A generalized phase-shift method is developed for automatic measurement of principal-stress directions in the whole field of a model from photoelastic experiments. This method uses a set of light intensities obtained from the rotation of polaroids in dark-field plane polariscopes at each point. To investigate the accuracy of the measurement, time-series light intensity curves with different noise and different numbers of data which constitute the curves are used in computer simulation. The error of the measurement of the principal-stress directions obtained by the method is not greatly affected by noise when the number of data exceeds 50. This method is applied to a circular disk subjected to a concentrated load. The principal-stress directions obtained by the method are found to be in good agreement with the theory.

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The image-processing system based on a two-dimensional Fourier transform is presented for the analysis of Young's fringes pattern created from a double-exposure speckle photograph. The fringe spacing and orientation are determined using only one Young's fringes pattern without any other diffraction halo patterns. The stress-intensity factors of a mixed-mode interface crack were measured by speckle photography. A compact normal and shear specimen with an interface crack was employed. This specimen enables us to carry out the experiment under various kinds of mixed-mode loading. A steel and an epoxy resin were used as dissimilar materials. The displacement along the crack lines at the free surface was measured by speckle photography. The K_I and K_II values were determined by a least squares method using displacement data along the crack lines. Three-dimensional finite element analysis was carried out on the same specimen. An accuracy of stress intensity factors obtained by the speckle photography was discussed by comparison of results obtained by the finite element analysis.

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A video speckle shearing interferometer has been used to study sinusoidally vibrating objects. Theroretical and experimental results show that the shear fringe patterns obtained contour the derivatives of the vibration amplitudes only for pure classical modes and when the shear is small. For composite modes, the fringe patterns observed are more difficult to interpret because the optical phase changes that are contoured are functions of both the spatial derivatives of the vibration amplitude and of the vibration phase.

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A stroboscopic phase-shift interferometry has been developed to visualize surface acoustic wave (SAW) propagation on SAW devices quantitatively. The developed interferometry is a Fizeau-type one with a multi-mode semiconductor laser diode and an optical isolator. With the laser light illuminating stroboscopically, observed interference intensity gives information about average displacements of the vibrations. Fifty MHz SAW propagation on the surface of the SAW device has been measured with the interferometry. Distribution of the SAW along the propagation path has been observed, whose amplitude is 3 nm (p-p). Repetition accuracy evaluated with the root mean square method is 1/2500 of the laser wavelength. The system is useful for estimating and improving performances of micro-devices.

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The robustness to rigid body object motions of three optical systems used in the speckle strain gauge were experimentally investigated and compared with analytical results of the correlation. It was found that an out-of-plane motion of the object damaged the reliability of the strain measure when recording the objective speckle patterns while subjective speckle patterns were more robust. Besides out-of-plane object motions, the robustness of a free-space geometry and an afocal imaging configuration are approximately the same, while a telecentric imaging system is more robust to rigid body motions but more sensitive to deformation gradients (basically in-plane rotation and tilt). Results from a measurement of the relaxation in a lead-tin alloy used in organ pipes is also presented.

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Beam recombination characteristics were numerically investigated in array laser amplification using stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugation. To clarify the effect of piston errors due to imperfect phase locking, spatial intensity profiles of the beam recombination output were calculated in both the near and the far field on the basis of Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction theory. The analyses indicate that piston errors are seriously detrimental to the quality of a beam recombination output and should be eliminated by a proper phase locking. It is also found that the gap between the beam splitting-combining wedges has a negligible effect.

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Time-division digital speckle pattern interferometry to observe temporal variation of in-plane deformation fields of a whole process of plastic deformation until fracture was proposed. Experiment of tensile test of an aluminum plate exhibited dynamic movements of successive fringe patterns which were very complicated. They suggest that plastic deformation propagates nonlinearly in the specimen by repetition of energy relaxation processes and concentration processes.

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We describe a simple phase-stepping speckle interferometer with large path difference, in which phase modulation is achieved by thermal frequency drift of the He-Ne light source. This system is easy to set up, requires no specialised components, is immune from the effects of piezo actuator hysteresis, and is capable of producing phase maps in which the noise is less than 1/20λ.

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The carousel interferometer is a new type of an interferometer, which has been invented at the University of Turku. It consists of a beamsplitter and five plane mirrors. Four of the mirrors are mounted on a carousel, which rotates back and forth. We have modified the interferometer for use in the Fourier-transform ultraviolet (FT-UV) spectroscopy. Test measurement with plasma radiation gives favourable results. The most important property, which makes the carousel interferometer suitable for UV measurements, is its good stability in modulation.

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Tapping mode atomic force microscopy is used to control the tip-sample distance in near field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), which gives both topographic and near-field images simultaneously. The evanescent waves are scattered by a vibrating silicon-nitride tip in the proximity of sample surfaces and are detected through a microscope objective. This NSOM allows the observation of opaque samples with reflection illumination. A glass grating of 1-μm pitch and an InP grating of 0.5-μm pitch are observed with a lateral resolution of 100 nm.

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We developed a flat passband acoustooptic filter. For the passband flattening, cascaded bandpass and notch filters with different mode converter lengths and conversion strengths were used. We attained a flat passband with flatness of less than 1 dB in the 2 nm range using the device with a second- to first-stage mode converter length ratio of 1.2.

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It is shown that, at a critical point where the effective refractive index of a mode coincides with the bulk index of a cladding region, optical waveguide modes exhibiting a lognormal feature are supportable for a hyperlong-range refractive-index profile. As a typical example of waveguides that support lognormal modes a parabolic-index core surrounded by a depressed-index cladding is presented.

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A time-domain encoding method (temporal method) for space-variant parallel logic operations, which can execute different operations in parallel, is proposed. The temporal method is based on temporal encoding of two input patterns, temporal gating of the coded pattern, and decoding by temporal addition of the gated patterns. The first feature of the proposed method is that parallel logic operations can be performed without complex pattern transformations. The second feature is that the logical output can be directly fed to succeeding systems without specific decoding. Therefore, the logic operation system can be constructed using conventional optics and existing spatial light modulators. In order to confirm these features, an optoelectronic experimental system is constructed and space-variant parallel logic operations are performed.

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Monoclinic KY(WO₄)₂:Pr³⁺, Tm³⁺:KY(WO₄)₂:Er³⁺,Yb³⁺ single crystals are grown by low-gradient Czochralski technique. Stimulated emission at 1.0223 μm wavelength in the new lasing ¹D₂→³F₃ channel of Pr³⁺ ions in KY(WO₄)₂ at room temperature under Xe-flashlamp pumping is excited. Full sets of Stark-level energies for Pr³⁺ ions in KY(WO₄)₂ and KGd(WO₄)₂ crystals at 77 K are determined. 4f²-4f² intensity-transitions for the KY(WO₄)₂:Pr³⁺ are analyzed preliminarily. All observed at present and earlier one-micron Pr³⁺-ion, induced transitions in the ¹D₂→³F₃ and ¹D₂→³F₄ channels are identified. In yttrium and gadolinium sensitized-tungstates a two-micron (³H₄→³H₆) low-threshold generation of Tm³⁺ ions at cryogenic temperatures is achieved.

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We have developed a new method to fabricate periodic waveguide structures used for quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic generation, where nonlinear optical organic crystals and fluorinated copolyimides are alternately arranged. Quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic generation from an organic waveguide device has been demonstrated.

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With recent advances in technology, diffractive lenses can be used for a variety of applications. In this paper, the diffractive lenses are treated on an athermal chart which is developed for refractive lenses. An athermalized hybrid single lens designed with the chart, operating in the 3-5 μm wavelength band is presented.

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In a previous study a mathematical model relating surface and bulk behaviors of metals in aqueous solution was developed. The model was established based on principles of holographic interferometry for measuring microsurface dissolution, i.e., mass loss, and on those of electrochemistry for measuring the bulk electronic current, i.e., corrosion current. In the present work, an interferometric sensor was built based on the above model, and the corrosion current density of coated copper and brass in seawater were obtained using this sensor. The interferometric sensor was also utilized for the first time to measure the initial stage of the anodization process (oxidation) of aluminium samples in aqueous solution. This was carried out chemically in different acid concentrations (3.125-25% H₂SO₄) at room temperature. The sensor was further used for observation of catalytic activities, i.e., pitting corrosion, which occurred subsequent to the anodization of the aluminium samples in aqueous solutions, after an oxide film had been formed.

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Energy densities and velocities of GHz domain shear fluxes in sapphire were estimated using the Brillouin scattering theory. The Brillouin scattering cross section was calculated from sapphire's material parameters. The experiment was done using CdS domain shear fluxes. Direct contact was used to mirror surfaces of the CdS and the sapphire. Injection efficiency of shear fluxes ranging from 0.2 GHz to 1.1 GHz into the sapphire from CdS was measured by this method. In addition, energy density distributions of domain fluxes in the sapphire were estimated from scattering light intensities by employing the scattering cross section of the sapphire.

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A multichannel spectral imaging system consisting of dichroic mirrors is proposed. The system is expected to have the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) because of the largest optical throughput realized by the multichannel configurations for both imaging and spectrometry. A multichannel spectral imaging system with eight spectral bands was designed by the evolutionary algorithms and then fabricated. The SNR is studied and compared experimentally with those of other fast spectral imaging techniques. A time-sequence of spectral images of a super-continuum light beam is measured using the present system. The number of spectral channels of the system is limited chiefly by the difficulty in designing the arrangement of dichroic mirrors and the optical performance of those mirrors. These limitations restrict the number of spectral channels to approximately 16 at present.

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This paper describes a double fiber-coiled interferometric deformation sensor fabricated using paired polarization maintaining single-mode fibers. A change in bending-induced birefringence plays a fundamental role in the sensor performance as the fiber-coil is being deformed across its cross-section. Differential optical heterodyne detection processes allow us to implement two-mode operations; one is widely dynamic operation and the other highly sensitive operation around a target region. The deformation sensitivity for one-turn fiber-coil is 2.5 deg/mm for the widely dynamic operation, whereas 9.50 deg/mm for the highly sensitive operation. The double fiber-coiled deformation sensor can eliminate external, undesirable temperature disturbances.

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A numerical study of the propagation dynamics of ultrashort pulses in a coupled-cavity-type multilayered structure doped with Kerr-type nonlinearity showed that such a structure improves the switching contrast of recently proposed optical-limiting and switching devices consisting of a nonlinear Bragg reflector.

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