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Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) via electrostrictive force is a fundamental interaction between light and sound which limits the power in conventional optical fibers. The emergence of optical microfibers with subwavelength diameter, ultralight mass and an intense light field, provides a new platform for photon–phonon coupling, resulting in the radiation pressure mediated contribution of SBS. This study examines the optomechanical system in cylindrical coordinates, reveals the theoretically radiation pressure induced analogous, and demonstrates contrary effect compared with electrostrictive force in solid or hollow silica microfibers. The finding shows that the photon-phonon coupling, which is related to SBS, can be suppressed in a solid microfiber, and even be completely cancelled in a hollow microfiber.

The optical nonlinearity of microfibers and nanofibers is of great importance due to a variety of applications like supercontinuum generation, harmonic generation and optical switching. We carefully examine the Lorentz optical force in silica OMNFs and show that optomechanical effect contributes significantly to the value of the nonlinear index.

The refractive indices of ordinary and extraordinary waves (no and ne) of congruent LiNbO3 (CLN) in the terahertz (THz) band are measured at different temperatures. Extended Cauchy equations are proposed to describe the temperature- and frequency-dependent refractive indices. With less than 0.5% deviation, both no and ne can be obtained accurately. The values of no and ne are ~7 and ~5.4, respectively, which are much larger than those in the visible band. The extremely high birefringence (~1.6) may lead to some interesting applications of linear, electro-optic, and nonlinear optical effects of CLN. As an example, true zero-order THz waveplates (WPs) could be obtained with considerable low loss based on thin CLN wafers. The working frequency can be tuned by changing the environmental temperature. Moreover, wide bandwidth achromatic THz WPs were also achievable by stacking four CLN wafers together with precise orientation control.

H7N9 influenza is a new emerging infection and has high mortality. Both chest radiography and computed tomography (CT) had some limitations in assessing such patients. We performed daily lung ultrasound in a patient with H7N9 influenza. Lung ultrasound and lung ultrasound score showed high consistency with CT and the progression of pneumonia. Ultrasound can be adjutant to chest radiography and CT in caring for patients with H7N9 influenza.