order harmonic radiation generated by a highly non-linear process. We report on the characteristics of this table-top experimental apparatus showing also the results of the photoionization of krypton gas, by the use of the ninth order harmonic of fs Ti : S laser, observed both in the electron spectrum and in the mass spectrum.

The depth sensitivity functions for AC amplitude, phase (PH) and DC intensity signals have been obtained in the frequency domain (where the source amplitude is modulated at radio-frequencies) by making use of analytical solutions of the photon diffusion equation in an infinite slab geometry. Furthermore, solutions for the relative contrast of AC, PH and DC signals when a totally absorbing plane is placed at a fixed depth of the slab have also been obtained. The solutions have been validated by comparisons with gold standard Monte Carlo simulations. The obtained results show that the AC signal, for modulation frequencies < 200 MHz, has a depth sensitivity with similar characteristics to that of the continuous-wave (CW) domain (source modulation frequency of zero). Thus, the depth probed by such a signal can be estimated by using the formula of penetration depth for the CW domain (Sci. Rep. 6, 27057 (2016)27256988). However, the PH signal has a different behavior compared to the CW domain, showing a larger depth sensitivity at shallow depths and a less steep relative contrast as a function of depth. These results mark a clear difference in term of depth sensitivity between AC and PH signals, and highlight the complexity of the estimation of the actual depth probed in tissue spectroscopy.

We report the results of measurements aimed to check the phase lock of time-delayed, collinear, harmonic pulses and to verify the possibility of performing Ramsey-like spectroscopy in the XUV. We demonstrate that for harmonics of medium order and for the peak intensities available with our laser system, the generation of collinear phase-locked harmonic pulses is indeed possible and that such pulses can be used to achieve high-resolution spectroscopy in the short-wavelength region.

We report on a two-photon resonant three-photon ionisation experiment performed on atomic barium with a sequence of two identical not transform-limited laser pulses in the weak field regime. We show that our results, obtained by a multimode nanosecond laser source, can be reproduced theoretically by using much shorter transform-limited pulses with the same spectral bandwidth.

We present the measurement of electron angular distributions in the three-photon non-resonant ionization of xenon (with = 266 nm) above the P1/2 and P3/2 thresholds. Our results for the P3/2 threshold are compatible with previous measurements. The sensitivity of our set-up allowed us to measure the angular distribution of the P1/2 threshold and to resolve unobserved features of P3/2 continua. A measurement of the ionization branching ratio has also been performed. The experimental results show discrepancies with theoretical calculations reported in the literature.

The approach of time-delay spectroscopy is proposed as a tool for the study of high-lying autoionizing states through fast laser sources.

We study a photoionization process where the branching ratio of the photoproducts is actively modulated by the presence of laser induced continuum structures in a two continua model. This extension is suitable for an analysis of different coherent control processes in degenerate continua such as photoionization in atoms and molecules or photodissociation in molecules. The peculiar characteristics of this control scheme, already used in recent experiments, are analysed for different regimes of intensity of the lasers. A comparison with other schemes of coherent control is also presented.

We present a theoretical and experimental study aimed at characterizing statistical regimes in a random laser. Both the theoretical simulations and the experimental results show the possibility of three region of fluctuations increasing the pumping energy. An initial Gaussian regime is followed by a L\'evy statistics and Gaussian statistic is recovered again for high pump pulse energy. These different statistical regimes are possible in a weakly diffusive active medium, while the region of L\'evy statistics disappears when the medium is strongly diffusive presenting always a Gaussian regime with smooth emission spectrum. Experiments and theory agree in identification of the key parameters determining the statistical regimes of the random laser.

We present an experimental investigation of the effect of incoherent processes on a laser-induced continuum structure. Accurate measurements of the resonance profile, performed in a weak-field regime by the polarization technique, have allowed a quantitative study of the effect of a finite laser bandwidth and of the collisional self-broadening on the line shape.

The spectral broadening of the two-photon resonant, three-photon ionisation is investigated in sodium. A simple model, involving Bloch-type equations, is found to compare favourably with the experimental results. The effect of power broadening combines with both the finite laser bandwidth and the lifetime broadening, making the selectivity of the ionisation process critically dependent on the laser monochromaticity.

We report an experimental study of a laser-induced resonance in the continuum of sodium, performed by measuring the modified atomic susceptibility. The sensitivity of the set-up has allowed the observation of the induced structure in conditions of relatively weak intensity of the dressing laser field, where the line shape is independent of the field amplitude and the comparison with theory is strict and direct. We have found a good agreement with theoretical predictions and measured the Fano parameter of the resonance.

We present an experimental study of temporal retardation combined with temporal compression of weak laser pulses. The effect is optically controlled by the presence of another light pulse, although no coherent control is required. Probe pulse delays up to 13 ns and maximum compression factor of 3 were observed using few-ns-long laser pulses. We also present a theoretical model of pulse propagation that is able to reproduce the experimental results with fairly good accuracy.

We present an experimental and theoretical investigation, performed on hot sodium atoms in a ladder scheme, showing the control of the absorption and of the propagation velocity of a probe light pulse with a spectral bandwidth as large as 1.8 GHz. The predictions of the theoretical model compare favorably with the experimental results.

We present a theoretical and experimental study on the possibility of spectral manipulation of weak probe-laser pulses in the presence of dynamical electromagnetically induced transparency. We predict a spectral enlargement or narrowing process depending on whether the probe-laser pulse is overlapped by the rising or the falling edge of the coupling pulse, respectively. The results of an experiment in sodium atomic vapors confirm the theoretical predictions.

Ramsey-like techniques, based on the coherent excitation of a sample by delayed and phase-correlated pulses, are promising tools for high-precision spectroscopic tests of QED in the extreme-ultraviolet (xuv) spectral region, but currently suffer experimental limitations related to long acquisition times and critical stability issues. Here we propose a random subsampling approach to Ramsey spectroscopy that, by allowing experimentalists to reach a given spectral resolution goal in a fraction of the usual acquisition time, leads to substantial improvements in high-resolution spectroscopy and may open the way to a widespread application of Ramsey-like techniques to precision measurements in the xuv spectral region.

A split-pulse spectrometer based on pairs of time-delayed femtosecond pulses can give access to accurate frequency measurements in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectral domain. We demonstrate this approach by measuring the absolute frequency of a single-XUV-photon transition to a bound state of atomic argon excited with the ninth harmonic of an amplified Ti:sapphire laser. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America

We present an experimental study of laser-induced continuum structure in cesium, performed by observing the birefringence and dichroism induced in the atomic medium by a circularly polarized laser embedding the 8[ital s] [sup 2][ital S][sub 1/2] state into the ionization continuum. The optimization of the sensitivity for the detection of the polarization rotation has allowed a high-accuracy measurement of the resonance profile. A quantitative comparison with theoretical predictions, taking into account the hyperfine structure of atomic levels, shows a clear evidence of a line-broadening effect due to cesium resonant collisions.

We report the experimental observation of an optically controllable shift of the central frequency of a laser pulse, using a scheme based on dynamical electromagnetically induced transparency. This is evidence of frequency shift controllable by a coherent process. Original theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental data.

A phenomenon occurring in a near-resonant collision between two dissimilar atoms in the presence of a laser field is described. Owing to a collision-induced coherence, the adiabatic collisional dressed states are found to behave as superradiant and subradiant Dicke states, giving rise to a marked asymmetry in the far wings of the absorption line shape.

We describe a new scheme suitable for the study of strong-field effects on the laser-induced collisional energytransfer process. The use of two independently tuned radiation fields, to induce the interatomic transition and to modify the energy levels, is found to give rise to a splitting of the excitation spectrum peak, similar to the Autler-Townes doublet. Owing to the resonant coupling, an observable splitting of a few inverse centimeters can be induced by a dressing laser intensity of the order of 10 MW/cm(2).

In this letter we report the first experimental observation of temporal delay control of large-spectral-bandwidth multimode laser pulses by means of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We achieved controllable retardation with limited temporal distortion of optical pulses with an input spectral bandwidth of 3.3 GHz. The experimental results compare favorably with theoretical predictions., Submitted to Optics Letters (January 2009)

We performed an experimental and theoretical investigation of Ramsey-type spectroscopy in conjunction with high-order-harmonic generation. The ninth harmonic $(\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\simeq}88\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm})$ of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser was used to excite a pair of autoionizing states of krypton. The outcome of the ionization process, detected by an ion-mass spectrometer, shows the characteristic quantum interference pattern. The behavior of the fringe contrast was interpreted on the basis of a simple analytical model, which reproduced well the experimental results without any free parameter.

We have studied the temporal compression of laser pulses occurring in a scheme based on the coherent control peculiarities of electromagnetically induced transparency. This work extends earlier model studies, including the effect of Doppler broadening in a real hot medium. For definiteness and consistency of the atomic parameters employed, we have treated a scheme in argon. In this way, we establish a realistic model that enables us to predict quantitatively the performance of laser pulse compression experiments.

Statistical fluctuations of the light emitted from amplifying random media are studied theoretically and numerically. The characteristic scales of the diffusive motion of light lead to Gaussian or power-law (Levy) distributed fluctuations depending on external control parameters. In the Levy regime, the output pulse is highly irregular leading to huge deviations from a mean--field description. Monte Carlo simulations of a simplified model which includes the population of the medium, demonstrate the two statistical regimes and provide a comparison with dynamical rate equations. Different statistics of the fluctuations helps to explain recent experimental observations reported in the literature., Revised version, resubmitted to Physical Review A

We present experimental results of enhanced second- and third-harmonic generation efficiency from Fresnel-lensing effects. We obtained enhancement by a factor of 6 in the third-harmonic yield by simply limiting the laser beam with an iris. Higher enhancement factors (up to 16) were obtained with a Fresnel zone plate. The experimental findings are in good agreement with the results of a simple theoretical analysis.

In this Comment we deal with a recent study of Ying Wu et al. [Phys. Rev. A 67, 013811 (2003)] on a four-wave mixing process. We show that the authors' claim, that a large enhancement of the generation efficiency can be obtained by suppression of photon absorption from electromagnetically induced transparency, is not correct.

We present a theoretical study of temporal compression of a short-wavelength laser pulse predicted in a real, Doppler-broadened, atomic system. The compression is the result of the coherent control peculiarities of electromagnetically induced transparency-propagation dynamics. Numerical results are reported and discussed, showing a temporal compression of 2 orders of magnitude (from 10 ns to 100 ps) of a 106.7-nm laser pulse in argon atoms at room temperature.