A novel free-space multistage interconnection network has been proposed. The network can be implemented using a 1 binary phase grating (BPG) which is placed in a 4f imaging system. All optical channels from BPG have been used to form a Comega network. The optomechanical package of the Comega network was made.

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We propose an optical waveguide sensor using a leaky mode for absorption measurement of liquid samples. This sensor uses a single coupling prism. A cladding layer and a waveguide layer are directly deposited on the reflecting surface of the prism. The intensity of the internally reflected beam at an appropriate incident angle is very sensitive to the imaginary part of the sample attached to the surface of the waveguide layer. The sensitivity of this sensor is controlled by the thicknesses of both cladding and waveguide layers. We studied the performance of the sensor by numerical calculation.

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Computer simulation based on the finite-dimensional linear model for computational color constancy model has been carried out to estimate colorimetric values using image signals. We estimated the colorimetric values placing a reference object with known spectral reflectance in a scene under an unknown illuminant. It was found that prior knowledge of illuminants and surfaces of objects in a scene is not required for the estimation: any set of basis vectors to express the illuminants and any set of eigen vectors obtained by principal component analysis on data set of a color chart to represent the surfaces of different objects can be applied to the estimation.

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The shape of the spectral lines in the 5.3 μm fundamental band of NO perturbed by N₂ was studied by means of an infrared spectrometer. Sub-Lorentzian line profile was observed in the wing of the R-branch. These deviations from the Lorentz shape can be mainly interpreted in terms of line mixing. To calculate line-coupling coefficients, the exponential gap law and the statistical exponential power gap law (SEPG) were used. In the case of the SEPG model the degeneracy factor dependence on the inelastic rate is also discussed. The influence of the slit width on the observed band-correction function was found to be small in the R-branch wing of NO.

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An opto-electronic hybrid system that is based on the joint transform correlator (JTC) is suggested for the implementation of real-time wavelet transform. Holographic encoding of both the object signal and wavelet function enables the JTC-based real-time correlator to execute the optical wavelet transformation involving positive and negative values. We suggest an interferometric method to retain the information about the polarity of the final wavelet transform. The principle of this method is verified by experiments.

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Correlation methods for recognition of polychromatic range images are presented. First, polychromatic range images are described. The correlation can be performed using either a single channel compressing both the range and the color images or a multichannel approach. The advantages of both methods are discussed. Translation invariant recognition along the x, y, and z axis is obtained. In the single channel approach, the range and the hue are combined using phase and amplitude coding. Then the double-channel approach is considered using sine-coding for the input image and phase-coding for the reference image. Finally, both channels are combined in order to improve the discrimination capability of the system. Optical implementation is performed.

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We propose a novel signal processing technique by which we can increase the effective signal to noise ratio of optical discs. This technique is capable of reducing the influence of random noise even when the playback signal contains a distortion. We apply this signal processing technique to single carrier independent pit edge recording optical disc system. When a linear recording density of 0.2 μm/bit and a track pitch of 0.8 μm for an optical pickup is used in a DVD pickup (λ=635 nm, NA=0.6), the experimental results show that the system can obtain tangential and radial skew margins of .5and .75 respectively. From the experimental results, we estimate that the proposed method is capable of increasing the capacity of DVD by a factor of about 1.2.

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The super-resolution mastering of read-only optical disks using a photoreactive bleachable dye mask layer was theoretically analyzed. Equations have been derived which describe the photoreactions of the resist layer and mask layer. A numerical simulation based on these equations showed that the transmittance of the mask directly affects the quality of the formed pit shape. A high-quality pit shape is obtained by using a low transmittance mask.

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A space-division multiplexing switch was fabricated without precise alignments using electro-photonic multi-chip module technologies. Design rules and fabrication processes for the switch are described. Experiments show the switch has capacity for 1-Gigabit-per-second data transmission.

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A single-path transmission type twisted nematic liquid crystal panel appears to achieve nearly phase-only spatial light modulation when placed between a properly aligned polarizer and analyzer. We obtained more than phase delay with the equipment whose retardation was less than

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A method to design a corrugated optical waveguide filter by modulating the corrugation width profile is proposed. This method is based on combined applications of the Fourier transformation and the F-matrix formalism. The method achieves the spatial profile of the corrugation width required to design a filter with any specified spectral profile of the reflection coefficient. The idea of the technique is that the spatial variation of the effective refractive index can be transformed, with the help of the F-matrix formalism, to variation of the corrugation width while maintaining a constant amplitude of the refractive index variation. Two examples are given applying the technique to the design of optical waveguide filters with reflectivity profiles of two- and four-rejection bands.

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In this paper we introduce a new phase type combined optical element. The element is combined with Dammann grating and Fresnel zone plate in the same substrate by microelectronics technique, hence it has splitting functions of the Dammann grating and self-focusing function of the Fresnel plate. It can produce uniform multiple images by itself. We experimentally designed and fabricated an 9 multiple image element, and results show that the element can realize the multiple images we require and the intensity of each image is the same. Relative error is less than 5%.

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Fabrication techniques of ultra-thin optical polarizing films using gold island films have been investigated for the near-infrared region. The polarizing films are fabricated by stretching the periodic multilayers consisting of gold island layers and glass layers. We have experimentally investigated the optimum fabricating conditions necessary to induce large optical anisotropy into the gold island layers and have formed submicrometer-thick polarizing films with an extinction ratio of ≥20 dB in a near-infrared region longer than 800 nm. These polarizing films could be useful micro-polarizers for fiber-embedded in-line optical devices, micro-optics, and hybrid integrated optics.

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A diode ring cavity incorporating Faraday rotators and a variable phase retarder has been constructed aiming at achieving dual-frequency lasing operation with orthogonal linear polarizations. The orthogonal-polarization oscillations were observed in the 0.8-μm region with various operation wavelengths by changing the applied retardation. Furthermore the output power definitely depended on the applied retardation. Its dependence was theoretically studied, and the gain analysis taking into consideration the reflection at the laser diode amplifier facets was in good accordance with the experimental results.

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A new optical system which can efficiently generate the nearly diffraction-free beams is proposed and its characteristics are investigated by numerical analysis. This optical system consists of a new optical element called a DCC (double-concave-cone) lens and an objective lens with a large numerical aperture, and can generate the Bessel beam and also the Bessel-Gauss beam. The maximum propagation distance of nearly diffraction-free beams generated by the system agrees with its theoretical value for the Bessel beam.

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We propose a new fringe analysis method that uses only one speckle interferogram of a deformed object to obtain phase change distribution by deformation. This method uses cos^-1 operations to extract absolute, not signed, values of new phase after deformation. Considering the phase changes in a small local area, true phase changes retain almost the same value by assuming a continuous deformation in the area. This retention determines the sign of the new phase. From the new phase and the initial phase, the phase change distribution by the deformation can be obtained. Experimental results show the usefulness of this method.

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