This PDF file contains the editorial “Impact Factor” for OE Vol. 55 Issue 10

A simple and effective polarization demultiplexing method is proposed based on the improved Stokes vector analysis and digital signal processor algorithm for the intensity-modulation direct-detection optical communication systems. Such a scheme could significantly simplify optical receivers with low system cost. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of our proposed method and show that only 1- and 1.7-dB power penalties are measured for 10- and 25-km transmissions compared to back-to-back case.

We propose a new method to estimate motion blur parameters based on the autocorrelation function of a blurred image. This blurred image is considered as a superposition of M shifted images identical to the original nonblurred image. In this case, convolution of the blurred image with itself can be considered as M² pairwise convolutions, which contribute to the resultant autocorrelation function producing a distinguishable line corresponding to the estimated motion blur angle. The proposed method demonstrates the comparable accuracy of the motion blur angle estimation in comparison with state-of-the-art methods. Our method possesses lower computational complexity than popular accurate methods based on Radon transform. The proposed model also allows to accurately estimate motion blur length. Our results of length estimation, in general, outperform the accuracy of the methods based on Radon transform.

A compact and portable microresonator-based optical frequency comb generation system was developed to provide an array of multiwavelength laser sources for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) fiber optic communication. The reported comb generation system was capable of producing comb lines after 7 km of travel without environmental control, indicating the effectiveness of the packaging. The comb spacing is about 98.3 GHz (i.e., ∼0.79  nm around 1553 nm), thus the comb line frequencies coincide nicely with 100-GHz DWDM channel frequencies, assuming the suggested channel bandwidth is 0.3 nm. The quality of selected comb lines was evaluated individually based on error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements along with RF spectrum measurements. An average EVM value observed is as low as 3.8%, close to typical EVM values of less than 3% used for fiber optic communication.

An intensity modulator is a key component in an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO). It is necessary to investigate the effects of some of the operating parameters of the modulator on OEO phase noise. Since the OEO optimized oscillation power is related to the nonlinear effect of the modulator, an extended analysis is made by considering both the saturation effects of the modulator and the radio frequency amplifier. Experimental results show that a 5-dB improvement of phase noise performance is achieved. In addition, a theoretical and experimental study on the DC bias-drifting problem of the modulator and its induced phase noise fluctuations is proposed. It is found that the saturated operation of the amplifier is helpful in reducing the fluctuation range. The presented results can be used to guide the design of high-quality OEOs.

Antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide power splitters, designed for use around the 635-nm wavelength, are characterized for multiple split angles ranging from 0.5 deg to 9 deg. Theoretical expectations and simulations predict lowest transmission losses at this split junction for the lowest angles. This is confirmed by the experimental structures built in SiO₂ films on silicon substrates. A fabrication nonideality affects the achievable splitting angle. Design considerations are discussed based on tradeoffs between loss and the required length for a Y-splitter.

Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have attracted significant interest in the computer vision community in the recent years and have exhibited high performance in resolving many computer vision problems, such as image classification. We address the pixel-level depth prediction from a single image by combining DCNN and sparse connected conditional random field (CRF). Owing to the invariance properties of DCNNs that make them suitable for high-level tasks, their outputs are generally not localized enough for detailed pixel-level regression. A multiscale DCNN and sparse connected CRF are combined to overcome this localization weakness. We have evaluated our framework using the well-known NYU V2 depth dataset, and the results show that the proposed method can improve the depth prediction accuracy both qualitatively and quantitatively, as compared to previous works. This finding shows the potential use of the proposed method in three-dimensional (3-D) modeling or 3-D video production from the given two-dimensional (2-D) images or 2-D videos.

Microscopic cell image analysis is indispensable to cell biology. Images of cells can easily degrade due to optical diffraction or focus shift, as this results in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and poor image quality, hence affecting the accuracy of cell analysis and identification. For a quantitative analysis of cell images, restoring blurred images to improve the SNR is the first step. A parameter estimation method for defocused microscopic cell images based on the power law properties of the power spectrum of cell images is proposed. The circular radon transform (CRT) is used to identify the zero-mode of the power spectrum. The parameter of the CRT curve is initially estimated by an improved differential evolution algorithm. Following this, the parameters are optimized through the gradient descent method. Using synthetic experiments, it was confirmed that the proposed method effectively increased the peak SNR (PSNR) of the recovered images with high accuracy. Furthermore, experimental results involving actual microscopic cell images verified that the superiority of the proposed parameter estimation method for blurred microscopic cell images other method in terms of qualitative visual sense as well as quantitative gradient and PSNR.

In order to solve the issue between fast autofocusing speed and high volume data processing, we propose a bioinspired sampling method based on a retina-like structure. We develop retina-like models and analyze the division of sampling structure. The optimal retina-like sample is obtained by analyzing two key parameters (sectors and radius of blind area) of the retina-like structure through experiments. Under the typical autofocus functions, including Vollath–4, Laplacian, Tenengrad, spatial frequency, and sum-modified-Laplacian (SML), we carry out comparative experiments of computation time based on the retina-like sample and a traditional uniform sample. The results show that the retina-like sample is suitable for those autofocus functions. Based on the autofocus function of SML, the average time of uniform sample decreases from 3.5 to 2.1 s for the retina-like sample.

Aiming at the characteristics of remote sensing images with low-contrast, weak edge preservation, and poor resolution textual information, an image enhancement method that combines nonsubsampled shearlet transform (NSST) and guided filtering is presented. First, histogram equalization is applied to the remote sensing image. Second, the image is decomposed into a low frequency component and several high frequency components by NSST. Then, a linear stretch is adopted for the coefficients of the low-frequency component to improve the contrast of the original image; the threshold method is used to restrain the noise in the high-frequency components, then guided filtering is used for dealing with the high-frequency components, improving the detail information and edge-gradient retention ability. Finally, the final enhanced image is reconstructed by applying the inverse NSST to the processed low- and high-frequency components. The results show that the algorithm can significantly improve the visual impression of the image. Compared with the proposed algorithms in recent years, the average gradient and information entropy are significantly improved and the running time is shortened.

We present a method to characterize not only shape but also depth of defects in line and space mask patterns. Features in a mask are too fine for a conventional imaging system to resolve them and a coherent imaging system providing only the pattern diffracted by the mask is used. Then phase retrieval methods may be applied, but the accuracy is too low to determine the exact shape of the defect. Deterministic methods have been proposed to accurately characterize the defect, but this requires a reference pattern. We propose to use a phase retrieval algorithm to retrieve the general shape of the mask and then apply a deterministic approach to precisely characterize the defects detected.

We propose a new imaging system of a simple structure that uses a set of layered aperture arrays above a linear image sensor instead of an imaging lens. The image scanner transfers the image information by detecting the scattering rays from the object directly without any collecting power, as if it were an optical stamp. Since the aperture arrays shield the stray rays propagating obliquely, the image information can be read with high resolution even if the object floats within a few millimeters. The aperture arrays with staggered alignment in two lines widen the space with the adjacent pixel without decimating information. We manufactured a prototype model of 300-dpi resolution, whose height is as little as 5 mm. The experimental result shows that ghost images can be restricted sufficiently, and our scanner can clearly read an object within a space of <3.5  mm, meaning that it has a large depth of field of 3.5 mm.

Urban air pollution causes deleterious effects on human health and the environment. To meet stringent standards imposed by the European Commission, advanced measurement methods are required. Remote sensing techniques, such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR), can be a valuable option for evaluating particulate matter (PM), emitted by vehicles in urban traffic, with high sensitivity and in shorter time intervals. Since air quality problems persist not only in large urban areas, a measuring campaign was specifically performed in a suburban area of Crotone, Italy, using both a compact LiDAR system and conventional instruments for real-time vehicle emissions monitoring along a congested road. First results reported in this paper show a strong dependence between variations of LiDAR backscattering signals and traffic-related air pollution levels. Moreover, time-resolved LiDAR data averaged in limited regions, directly above conventional monitoring stations at the border of an intersection, were found to be linearly correlated to the PM concentration levels with a correlation coefficient between 0.75 and 0.84.

The double-random phase encoding (DRPE) scheme, which is based on a 4f optical correlator system, is considered as a reference for the optical encryption field. We propose a modification of the classical DRPE scheme based on the use of a class of structured phase masks, the deterministic phase masks. In particular, we propose to conduct the encryption process by using two deterministic phase masks, which are built from linear combinations of several subkeys. For the decryption step, the input image is retrieved by using the complex conjugate of the deterministic phase masks, which were set in the encryption process. This concept of structured masks gives rise to encryption–decryption keys which are smaller and more compact than those required in the classical DRPE. In addition, we show that our method significantly improves the tolerance of the DRPE method to shifts of the decrypting phase mask—when no shift is applied, it provides similar performance to the DRPE scheme in terms of encryption–decryption results. This enhanced tolerance to the shift, which is proven by providing numerical simulation results for grayscale and binary images, may relax the rigidity of an encryption–decryption experimental implementation setup. To evaluate the effectiveness of the described method, the mean-square-error and the peak signal-to-noise ratio between the input images and the recovered images are calculated. Different studies based on simulated data are also provided to highlight the suitability and robustness of the method when applied to the image encryption–decryption processes.

Anisotropic conductive film (ACF) bonding is widely used in the liquid crystal display (LCD) industry. It implements circuit connection between screens and flexible printed circuits or integrated circuits. Conductive microspheres in ACF are key factors that influence LCD quality, because the conductive microspheres’ quantity and shape deformation rate affect the interconnection resistance. Although this issue has been studied extensively by prior work, quick and accurate methods to inspect the quality of ACF bonding are still missing in the actual production process. We propose a method to inspect ACF bonding effectively by using automated optical inspection. The method has three steps. The first step is that it acquires images of the detection zones using a differential interference contrast (DIC) imaging system. The second step is that it identifies the conductive microspheres and their shape deformation rate using quantitative analysis of the characteristics of the DIC images. The final step is that it inspects ACF bonding using a back propagation trained neural network. The result shows that the miss rate is lower than 0.1%, and the false inspection rate is lower than 0.05%.

The capability of field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (FE-SEM/EDX) to scan material structures at the microlevel and characterize the material with its elemental properties has inspired this research, which has developed an FE-SEM/EDX-based cervical cancer screening system. The developed computer-aided screening system consisted of two parts, which were the automatic features of extraction and classification. For the automatic features extraction algorithm, the image and spectra of cervical cells features extraction algorithm for extracting the discriminant features of FE-SEM/EDX data was introduced. The system automatically extracted two types of features based on FE-SEM/EDX images and FE-SEM/EDX spectra. Textural features were extracted from the FE-SEM/EDX image using a gray level co-occurrence matrix technique, while the FE-SEM/EDX spectra features were calculated based on peak heights and corrected area under the peaks using an algorithm. A discriminant analysis technique was employed to predict the cervical precancerous stage into three classes: normal, low-grade intraepithelial squamous lesion (LSIL), and high-grade intraepithelial squamous lesion (HSIL). The capability of the developed screening system was tested using 700 FE-SEM/EDX spectra (300 normal, 200 LSIL, and 200 HSIL cases). The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity performances were 98.2%, 99.0%, and 98.0%, respectively.

To understand and recognize the three-dimensional (3-D) objects represented as point cloud data, we use an optimized shape semantic graph (SSG) to describe 3-D objects. Based on the decomposed components of an object, the boundary surface of different components and the topology of components, the SSG gives a semantic description that is consistent with human vision perception. The similarity measurement of the SSG for different objects is effective for distinguishing the type of object and finding the most similar one. Experiments using a shape database show that the SSG is valuable for capturing the components of the objects and the corresponding relations between them. The SSG is not only suitable for an object without any loops but also appropriate for an object with loops to represent the shape and the topology. Moreover, a two-step progressive similarity measurement strategy is proposed to effectively improve the recognition rate in the shape database containing point-sample data.

Streak tube imaging lidar (STIL) is an active imaging system that has a high depth resolution with the use of a pulsed laser transmitter and streak tube receiver to produce three-dimensional (3-D) range images. This work investigates the optimal signal width of the lidar system, which is helpful to improve the depth resolution based on the centroid algorithm. Theoretical analysis indicates that the signal width has a significant effect on the depth resolution and the optimal signal width can be determined for a given STIL system, which is verified by both the simulation and experimental results. An indoor experiment with a planar target was carried out to validate the relation that the range error decreases first and then increases with the signal width, resulting in an optimal signal width of 8.6 pixels. Finer 3-D range images of a cartoon model were acquired by using the optimal signal width and a minimum range error of 5.5 mm was achieved in a daylight environment.

A coded aperture camera is proposed for automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) systems. It captures images using a noncircular aperture. The aperture pattern is designed for the rapid acquisition of high-resolution images while preserving high spatial frequencies of defocused regions. It is obtained by minimizing an objective function, which computes the expected value of perceptual deblurring error. The imaging conditions and camera sensor specifications are also considered in the proposed function. The designed aperture improves the depth of field (DoF) and subsequently ALPR performance. The captured images can be directly analyzed by the ALPR software up to a specific depth, which is 13 m in our case, though it is 11 m for the circular aperture. Moreover, since the deblurring results of images captured by our aperture yield fewer artifacts than those captured by the circular aperture, images can be first deblurred and then analyzed by the ALPR software. In this way, the DoF and recognition rate can be improved at the same time. Our case study shows that the proposed camera can improve the DoF up to 17 m while it is limited to 11 m in the conventional aperture.

Transient oscillations occur in a self-mixing interferometry (SMI) due to moderate or strong feedback. Such transient dynamics appear in the form of impulsive noises and degrade the sensing performance of an SMI-based sensing system. However, due to the complexity of the dynamics of the system, it is difficult to eliminate such impulse-like transients using conventional filtering techniques. A signal processing technique based on myriad filter is proposed to eliminate the transients. By numerically investigating the influence of the parameters of myriad filter on the transients, an adaptive algorithm is developed to ensure that the parameters are suitable for effectively eliminating the transients. The proposed technique is verified by experiments, and the results show that the transients can be effectively removed, leading to improved sensing performance for the SMI-based sensing system.

Raman spectroscopy is of significant importance in industrial gas analysis due to its unique capability of quantitative multigas measurement, especially diatomics (N₂ and H₂), with a single laser. This paper presents the development of a gas analyzer system based on high pressure Raman scattering in a multipass Raman cell and demonstrates its feasibility for real-time natural gas analysis. A 64-pass Raman cell operated at elevated pressure (5 bar) is used to create multiplicative enhancement (proportional to number of passes times pressure) of the natural gas Raman signal. A relatively low power 532-nm continuous wave laser beam (200 mW) is used as the source and the signals are measured through a cooled charge-coupled device grating spectrometer (30-s exposure). A hybrid algorithm based on background-correction and least-squares error minimization is used to estimate gas concentrations. Individual gas component concentration repeatability of the order of 0.1% is demonstrated. Further, the applicability of the technique for natural gas analysis is demonstrated through measurements on calibrated gas mixtures. Experimental details, analyzer characterization, and key measurements are presented to demonstrate the performance of the technique.

In marine transportation, a draft survey is a means to determine the quantity of bulk cargo. Automatic draft reading based on computer image processing has been proposed. However, the conventional draft mark segmentation may fail when the video sequence has many other regions than draft marks and a hull, and the estimated waterline is inherently higher than the true one. To solve these problems, we propose an automatic draft reading method that uses morphological operations to detect draft marks and estimate the waterline for every frame with Canny edge detection and a robust estimation. Moreover, we emulate surveyors’ draft reading process for getting the understanding of a shipper and a receiver. In an experiment in a towing tank, the draft reading error of the proposed method was <1  cm, showing the advantage of the proposed method. It is also shown that accurate draft reading has been achieved in a real-world scene.

The performance of high-resolution optical systems is affected by small angle scattering at the mid-spatial-frequency irregularities of the optical surface. Characterizing these irregularities is, therefore, important. However, surface measurements obtained with optical profilers are influenced by additive white noise, as indicated by the heavy-tail effect observable on their power spectral density (PSD). A multiple-measurement method is used to reduce the effects of white noise by averaging individual measurements. The intensity of white noise is determined using a model based on the theoretical PSD of fractal surface measurements with additive white noise. The intensity of white noise decreases as the number of times of multiple measurements increases. Using multiple measurements also increases the highest observed spatial frequency; this increase is derived and calculated. Additionally, the accuracy obtained using multiple measurements is carefully studied, with the analysis of both the residual reference error after calibration, and the random errors appearing in the range of measured spatial frequencies. The resulting insights on the effects of white noise in optical profiler measurements and the methods to mitigate them may prove invaluable to improve the quality of surface metrology with optical profilers.

The existing binary defocusing techniques have excellent performance in the measurement speed, while the measurement precision is not high. We propose a mixed binary defocusing method, which combines the respective advantage of one-dimensional modulation defocusing techniques and two-dimensional modulation defocusing techniques. The mixed binary defocusing method adopts the frequency-dependent property of these two kinds of methods to approach the sinusoidal fringe patterns. The optimized pulse width modulation technique is selected to produce high-frequency binary patterns, and the improved error diffusion dithering technique is selected to generate low-frequency patterns. Then the phase-shifting method is adopted to obtain the wrapped phase from the defocused pattern, and the absolute phase is obtained with a multiple-wavelength phase unwrapping method from these wrapped phases at different frequencies. With the standard of the root mean square error of the wrapped phase, different defocusing methods are compared in the simulation. The measurement surfaces are compared in the real object measurement. The results verify the frequency-dependent property of these two kinds of methods and the proposed method has a greater performance than any one binary defocusing technique.

To satisfy the demand for automatic roadway drivage in mines, a real-time body pose detection system is proposed for the mine-used boom-type roadheader. Utilizing cross lasers and laser targets as information sources, this system first establishes a mathematical model to describe the machine position in space and realizes the precise localization of reference points on targets via the improved Retinex adaptive image enhancement algorithm and maximum wavelet transform module algorithm. It then sets up the machine body position calculating model and makes use of the space matrix transformation method to obtain the yaw, pitch, roll angles, and horizontal and vertical deviations of the roadheader, finally fulfilling the automatic machine pose detection in real time. Based on the preceding theoretical analysis, an experimental platform is built up in laboratory conditions for the purpose of simulating pose changes of the machine inside the tunnel and automatically detecting its position. The experimental results show that the measurement accuracy of angles is within 0.16 deg and the detection precision of displacements is higher than 10 mm, which can satisfy requirements of automatic, precise, and real-time positioning for the roadheader during the process of tunnel construction.

A method for evaluation of fatigue process zone (FPZ) dimensions near a notch root in metal and alloy specimens by using a two-step phase shifting interferometry (TS PSI) technique is proposed. In comparison with other destructive and nondestructive methods evaluating the FPZ dimensions, it possesses higher accuracy and performance. The method uses a criterion for the FPZ dimensions definition based on an assumption that the surface roughness of notched specimens after cyclic loading reaches its maximum values at the FPZ boundary. To realize this method, first, a phase map (PM) of a total surface relief near a notch root is retrieved; second, roughness and waviness PMs are extracted from the retrieved total surface relief PM by using the TS PSI; and finally, a surface roughness parameter R_a spatial distribution is calculated according to the offered criterion and the FPZ size d* is defined. The FPZ size was measured for specimens made of low-carbon steel and aluminum alloys 2024-Т6 and 7075-T3. Obtained experimental results have shown that the proposed criterion allows defining the FPZ size for notched specimens made of metals and alloys possessing high, moderate, and low plasticity.

A femtosecond (fs) laser beam machining method has been proposed to improve the quality of micromachining. At first, the coated silica sheet is prepared by pulsed laser deposition, then the coated silica is processed by the fs laser. After that, the aluminum film on a fused silica sheet is cleared out by hydrochloric acid (HCl) in a solution of 10%, and then the microhole array is formed on the silica which has better morphologies. Additionally, some mathematical models are constructed to analyze the diffusion of vapors and reflection of shock waves during the machining process. The theoretical results show that the aluminum film can effectively decrease the pressure gradient of the vapors and the reflection of shock wave pressure on the fused silica during the machining process. The simulation is consistent with experimental results. Finally, coating with a film or not has a great influence on the quality of micromachining, but the types of coating films have little influence. In a word, it is an excellent choice to improve the quality of fs laser processing by coating with a film on a fused silica sheet.

Reaction-sintered silicon carbide (RS-SiC) is a research focus in the field of optical manufacturing. Atmospheric-pressure plasma-based chemical dry figuring and finishing, which consist of plasma chemical vaporization machining (PCVM) and plasma-assisted polishing (PAP), were applied to improve material removal rate (MRR) in rapid figuring and ameliorate surface quality in fine finishing. Through observing the processed RS-SiC sample in PCVM by scanning white-light interferometer (SWLI), the calculated peak-MRR and volume-MRR were 0.533  μm/min and 2.78×10−³  mm³/min, respectively. The comparisons of surface roughness and morphology of the RS-SiC samples before and after PCVM were obtained by the scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope. It could be found that the processed RS-SiC surface was deteriorated with surface roughness rms 382.116 nm. The evaluations of surface quality of the processed RS-SiC sample in PAP corresponding to different collocations of autorotation speed and revolution speed were obtained by SWLI measurement. The optimal surface roughness rms of the processed RS-SiC sample in PAP was 2.186 nm. There were no subsurface damages, scratches, or residual stresses on the processed sample in PAP. The results indicate that parameters in PAP should be strictly selected, and the optimal parameters can simultaneously obtain high MRR and smooth surface.

A numerical study of the performance of a set of phase masks and apodizer filters, which are able to extend the depth of field (DOF) in the imaging system, are presented using a test object with different levels of gray. The ambiguity function is used to display which of these filters, placed in the pupil function, can increase the DOF. The intensity quasi-point spread functions (IQPSFs) show invariance in the central spot of the IQPSF when the apodizer is placed in the optical system. This approach minimizes the replicas of the object that appears in the background of the restored images produced by the numerical processing when in the pupil function these phase filters are used simultaneously. The correlation coefficient criteria and minimum squares differences were used to evaluate the quality of the restoration process.

Future Internet consists of a wide spectrum of applications with different bit rates and quality of service (QoS) requirements. Prioritizing the services is essential to ensure that the delivery of information is at its best. Existing technologies have demonstrated how service differentiation techniques can be implemented in optical networks using data link and network layer operations. However, a physical layer approach can further improve system performance at a prescribed received signal quality by applying control at the bit level. This paper proposes a coding algorithm to support optical domain service differentiation using spectral amplitude coding techniques within an optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) scenario. A particular user or service has a varying weight applied to obtain the desired signal quality. The properties of the new code are compared with other OCDMA codes proposed for service differentiation. In addition, a mathematical model is developed for performance evaluation of the proposed code using two different detection techniques, namely direct decoding and complementary subtraction.

We propose a scheme of optical duobinary-modulated upstream transmission system for reflective semiconductor optical amplifier-based colorless optical network units in 10-Gbps wavelength-division multiplexed passive optical network (WDM-PON), where a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is adopted as an optical equalizer for better performance. The demodulation module is extremely simple, only needing a binary intensity modulation direct detection receiver. A better received sensitivity of −16.98  dBm at bit rate error (BER)=1.0×10⁻⁴ can be achieved at 120 km without FBG, and the BER at the sensitivity of −18.49  dBm can be up to 2.1×10⁻⁵ at the transmission distance of 160 km with FBG, which demonstrates the feasibility of our proposed scheme. Moreover, it could be a high cost-effectiveness scheme for WDM-PON in the future.

Recently, visible light positioning has gradually become a research hotspot in indoor environments. Based on a single transmitter and a single tilted optical receiver, a three-dimensional (3-D) indoor visible light positioning system is proposed. The tilted optical receiver is installed on a rotatable and retractable platform. The 3-D space is divided many two-dimensional (2-D) planes by lifting the platform of the optical receiver. In each 2-D plane, various azimuth angles can be obtained by rotating the receiver platform, which offers a feasible way to perform multiple measurements with different azimuth angles to achieve the angle gain. According to the difference of the angle gain, a 3-D positioning algorithm is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed positioning algorithm can provide good positioning accuracy.

This paper demonstrates a working indoor optical wireless link for smart environment applications. The system utilizes a wide field-of-view (FOV) optical wireless receiver through cleaving the tip of large core plastic optical fibers (POFs) attached to the detector. The quality of the optical link is quantified through bit error rate (BER) measurements. The experimental results show a wide FOV with the uncoded BER in the order of 10⁻³ for transmission distances up to 35 cm when using two POFs for signal collection. The distance can be improved further by increasing the number of fibers. The transmitted signal format and how the BER measurement is achieved are discussed at length. In addition, details are provided for the design of the electronics to establish the optical wireless link.

To solve the problem of positioning accuracy affected by mutual interference among multiple reference points in the traditional visible light communication positioning system, an iterative algorithm of received signal strength (RSS) based on code division multiple access (CDMA) coding is proposed. Every light-emitting diode (LED) source broadcasts a unique CDMA modulation identification (ID) code, which is associated with geographic position. The mobile terminal receives a mixed light signal from each LED reference point. By using the orthogonality of the spreading codes, the corresponding ID position information and the intensity attenuation factor of each LED reference point source can be available. According to the ID information and signal attenuation intensity, the location area of each LED and the distance between the receiver end and each LED can be determined. The three-dimensional (3-D) position of the receiver can be obtained by using the iterative algorithm of RSS triangulation. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve a positioning accuracy of 5.25 cm in a two-dimensional (2-D) positioning system. And in the 3-D positioning system, the maximum positioning error is 10.27 cm, the minimum positioning error is 0.45 cm, the average positioning error is 3.97 cm, and the proportion of the positioning error exceeding 5 cm is <25%. With a very good positioning accuracy, this system is simple and does not require synchronization processing. What is more, it can be applied to both the 2-D and 3-D localization systems, which has a broad application prospect.

A modulation format, orthogonal pulse amplitude modulation and discrete multitone modulation (O-PAM-DMT), is experimentally demonstrated in a hybrid fiber-visible laser light communication (fiber-VLLC) system using a cost-effective directly modulated laser and blue laser diode. In addition, low overhead is achieved by utilizing only one training sequence to implement synchronization and channel estimation. Through adjusting the ratio of PAM and DMT signal, three types of O-PAM-DMT signals are investigated. After transmission over a 20-km standard single-mode fiber and 5-m free-space VLLC, the receiver sensitivity for 4.36-Gbit/s O-PAM-DMT signals can be improved by 0.4, 1.4, and 2.7 dB, respectively, at a bit error rate of 1×10−3, compared with a conventional DMT signal.

A laser Doppler angular vibrometer using a He–Ne dual-frequency ring laser (DF-RL) is demonstrated. By detecting the interference signal of two beams which are diffracted by the surface of two gratings, the displacement of angular vibration can be measured. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a DF-RL has been utilized as the source of a Doppler angular vibrometer. It shows in theory and experiment that this dual-differential laser Doppler angular vibrometer possesses a high precision and can suppress the error in horizontal vibration at the same time, which can be applied to high-frequency microangular vibration measurement.

We present dual-polarization orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing/offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OFDM/OQAM) transmission for passive optical network (PON) with intensity modulation and direct detection, which has high spectral efficiency and high robustness against chromatic dispersion (CD) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD). The frequency-domain optical fiber channel transmission model for dual-polarization OFDM/OQAM-PON with the CD- and PMD-induced intrinsic imaginary interference (IMI) effect is systemically deduced. The intrasymbol frequency-domain averaging (ISFA) and minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) with the full loaded (FL) and half loaded (HL) preamble structures are used to mitigate the IMI effect. Compared with the conventional interference approximation method, the ISFA and MMSE offer improved receiver sensitivity. For channel estimation, the FL method is more effective than the HL method in mitigating the IMI effect and optical noise.

Optical vortices are high-capacity data carriers for mode division multiplexing (MDM) in multimode fiber (MMF). This paper reports on the MDM of a combination of helical-phased optical vortices comprising donut modes and Hermite–Gaussian (HG) modes for different radial offsets from the MMF axis. A data rate of 44 Gbps is achieved for wavelength division multiplexing–MDM of two pairs of helical-phased donut mode and HG mode at wavelengths 1550.12 and 1551.72 nm for a MMF length of 1500 m.

Visible light communication (VLC) systems have an advantage for simultaneously achieving communication and illumination. To strengthen the performance of VLC by using RGB light-emitting diodes (LEDs) while meeting the lighting requirements, the channel capacity and the transmission capability of the system are improved by utilizing the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology. We make the chromaticity of the merged white light suitable for human eyes by the experiment. The parameters of merged white light based on RGB LEDs and the merging ratio data measured by the experiment are given. Hence, we study and analyze the eye diagrams and bit error rate (BER) of different optical channels. The simulation results show that maximum transmission rate of the output signal is up to 3.3  Gbit/s, and the BER is less than 10⁻⁵ with a transmission distance of 2.5 m while meeting standard illumination requirements.

A compact electro-optical “NOR” logic gate device based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform is proposed and investigated theoretically. By introducing a hook-type waveguide, the signal could be coupled between the bus and hook-type waveguide to form an optical circuit and realize NOR logic gate. We can easily realize the NOR logical function by the voltage applied on the coupling components. The numerical simulation shows that a high coupling efficiency of more than 99% is obtained at the wavelength of 1550 nm, and the footprint of our device is smaller than 90  μm². In addition, the response time of the proposed NOR logic gate is 3 ns with a switching voltage of 1.8 V. Moreover, it is demonstrated that such NOR logic gate device could obtain an extinction ratio of 21.8 dB. Thus, it has great potential to achieve high speed response, low power consumption, and small footprint, which fulfill the demands of next-generation on-chip computer multiplex processors.

Due to an enormous potential of pulsed lasers in applications such as manufacturing, metrology, environmental sensing, and biomedical diagnostics, a high-power and stable Q-switched erbium-ytterbium codoped double-clad fiber laser (EYDFL) incorporating of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) saturable absorber (SA) made based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with a 3∶2 ratio is demonstrated. The SA was fabricated by mixing a dilute PVA solution with an MWCNTs homogeneous solution. Subsequently, the mixture was sonicated and centrifuged to produce a homogeneous suspension that was left to dry at room temperature to form the MWCNTs-PVA film. The SA was formed by inserting the film between a pair of FC/PC fiber connectors. Then, it was integrated into the EYDFL’s ring cavity, which uses a 5-m-long erbium-ytterbium codoped fiber (EYDF). The lasing threshold for the Q-switched EYDFL was at 330 mW. At the maximum available pump power of 900 mW, the proposed EYDFL produced Q-switched pulses with a repetition rate of 74.85 kHz, pulsewidth of ∼3.6  μs, and an average output power of about 5 mW. The maximum energy per pulse of ∼85  nJ was obtained at pump power of ∼700  mW with peak power of 21 mW.

Indoor visible light communication (VLC) uses light emitting diodes (LEDs) to provide both illumination and data communication. The deployment of LED plays an important role in maintaining a steady optical power distribution over the reference receiving plane. Typical ways of luminaire deployment in offices and homes are not optimized for VLC. This paper investigates various configurations of LEDs for deploying them on the ceilings of offices and homes. The existing square array deployment of LEDs does not provide a full coverage on the receiving plane leaving dead spaces, which in turn affects the performance of the whole system. An optimized circular deployment scheme is proposed that considers both the position of the LED transmitters on the ceiling and the first reflections at each wall to yield more accurate results. Rectangular deployment and circular deployment are analyzed through simulation of the received optical power distribution, average outage area rate, and energy consumption. An optimization technique is developed to analyze the LED deployment schemes. It is clear from the results that the circular LED deployment provides a better performance than the square array grid LED deployment.

A polycrystalline ceramic based on an Nd,Y:SrF₂ single crystal was successfully fabricated and its laser performance was experimentally investigated. We obtained dual-wavelength continuous-wave operation at the wavelengths of 1050.5 and 1058.0 nm. The maximum output power and slope efficiency were 750 mW and 31.5%, respectively. In the passively Q-switched operation, the shortest pulse with a 169-ns duration was also obtained, and the corresponding maximum repetition rate and single pulse energy were 7.3 kHz and 19.2  μJ, respectively.

A tunable dual-wavelength passively mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) based on single-wall carbon nanotube is demonstrated. By properly tuning the pump power and the polarization controller, both single- and dual-wavelength mode-locked operation can be achieved. The repetition rates of the single- and dual-wavelength mode-locked operation are both 17.64 MHz. The duration of the ultrashort soliton pulse is about 3.7 ps. By appropriately adjusting the polarization state of the laser, the dual wavelength can be tuned from 1879.8 and 1894.5 nm to 1903.3 and 1914.1 nm.

We experimentally demonstrate a high-power, high-efficiency, near-diffraction-limited beam quality all-fiber picosecond pulse laser, which consists of a passively mode-locked seed laser and three-stage master power amplifiers. A repetition frequency multiplier and a high Yb-doped gain fiber with shorter length are utilized in the laser system to suppress the nonlinear effects and reduce the pulse broadening caused by dispersion. Moreover, the homemade light mode controllers based on a coiling and tapering fiber technique and the active fiber of the amplifier with a relatively small mode area are adopted to improve the beam quality. In addition, by experimentally adjusting the active fiber length, the optical conversion efficiency of the overall laser system can be optimized. Eventually, a 160 W high-power, high-efficiency, near-diffraction-limited picosecond pulse fiber laser is obtained, with the beam quality factor M² at 1.12 and an optical conversion efficiency of the system of 75%.

We proposed single-sideband (SSB) quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) vector radio-frequency optical signal generation enabled by a single directly modulated laser without precoding technology, which can reduce the system cost and tolerate fiber dispersion. Based on our proposed scheme, we experimentally demonstrated 8-Gbaud SSB QPSK signals generation at 10 GHz, and the generated signals are transmitted over 50-km single-mode fiber without power penalty. Our experimental results show that an equal power SSB signal can tolerate fiber dispersion and have the highest receiver sensitivity.

We experimentally demonstrate an all-optical approach for generating frequency-shift keying (FSK) radio-frequency (RF) signal based on nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) in a highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). A continuous wave probe beam is polarization-rotated by an optical amplitude-shift keying control beam via NPR in the HNLF. After removing the undesired control beam by a tunable optical filter, the polarization-rotated probe beam is converted to an intensity-modulated optical signal using a polarizer. By carefully adjusting the polarization controller before the polarizer and the optical power of the control beam, FSK RF signals are generated after photodetection.

The precise control of the thermal splicing temperature of ZBLAN fiber and silica fiber was guaranteed by theoretical simulation, analysis, and experimental optimization. The thermal splicing model was established, and optimized thermal splicing parameters were obtained based on the simulation results. The thermal splicing parameters were finely repeatedly tuned and optimized further in the thermal splicing experiments according to simulation parameters. The achieved loss was measured to be about 0.3 dB in the thermal splice experiments. The offset thermal splicing method demonstrated a repeatable, low-loss, and promising technique for the splice of ZBLAN fiber to silica fiber.

A devised tip–tilt guide mechanism (TTGM) for the fast steering of a large-scale mirror is presented. The TTGM uses a parallel structure with four struts, in which a double right-circular notch and a leaf spring are serially connected via a nondeformable rectangular linkage in aid of an axial flexure at the center of the payload. The benefits provided by the TTGM include pure rotation in the desired directions, an adaptable mechanism for a large and heavy mirror, and an adjustable virtual pivot of the moving body allowed by the configuration design. Closed-form stiffness equations of the individual flexure hinges are derived, and the equations of motion of the TTGM are mathematically formulated to predict the behaviors of the mechanism. To validate the performance of the TTGM, a design is presented and optimization of the geometric parameters of the TTGM is carried out. The model prediction accuracy for the resonant frequency relative to experimental results is found to be satisfactory, with errors of less than 11.4%. It is proven that the devised TTGM is an appropriate structure as a two-axis guide mechanism in three-dimensional space for the 160-mm diameter mirror with an angular travel range of 1 mrad.

A simple approach to generate passively harmonic mode-locked pulse trains in thulium-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation is proposed and demonstrated. Three different ways of mode-locked techniques have been employed in our structure to generate passively high-order harmonic mode-locked pulse trains; 128th-order passively harmonic mode-locked pulse train is achieved in the experiment and the repetition rate is 406.8 MHz. With the increase of the pump power, multiwavelength output can be tuned. A segment of dispersion compensation fiber is used to compensate the dispersion in the cavity; thus, the single pulse width is compressed from 617 to 48 ps.

Investigation in this paper is a discrete Ablowitz–Ladik equation, which has certain applications in the electrical and optical systems. Based on the Hirota method, bilinear forms, dark one- and two-soliton solutions for such an equation are obtained. Soliton propagation and collision are graphically presented and analyzed: Dark one soliton is shown to maintain its original amplitude and width during the propagation, and discrete peaks of the propagating soliton are displayed. Overtaking collision between the two solitons with the different amplitudes is observed, and solitons have the same traveling direction with their amplitudes, velocities, and widths unchanged. A head-on collision between the two solitons is illustrated, and shapes of the two solitons keep invariant except for some phase shifts. Asymptotic analysis shows that the collision between the two solitons is elastic.

We demonstrated temperature sensing of a side-polished fiber with polymer nanoporous film cladding, which was constructed by dehydrating dichromate gelatin film on the polished surface. Due to intermodal interference of core mode and cladding mode, two main transmission valleys were observed at 1219.2 and 1373.2 nm. The modulation amplitudes are ∼8 and 12 dB, respectively. These two transmission valleys show significant sensitivity to the temperature. At the wavelength of 1373.2 nm, the position of transmission valley blueshifted 114 nm while the temperature changes from 30°C to 90°C, and the sensitivity of temperature was up to 1.92  nm/°C. The linear correlation coefficient was 98.67%. The temperature sensing characteristics of nanoporous cladding fiber was successfully demonstrated, and it shows a high potential in photonics applications.

In the context of gridless optical multicarrier systems, we propose a method for intercarrier interference (ICI) mitigation which allows bit error correction in scenarios of nonspectral flatness between the subcarriers composing the multicarrier system and sub-Nyquist carrier spacing. We propose a hybrid ICI mitigation technique which exploits the advantages of signal equalization at both levels: the physical level for any digital and analog pulse shaping, and the bit-data level and its ability to incorporate advanced correcting codes. The concatenation of these two complementary techniques consists of a nondata-aided equalizer applied to each optical subcarrier, and a hard-decision forward error correction applied to the sequence of bits distributed along the optical subcarriers regardless of prior subchannel quality assessment as performed in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulations for the implementation of the bit-loading technique. The impact of the ICI is systematically evaluated in terms of bit-error-rate as a function of the carrier frequency spacing and the roll-off factor of the digital pulse-shaping filter for a simulated 3×32-Gbaud single-polarization quadrature phase shift keying Nyquist-wavelength division multiplexing system. After the ICI mitigation, a back-to-back error-free decoding was obtained for sub-Nyquist carrier spacings of 28.5 and 30 GHz and roll-off values of 0.1 and 0.4, respectively.

A practical application of a bidirectional microwave photonic filter (MPF) to transmit simultaneous analog TV signals coded on microwave carriers is experimentally demonstrated. The frequency response of the bidirectional MPF is obtained by the interaction of an externally modulated multimode laser diode emitting at 1.55  μm associated to the free-spectral range of the optical source, the chromatic dispersion parameter of the optical fiber, as well as the length of the optical link. The filtered microwave bandpass window generated around 2 GHz is used as electrical carrier in order to simultaneously transmit TV signals of 67.25 and 61.25 MHz in both directions. The obtained signal-to-noise ratios for the transmitted signals of 67.25 and 61.25 MHz are 37.62 and 44.77 dB, respectively.

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) wavelength shift demodulation method based on tunable distributed feedback laser diode (DFB-LD) is proposed. A highly effective algorithm is proposed to demodulate the strain of the sensing FBG, which is scanned by the tunable DFB-LD. The system is unique in that accurate demodulation can be achieved by scanning only a 0.4-nm bandwidth FBG spectrum instead of relying on scanning the FBG’s principal power peak and the scanned spectrum can be any part of the FBG. Thus, the demodulation system is much more simplified in comparison to a traditional demodulation system, which enables using wavelength-division multiplexing for the FBG sensing network. With the strain experiment of the FBG, the results match the theory of the proposed demodulation method very well, and the errors of the strain experiment are within 2 pm. The tunable DFB-LD is based on reconstruction-equivalent chirp (REC) technology. The REC technology potentially offers a low-price, compact, and high-performance solution for the demodulation.

This paper proposes a simple high-temperature sensor, which is fabricated by splicing a section of silica capillary tube (SCT) between two conventional single mode fibers (SMF). The resonance dips in the transmission spectrum resulting from the resonant reflection in SCT shift to red when temperature rises because of the positive thermo-optical coefficient of fused silica. In the temperature range from 200°C to at least 850°C, the sensor with an SCT length of about 25,012.8  μm obtained a temperature sensitivity of 28.97  pm/°C, which is close to theory analysis, 31.49  pm/°C. It can have actual application in high-temperature sensing due to its characteristics of good repeatability, great linearity, simple structure, and low cost.

A fiber-optic sensing scheme of measuring pressure is described here. The high reflective mirror in a laser cavity is replaced by a Sagnac loop in this scheme. The method combining the Sagnac effect with fiber loop ringdown technology fully embodies the advantages of both. The working principle is discussed in detail, and the whole sensing performance is demonstrated by applying sensing force to the sensor area. The sensing force can be obtained by measuring the ringdown time. The pressure measurement range of this device is 40 to 350 N. The detection sensitivity 0.4  ns/N can be realized in this system. The experimental curve reveals a close relationship between the sensing strain and the ringdown time.

The structure of p-i-n InGaN/GaN based solar cell having a photonic crystal (PhC)-based light trapping structure (LTS) at the top assisted by the planar metallic (aluminum) back reflector (BR) is proposed. We propose two different designs for efficiency enhancement: in one we keep the PhC structure etching depth extending from the top antireflective coating (ARC) of indium tin oxide (ITO) up to the p-GaN layer (which is beneath the ITO and above the active layer), whereas in the other design, the PhC LTS etching depth has been extended up to the In_xGa_1−xN absorbing layer, starting from the top ITO layer. The theoretical optical simulation studies and optimization of the required parameters of the structure, which help to investigate and demonstrate the effectiveness of the LTS in the efficiency enhancement of the structure, are presented. The work also demonstrates the Lambertian light trapping limits for the practical indium concentrations in a In_xGa_1−xN active layer cell. The paper also presents the comparison between the proposed designs and compares their results with that of a planar reference cell. The studies are carried out for various indium concentrations. The results indicate considerable enhancement in the efficiency due to the PhC LTS, mainly because of better coupling, low reflectance, and diffraction capability of the proposed LTS, although it is still under the Lambertian limits. The performance evaluation of the proposed structure with respect to the angle of incident light has also been done, indicating improved performance. The parameters have been optimized and calculated by means of rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) method.

A wavelength-encoding optical position sensor was designed in this study. The critical component of the sensor is its innovative digital encoding grating ruler (DEGR), which is a substrate on which several blazed grating units with different line densities are arranged parallel to one another following a certain order. Two types of multi-DEGR were designed. We obtained over 100,000 codes that significantly assisted in designing long-range and high-resolution position sensors by optimizing the coding algorithm. The wavelength signals generated by the multi-DEGR were demodulated using concave grating and several photosensitive elements. A 100-mm multi-DEGR with 1000 codes was successfully fabricated using the combined methods of direct laser writing and holographic technology. We described the principle of the sensor in detail and established the entire sensor system. A bench test was conducted to test the signal response of the sensor. Bench test results exhibited 100% accuracy of the signal response of the optical sensor and an excellent temperature performance within −55°C and 75°C.

Channel waveguides in Nd:GdVO₄ crystals were fabricated by using low-repetition-rate (1 kHz) femtosecond laser inscription. The influences of pulse energy and scanning velocity were investigated. Guiding occurs in the surroundings of the focal spot. Single-line, double-line, and double-layer waveguides were realized. The near-field mode images, refractive-index profile reconstruction, and mode analysis of waveguides are presented. The double-line waveguides show strong guidance at 632.8 nm with a loss of about 0.5  dB/mm and an index increase of 3×10⁻⁴. The mode profile asymmetry of single-line waveguide has been improved by using multipass scanning.

We use the nonlinear property of silicon carbon (SiC) multilayer devices under UV irradiation to design an optical processor for indoor positioning. The transducer combines the simultaneous demultiplexing operation with photodetection and self-amplification. The proposed coding is based on SiC technology. Based on that, we present a way to achieve indoor localization using the parity bits and a navigation syndrome. A representation with a 4-bit original string color message and the transmitted 7-bit string, the encoding and decoding of accurate positional information processes, and the design of SiC navigation syndrome generators are discussed and tested. A visible multilateration method estimates the position of the device using the decoded information received from several noncollinear transmitters. The location and motion information is found by mapping position and estimates the location areas. Since the indoor position of the light-emitting diode light source is known from building floor plans and lighting plans, the corresponding indoor position and travel direction of a mobile device can be determined.

This paper describes a unique technique that implements photoconductive sensors in a radio frequency (RF) switching network designed to locate in real-time the position and intensity of IR radiation incident on a composite structure. In the implementation described here, photoconductive sensors act as rapid response switches in a two-layer RF network embedded in an FR-4 laminate. To detect radiation, phosphorous-doped silicon photoconductive sensors are inserted in GHz range RF transmission lines. By permitting signal propagation only when a sensor is illuminated, the RF signals are selectively routed from lower layer transmission lines to upper layer lines, thereby pinpointing the location and strength of incident radiation. Simulations based on a high frequency three-dimensional planar electromagnetics model are presented and compared to the experimental results. The experimental results are described for GHz range RF signal control for 300- and 180-mW incident energy from 975- to 1060-nm wavelength lasers, respectively, where upon illumination, RF transmission line signal output power doubled when compared to nonilluminated results. The experimental results are also reported for 100-W incident energy from a 1060-nm laser. Test results illustrate real-time signal processing would permit a structure to be controlled in response to incident radiation.

Polymer-based optical sensor networks on foils (planar optronic systems) are a promising research field, but it can be challenging to supply them with light. We present a solvent-free, ink-jet printable material system with optically active substances to create planar light sources for these networks. The ink is based on a UV-curable monomer, the fluorescent agents are Eu(DBM)₃Phen or 9,10-diphenylantracene, which fluoresce at 612 or 430 nm, respectively. We demonstrate the application as light source by printing a small area of fluorescent material on an optical waveguide fabricated by flexographic printing on PMMA foil, resulting in a simple polymer-optical device fabricated entirely by additive deposition techniques. When excited by a 405-nm laser of 10 mW, the emitted light couples into the waveguide and appears at the end of the waveguide. In comparison to conventional light sources, the intensity is weak but could be detected with a photodiode power sensor. In return, the concept has the advantage of being completely independent of any electrical elements or external cable connections.