Contents
2020
Volume: 1 Issue 3
5 Article(s)

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Special Issue on Soft-Matter Photonics
Silk: a versatile biomaterial for advanced optics and photonics [Invited] | On the Cover
Yushu Wang, Meng Li, and Yu Wang
Review of Optics: a virtual journal
  • Publication Date: Aug. 10, 2020
  • Vol. 18 Issue 8 080004 (2020)
Lasers and Laser Optics
Laser transverse modes of spherical resonators: a review [Invited] | On the Cover
Y. F. Chen, C. C. Lee, C. H. Wang, and M. X. Hsieh
The study of structured laser beams has been one of the most active fields of research for decades, particularly in exploring laser beams with orbital angular momentum. The direct generation of structured beams from laser resonators is deeply associated with the formation of transverse modes. The wave representations of transverse modes of spherical cavities are usually categorized into Hermite–Gaussian (HG) and Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) modes for a long time. Enormous experimental results have revealed that the generalized representation for the transverse modes is the Hermite–LG (HLG) modes. We make a detailed overview for the theoretical description of the HLG modes from the representation of the spectral unitary group of order 2 in the Jordan–Schwinger map. Furthermore, we overview how to derive the integral formula for the elliptical modes based on the Gaussian wave-packet state and the inverse Fourier transform. The relationship between the HLG modes and elliptical modes is linked by the quantum Fourier transform. The most striking result is that the HLG modes can be exactly derived as the superposition of the elliptical modes without involving Hermite and Laguerre polynomials. Finally, we discuss the application of the HLG modes in characterizing the propagation evolution of the vortex structures of HG beams transformed by an astigmatic mode converter. This overview certainly provides not only a novel formula for transverse modes, but also a pedagogical insight into quantum physics.
Review of Optics: a virtual journal
  • Publication Date: Sep. 10, 2020
  • Vol. 18 Issue 9 091404 (2020)
Reviews
Recent advances in optoelectronic oscillators
Tengfei Hao, Yanzhong Liu, Jian Tang, Qizhuang Cen, Wei Li, Ninghua Zhu, Yitang Dai, José Capmany, Jianping Yao, and Ming Li
An optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is a microwave photonic system that produces microwave signals with ultralow phase noise using a high-quality-factor optical energy storage element. This type of oscillator is desired in various practical applications, such as communication links, signal processing, radar, metrology, radio astronomy, and reference clock distribution. Recently, new mode control and selection methods based on Fourier domain mode-locking and parity-time symmetry have been proposed and experimentally demonstrated in OEOs, which overcomes the long-existing mode building time and mode selection problems in a traditional OEO. Due to these mode control and selection methods, continuously chirped microwave waveforms can be generated directly from the OEO cavity and single-mode operation can be achieved without the need of ultranarrowband filters, which are not possible in a traditional OEO. Integrated OEOs with a compact size and low power consumption have also been demonstrated, which are key steps toward a new generation of compact and versatile OEOs for demanding applications. We review recent progress in the field of OEOs, with particular attention to new mode control and selection methods, as well as chip-scale integration of OEOs.
Review of Optics: a virtual journal
  • Publication Date: Jul. 25, 2020
  • Vol. 2 Issue 4 044001 (2020)

About the Cover

Review of Optics: a virtual journal, started in 2019, is a virtual review journal, and it contains high-quality review articles from journals that published by Chinese Laser Press independently or along with its partners. Review of Optics is published quarterly. It aims to provide readers an alternative way to quickly look through high quality review papers. The scope of Review of Optics covers the full area of optics and photonics and relevant interdisciplinary topics, and meanwhile is in accordance with its source journals: Advanced Photonics, Chinese Optics Letters, High Power Laser Science and engineering and Photonics Research.