Visible-infrared Optical Wave Mixings and Nonlinear Processes with Liquid Crystals

该研究计划的目的是进一步探索和利用液晶的超大光学非线性，以实现新的非线性光学工艺和应用。PI最近的研究证实了在可见光和红外激光的光波前共轭、光束放大和其他实时自适应过程中利用方向和热非线性的可能性，如环形和自振荡以及激光强度切换。激光的锁相、无散斑噪声的位相共轭、图像相关和卷积也被证明是可行的。建议的研究将包括为这些混波结果的一些新的基本方面发展详细的理论(例如，克尔介质中的光束和图像放大，与扩散型非线性的多光束相互作用，位相共轭中的自振荡)，以及对这些过程的平行详细的实验测量和记录。预计这些研究将产生一些重要的理论、概念和有用的可见光-远红外非线性光学成像、光学处理和自适应光学器件。

The objective of this research program is to further explore and exploit the extraordinarily large optical nonlinearities of liquid crystals for novel nonlinear optical processes and applications. Recent studies by the PI have confirmed the possibilities of utilizing the orientational and thermal nonlinearities in optical wave front conjugation with gains, beam amplifications and other real-time adaptive processes such as ring and self-oscillations and laser intensity switching, for visible as well as infrared lasers. Phase locking of lasers, speckle noise-free phase conjugation, image correlations and convolutions have also shown to be feasible. The proposed studies will include the development of detailed theories for some new fundamental aspects of these wave mixing results (e.g., beam and image amplification in a Kerr medium, multi-beam interactions with diffusive-type nonlinearities, self-oscillations in phase conjugations) and parallel detailed experimental measurements and documentations of these processes. It is anticipated that several important theories, concepts, and useful visible-far infrared nonlinear optical imaging, optical processing and adaptive optic devices will emerge from these studies.