A recent paper by Naya et al. (Opt. Commun. 124 (1996) 9) presented high-resolution imaging results obtained in the sub-100-nm range with a collection-mode near-field optical microscope. The images exhibit apparent polarization dependence. A simple modeling and calculation based on the experiment, using a semi-microscopic and perturbative approach, showed that the far-field-propagating signal intensity converted from the near-field can qualitatively explain the polarization dependence of the experiment if the taper angle of the probe tip is taken into account.

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We have measured surface photoluminescence properties of Si-doped bulk GaAs using a near-field scanning optical microscope. An apertured fiber probe tip is used as an emitter of excitation laser as well as a collector of luminescence from GaAs. Due to the Fabry-Perot etalon effect, the excitation laser is reflected or transmitted with an oscillation period of λ_He-Ne/2 as the gap between the tip and the GaAs surface varies. The luminescence from GaAs also varies with an oscillation period of λ_GaAs/2 due to the same etalon effect. Therefore, the intensity of luminescence light collected by the probe tip shows a beating between two oscillations of different periods. When the probe approaches the GaAs surface, the collected luminescence intensity increases due to tunneling of evanescent wave. On the other hand, when we collect the luminescence using a lens, the intensity also increases due to similar coupling of evanescent wave into propagating wave in spite of a shadowing effect of the wide metal coating.

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We make up a novel and simple theory for near field and near-field optical microscopy (NOM). Our theory is composed of two parts. The first is a formulation to calculate the scattered near field of light by a small dielectric. We state that a wavenumber-vector-independent picture appears in the theory of the near field, and we find that this is expressed by an Ampere-like law for the displacement vector field. The second part is a formulation of field intensity for far field observation and near field observation from a unified point of view. We suggest a theoretical formula for the field intensity corresponding to the NOM image and demonstrate how to understand the relation between the near field and this image.

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We report the novel mathematical description of the vector mode functions which provide a useful basis for theoretical treatment of near-field optical microscope and related phenomena. The vector planar, spherical, and cylindrical mode functions and transforms are formulated on the bases of spatial rotational functions and angular spectrum representations. It is demonstrated that the formulation provides the bases to evaluate the range and locality of optical near-field interaction of sub-wavelength sized matter with an example of electric dipole interaction.

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We propose an illumination mode near-field optical microscope operated under an optical feedback for imaging biological specimens in their natural environment. For feedback control, rapidly varying evanescent signal has been generated over the sample surface. It has been found that evanescent signal can be profitably used as a control signal by utilizing its sample feature dependent discrimination sensitivity. Neurons have been successfully observed both in air and in liquid with a resolution well beyond the diffraction limit.

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A patent for the new photon scanning tunneling microscopy (PSTM) is described in this paper, called the Tunneling Scanning Image Separation Method and Instrument. We call the new instrument described here the Image Separated-PSTM (IS-PSTM). There may be some false image information with the first generation PSTM in the mixed image of the topography and refractive index of a general optical sample. With this new method and instrument we can eliminate this false image information and separate the surface topography image and the distribution image of varying refractive indices of a general optical sample from a mixed image of PSTM.

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We have developed a system of scanning near-field optical/atomic force microscopy (SNOM/AFM) for fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy of biomaterials in air and liquid. SNOM/AFM uses a bent optical fiber simultaneously as a dynamic force AFM cantilever and a SNOM probe. Optical resolution of SNOM images shows about 50 nm in an illumination mode for a standard sample of a patterned chromium layer of 20 nm thickness on a quartz glass plate. The SNOM/AFM system contains a photon counting system and polychrometer/ICCD (intensified charge coupled device) system for observation of the fluorescence image and spectrograph of micro areas, respectively. The gene coding to green fluorescence protein (GFP) was cloned in recombinant Escherichia coli (E. coli). Topography, fluorescence image and spectrograph of recombinant E. coli by SNOM/AFM showed a difference in fluorescence in individual E. coli. Fluorescence activity of GFP can thus be used as a convenient indicator of transformation. SNOM/AFM is also applicable to observe immobilized E. coli on a glass plate in water with a liquid chamber and may allow the viewing of observation of floating organisms.

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A dynamic optical interconnection system is experimented by a holographic crossbar. The pixelated multi-phase grating array displayed on spatial light modulator generated a beam array onto an arbitrary position with high efficiency in the output plane. The system operates at high speed as a free-space optical switch.

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To eliminate the temperature dependence of narrow-band filter, a three-dimensional athermal waveguide of which optical path length is independent of temperature was developed at 1.3 μm wavelength. The temperature coefficient of the refractive index of films made of glass materials was measured at this wavelength, and a strip-loaded athermal waveguide was designed using a scalar finite element method. The temperature coefficient of optical path length was successfully decreased to 9.650^-9[/K] (0.1% of the conventional waveguide).

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The optimal structure of a laser diode monolithically integrated with a thickness-tapered beam expander waveguide is demonstrated by analyzing the relationship between fiber coupling efficiencies and radiation losses. It is also found that mode conversion loss is lowered in a ridge waveguide structure than in a buried hetero structure under equivalent fiber coupling. A fabricated ridge waveguide device based on this design shows threshold current as low as 16 mA and narrow beam divergences of 13and 12

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For an ongoing project involving ocean color and temperature scanner and polarization and directionary of the earth's reflectance onboard the advanced earth observing satellite, the radiance and degree of polarization of atmospheric aerosols were measured with a portable photopolarimeter (FPR2000) at wavelengths of 0.559, 0.760 and 0.811 μm. The observations were undertaken over the ocean around Shikoku Island of Japan on clear days with few clouds in July, 1995. The measurements were compared with simulations of polarization fields. This work also describes retrieval algorithms for aerosols. It is shown that: (1) the radiance decreases with wavelength, (2) oceanic type aerosols are available to evaluate the degree of polarization over the Pacific Ocean, and (3) polarization data in the Seto Inland Sea are explained by a water-soluble aerosol model.

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The intensity of light scattered by a submicron particle on a film-coated semiconductor substrate is calculated as a function of the thickness of the film using the coupled-dipole method. The result of calculation reproduces the experimentally observed features, i.e., the oscillatory dependence of the scattering intensity on the thickness and the enhancement of the scattering intensity for very thin films. The enhancement is reproduced only when the dipole-dipole interaction between the particle and the substrate is included in the calculation. Using the method we propose, the scattering intensity can be calculated for an arbitrary size and shape of particle on an arbitrary thickness of film.

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This paper describes the peak shift in a Gaussian-like spectrum caused by the effects of spatial coherence and dispersive diffraction. The peak shift depends greatly on the ratio of the coherence area A_c produced by a primary incoherent source to the area πρ² of a circular aperture in the secondary source plane. The measured results are in reasonably good agreement with the numerical computational results. The peak shift is caused by a mixture of spatial coherence and dispersive diffraction in the region 0<A_c/πρ²<1. In the coherent limit A_c/πρ²→∞, dispersive diffraction is most dominant and results in the maximum peak shift, whereas in the incoherent limit A_c/πρ²~0 no spectral change takes place.

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A demand for the dynamic range of input images in the binary subtracted joint transform correlator was studied by computer simulations using input scenes containing multiple halftone images of human faces. To realize good discriminability the correlator requires use of an image-conversion subsystem with a dynamic range larger than 50:1 and 16:1 in amplitude for input scenes having (1) a reference image and many target images and (2) a target image and many reference images, respectively.

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A generalized design method for an optical filter consisting of a dielectric multilayer structure is proposed to get an arbitrary profile of the wavelength dispersion of reflectivity or transmittance. The basic concept of the method lies in the fact that the wavelength dispersion of the reflectivity is approximately determined by taking the inverse Fourier transformation of the refractive index profile of the multilayer structure. Construction of a filter with only three different values of refractive index is described.

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180mode phased array lasers with multiple stripes were systematically investigated for high-power, single lateral mode operation. Phased array lasers with a conventional loss guide structure were fabricated for 180mode operation because the structure allowed the threshold gain of 180mode to become smallest by introducing optical loss between stripes and outside the stripe region. It showed complete single lateral mode operation under pulsed condition. However, under continuous wave operation, phase-uncoupling occurred at the edge emitters as a result of the temperature distribution inside the stripe region. This was confirmed both experimentally and theoretically. To minimise the temperature distribution, dummy stripes were introduced outside the stripe region. The current in the dummy stripes did not cause lasing, but did increase the temperature of the edge stripes, which improved the thermal distribution inside the stripe region. As a result, complete single lateral 180mode operation under continuous wave operation was attained.

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There is a need for an intense, unmodulated single-frequency stabilized laser light that guarantees absolute optical frequency in a rapid laser calibration or an ultra-high resolution interferometer. To obtain such a light, we developed a new laser system that uses an intermittent frequency offset lock of a symmetric three-mode stabilized He-Ne laser to an iodine stabilized He-Ne laser. The proposed laser system provides two operational modes: (1) independent and (2) slave mode. In the independent mode, frequency of the three-mode laser is stabilized via control of frequency difference between two intermode beats. The resultant output is a single longitudinal mode light of maximum intensity that locates at the top of the gain curve. Frequency instability of 80^-12 (at a sampling time of 100 s) which is better than conventional stabilized lasers is attained in the independent mode. Slow optical frequency drift during the independent mode is periodically corrected by the offset lock to the iodine stabilized laser (slave mode), resulting in accurate reset of the frequency drift. After reset of the frequency deviation, the three-mode laser is again operated in the independent mode. Due to such intermittent offset lock, duty factor of the iodine stabilized laser was reduced to a few % of continuous operation.

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Spectral quality and reliability of four kinds of ¹²⁷I₂ cells for an wavelengtn standard were investigated. A 20 year old 10 cm long sealed off iodine cell has shown its long life and had sufficient absorption characteristics comparable to the newly made three cells in regard to spectral line width and signal-to-noise ratio of the absorption signal. A dispersion of absolute frequencies of the three cells including the 20 year old cell is in a range of 35 kHz, which is equivalent to a frequency reproducibility of 7.40^-11. A compact iodine stabilized 633 nm He-Ne laser with a 23 cm long resonator and 4 cm iodine cell has been developed. Its frequency stability has been estimated to be 90^-13 by the Allan deviation at integration time of 4000 s. The laser supplies 14 wavelength standards being locked at iodine absorption lines from a to n.

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The ponderomotive motion of a charged particle inside a Terawatt-Petawatt laser pulse is studied. Based on a very simple classical model to account for the Coulomb repulsion, the possibility of nuclear collisions in the keV-MeV range is shown. Also, a simple analytical expression for the minimum internuclear distance is given. Since this range of energies is significant to trigger nuclear fusion reactions, this may result in an alternative approach to controlled fusion based on a non-thermalized plasma. The proposed system works for the deuteron-triton fusion reaction, but is more appropriate for other reactions like the proton-⁷Li reaction, and also like the ecologically clean, boron-¹¹B reaction.

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A dye laser emitting at four different frequencies separated by 293.5 (=587/2) cm^-1 is made by inserting an etalon in the resonator cavity of the laser. This laser beam is focused into molecular hydrogen (rotational Raman shift frequency, 587 cm^-1) to generate a multicolor laser beam consisting of more than 10 rotational lines in the vicinity of the fundamental lines by four-wave Raman mixing. Such rotational lines also occur in the vicinity of the vibrational Raman lines. Thus more than 25 emission lines appear simultaneously. This approach is useful to multiply the line density, i.e., the emission lines within a specified wavelength region.

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A large-screen, real-time hologram device using Bi₁₂SiO₂₀ (BSO), which enables observation of reconstructed images by parallax vision has been fabricated. The BSO wafer size of the device was 700 mm³. The wafer was dipped in silicon oil to avoid the electric discharge between the electrodes. The conditions were studied to obtain complete reconstruction from the large Fresnel volume-type real-time hologram and a uniform diffraction efficiency was obtained over the entire area including the core of the crystal. Irradiation at a level of 4 mJ/cm² yielded a diffraction efficiency of 0.5%. Binary and half-tone images were holographically recorded and reconstructed. The reconstructed images could be observed by the naked eye, including the actual depths.

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A broadband light source can be obtained by operating a multimode laser diode with a bias current below threshold. We propose an optical time domain reflectometer for high-resolution with a broadband cw multimode laser. The emission spectrum of the multimode laser diode that affects an interference signal is investigated. With this method, the spatial resolution is measured as 11.5 μm, corresponding to that of 38.3-fs pulses, and a minimum detectable reflectivity <?90 dB is achieved.

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A diffraction grating matrix made of negative film is applied to display dot characters. Using an X-Y plotter of a personal computer, a multiple grating pattern is plotted in a matrix form. The photograph of the pattern is the negative-film diffraction grating matrix. When a laser light illuminates the grating matrix, the diffracted light displays a dot character. Several alphabetic characters are displayed in this way.

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