The field of photorefractive physics and optics is mature and, although there is no significant commercial activity using photorefractive media, researchers in the field have had an extraordinary impact on many related areas of research and development. For example, in the late 1990s many of the telecom innovations and products were based on the interaction between light and matter. Examples include optical switches, filters, gratings, routers and light sources. The theory of multiple interacting beams of light inside a photosensitive medium, many of which were developed or further explored in photorefractive media, has found application in medicine, engineering, communication systems, displays and other photonics devices. On the occasions of the 30th anniversary of the theory of coupled wave analysis and the 10th anniversary of the meetings on Photorefractive Effects and Devices , it seemed appropriate to the meeting organizers of PR'07 to broaden the scope to include other related fields. The name of the meeting was changed to Controlling Light with Light: Photorefractive Effects, Photosensitivity, Fiber Gratings, Photonic Materials and More to attract a larger audience than traditionally would attend the more narrowly focused photorefractive meeting. To further disseminate the results of the 2007 meeting, Gerald Roosen proposed a special publication of original full research articles arising from key presentations at the meeting. The selection of papers in this Cluster Issue of Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics is the result of that initiative. We would like to thank all the authors for their contributions, the committee members for their valuable insight and efforts in helping to organize the meeting, and the Optical Society of America for their professional assistance throughout the preparation period of the meeting as well as during the three beautiful days in Lake Tahoe, CA.
The field of photorefractive physics and optics is mature and, although there is no significant commercial activity using photorefractive media, researchers in the field have had an extraordinary impact on many related areas of research and development. For example, in the late 1990s many of the telecom innovations and products were based on the interaction between light and matter. Examples include optical switches, filters, gratings, routers and light sources. The theory of multiple interacting beams of light inside a photosensitive medium, many of which were developed or further explored in photorefractive media, has found application in medicine, engineering, communication systems, displays and other photonics devices. On the occasions of the 30th anniversary of the theory of coupled wave analysis and the 10th anniversary of the meetings on Photorefractive Effects and Devices , it seemed appropriate to the meeting organizers of PR'07 to broaden the scope to include other related fields. The name of the meeting was changed to Controlling Light with Light: Photorefractive Effects, Photosensitivity, Fiber Gratings, Photonic Materials and More to attract a larger audience than traditionally would attend the more narrowly focused photorefractive meeting. To further disseminate the results of the 2007 meeting, Gerald Roosen proposed a special publication of original full research articles arising from key presentations at the meeting. The selection of papers in this Cluster Issue of Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics is the result of that initiative. We would like to thank all the authors for their contributions, the committee members for their valuable insight and efforts in helping to organize the meeting, and the Optical Society of America for their professional assistance throughout the preparation period of the meeting as well as during the three beautiful days in Lake Tahoe, CA.
PREFACE The papers selected for this volume were reported at the International Symposium 'Optics and its applications' (OPTICS-2011, Yerevan & Ashtarak, Armenia, September 5–9, 2011), http://www.ipr.sci.am/optics2011/ . The Symposium was organized by the SPIE Armenian Student Chapter and major Armenian R&D organizations, universities and industrial companies working in the field of basic and applied optics: Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan State University, Russian–Armenian (Slavonic) University, and LT-PYRKAL Closed Joint Stock Company. OPTICS-2011 was primarily intended to support and promote the involvement of students and young scientists in various fields of modern optics, giving them the possibility to attend invited talks by prominent scientists and to present and discuss their own results. Furthermore, the Symposium allowed foreign participants from 14 countries to become acquainted with the achievements of optical science and technology in Armenia, which became a full member of the International Commission for Optics (ICO) in 2011. To follow this concept, the Symposium sessions were held in various host institutions. The creative and friendly ambience established at OPTICS-2011 promoted further international collaboration in the field and motivated many students to take up research in optics and photonics as a career. This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series covers thematic sections of the Symposium (both oral and poster), which represent the main fields of interest in optics for Armenian scientists: quantum optics & information, laser spectroscopy, optical properties of nanostructures, photonics & fiber optics, and optics of liquid crystals. Such wide coverage is consistent with the general scope of the Symposium, allowing all the students involved in optics to present, discuss and publish their recent results, and for those who are making their first steps in science to choose the direction of their further studies. We are confident that the publication of the Symposium proceedings in JPCS , a worldwide-known open access journal, will help to disseminate and promote current activities in optics, thus facilitating international cooperation and the integration of Armenian scientists into the worldwide optical community. We would like to thank the sponsors of the Symposium: National Foundation of Science and Advanced Technologies (NFSAT), The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), LT-PYRKAL, State Committee of Science of Armenia, Russian–Armenian (Slavonic) University, and Devout Generation Foundation. We also express our gratitude to the members of the Program Committee for their organization of the manuscript reviewing. Special thanks go to Narine Gevorgyan, Lilit Mantashyan and Paytsar Mantashyan for their invaluable assistance in the compilation of this issue. The Editors, Aranya B Bhattacherjee , University of Delhi, India Maria L Calvo , Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain Eduard M Kazaryan , Russian–Armenian (Slavonic) University, Armenia Aram V Papoyan , Institute for Physical Research of NAS, Armenia Hayk A Sarkisyan , Russian–Armenian (Slavonic) University, Armenia Participants of OPTICS-2011 in front of Yerevan State University Participants of OPTICS-2011 in Khor Virap The PDF also contains additional photographs from the Symposium.
Research into slow light began theoretically in 1880 with the paper [1] of H A Lorentz, who is best known for his work on relativity and the speed of light. Experimental work started some 60 years later with the work of S L McCall and E L Hahn [2] who explored non-linear self-induced transparency in ruby. This field of research has burgeoned in the last 10 years, starting with the work of L Vestergaard Hau and coworkers on slow light via electromagnetically induced transparency in a Bose–Einstein condensate [3]. Many groups are now able to slow light down to a few metres per second or even stop the motion of light entirely [4]. Today, slow light – or more often `slow and fast light' – has become its own vibrant field with a strongly increasing number of publications. In broad scope, slow light research can be categorized in terms of the sort of physical mechanism used to slow down the light. One sort of slow light makes use of material dispersion. This dispersion can be the natural dispersion of the ordinary refractive index or can be the frequency dependence of some nonlinear optical process, such as electromagnetically induced transparency, coherent population oscillations, stimulated light scattering, or four-wave mixing processes. The second sort of slow light makes use of the wavelength dependence of artificially structured materials, such as photonic crystals, optical waveguides, and collections of microresonators. Material systems in which slow light has been observed include metal vapours, rare-earth-doped materials, Raman and Brillioun gain media, photonic crystals, microresonators and, more recently, metamaterials. A common feature of all of these schemes is the presence of a sharp single resonance or multiple resonances produced by an atomic transition, a resonance in a photonic structure, or in a nonlinear optical process. Current applications of slow light include a series of attractive topics in optical information processing, such as optical data storage, optical memories, quantum information devices, and optical communication systems in which the use of slow light will allow all-optical processing with less wasted heat. To implement these applications, devices such as buffers, memories, interferometers and switches that utilize slow light need to be developed. Future challenges include the need for improved coupling of light into slow light modes, overcoming propagation losses, and mitigating the influence of large dispersion of the group velocity. The collection of papers in this special issue of Journal of Optics features a broad spectrum of articles that highlight actual developments in many of the material types and schemes described above. It represents therefore an excellent up to date snapshot of the current state of the field of slow light research. References [1] Lorentz H A 1880 Uber die Beziehung zwischen der Fortpflanzung des Lichtes und der Körperdichte Wiedemann Ann. 9 641–64 [2] McCall S L and Hahn E L 1967 Self-induced transparency by pulsed coherent light Phys. Rev. Lett. 18 908–11 [3] Vestergaard Hau L, Harris S E, Dutton Z and Behroozi C H 1999 Nature 397 594 [4] Philips D F, Fleischhauer A, Mair A, Walsworth R L and Lukin M D 2001 Storage of light in atomic vapor Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 783–6
This topical issue of Quantum and Semiclassical Optics contains a series of articles presented at the workshop ` Second Order Nonlinear Optics: from Fundamentals to Applications', held in l'Ecole de Physique des Houches (Haute-Savoie, France) from 22 to 26 April 1996. The recent development of new laser sources, such as diode-pumped solid-state lasers, and the availability of new highly nonlinear materials (including artificial materials based on quasi-phase-matched techniques) has induced a revival of the field of second order nonlinear optics. This research covers a broad spectrum, ranging from fundamentals (generation of nonclassical states of light, amplification without added noise, frequency division chain, etc.) to applications (spectroscopy, teledetection, metrology, communications, etc.), through the development of new light sources (coherent and tunable, pulsed or continuous wave) and of new optronic devices. The purpose of this workshop was to gather together researchers from different cultures and horizons (fundamental and applied research, industry) who contribute to the dissemination of advanced knowledge and the formation of contacts among scientists from different countries. A significant effort was made by the lecturers to give talks that could be easily understood by nonspecialists of the domain and to cover in a synthetic way the different aspects of second order nonlinear optics. The topics cover both physics and engineering aspects of the field and present an up-to-date survey of current research in second order nonlinear optics. The 72 participants from 13 countries attended 29 lectures presented by 27 lecturers over five extensive working days in an informal and fruitful way. Participants were given a chance to present their own work through 24 poster papers in two very lively sessions. The Editors would like to thank the authors for their excellent contributions to this volume. The organisers are grateful for the help of many organisations in the success of the school. The principal sponsors were CNRS, CEA, DRET, Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, the European Community (EC) and THOMSON-CSF. We also wish to express our deepest gratitude to the local organising team for their unstinting efforts. Guest Editors Claude Fabre and Jean-Paul Pocholle The abstracts for the poster papers appear in the PostScript and PDF files.
This special issue of physica status solidi (b) on single electron control contains a series of articles dealing with the manipulation and detection of single electrons. Based on the tremendous experimental and theoretical progress achieved within this field during the last years, the generation of single electrons on demand in coherent conductors and the full control over the quantum states of single electrons is now within reach. The knowledge of such techniques is an absolute prerequisite for the implementation of schemes for the controlled transfer of quantum information in electronic setups. The transfer of quantum information was up to now mostly applied in quantum-optical setups. Such quantum technologies are expected to open up a whole new field for basic science but also for future applications in quantum communication and quantum sensing. The idea to put in place this special issue arose during a focus session on “single-particle sources for electronic devices”, which we organized at the DPG spring meeting of the condensed matter section in Regensburg on March 7, 2016. During the focus session, it became evident that the advancement of this research field had been quite dramatic during the last years and that it would be helpful for the scientific community to document this progress in a special issue. The focus session in Regensburg included 6 invited and 8 contributed talks. Most of the research groups, which were active in that focus session at the DPG spring meeting, and several other groups have now contributed with manuscripts to this special issue. The leading role of European groups in the field of single-electron control is evident from the fact that most of the contributions are of European origin. Within Europe, in these days, a number of different activities are started to advance quantum technologies, to mention only as a prominent example, the announcement and planning of the 3rd EU Flagship Program on Quantum Technologies. The purpose of this issue is, among others, to bring the field of single-electron control to the attention of the scientific community interested in quantum technologies. This issue includes 10 feature articles, allowing the readers to get a broad overview, but also 11 original research papers, thereby presenting the most recent advancements of the field. The subjects that are covered range from the physics of single-electron wave packets, thermodynamics with single electrons, studies of entanglement and electron quantum optics, up to the realization of feedback control and investigations of single-electron charge transfer. Contributions from experimental groups and from theory groups are almost balanced, representing a complete picture of the field. We hope that all readers will find this issue interesting and stimulating. We dedicate this special issue to Prof. Dr. Tobias Brandes, who unexpectedly passed away on 2 February 2017 at the age of 50. With him we lost an excellent scientist with great international recognition who impressed by his extraordinary kindness and his modest, open and friendly way in meeting people. Throughout his whole scientific carreer, Tobias has worked to bridge the gap between coherent solid-state devices, as e.g. in the quantum Hall effect or in quantum dots, and quantum optics. A focus of his research were quantum mechanical aspects of dynamical effects in solid-state devices. After having studied physics at the University of GÖttingen, Tobias worked at a number of different places, in Germany, Japan and the UK, before he moved to the Technical University of Berlin as a full professor in 2016. Within this special issue one of his last manuscripts is published which deals with feedback control applied to single-electron devices. Feedback control, as he had in mind in some of his recent publications, is therefore also visualized in the picture of the title page of this issue. With the sudden death of Tobias, the whole scientific community lost a great scientist and we all lost a good friend. Janine Splettstoesser Rolf J. Haug Guest Editors
Interactions between light and molecular matter featuring photon absorption are commonly associated with excitation of individual chromophores. Subsequent relaxation is achieved through numerous mechanisms, such as scattering and energy transfer to neighbouring chromophores. The efficiency of such processes depends on many factors, including the intensity and wavelength of the optical input, the absorption cross-section of the molecule and the relative orientation of molecular components. New photonic materials are developed on the principle that such factors are controllable, duly tailoring the system to suit new technological applications. The parameters that determine the linear response in multicomponent materials are typically assessed within the theoretical framework of classical optics. However, with improved interest and capability in fabricating nanoscale structures (especially those that exhibit quantum effects), it is becoming increasingly relevant to develop theory that more faithfully represents how individual photons engage with matter. In such constructs, the interaction of materials with optical waves and photons is highly dependent on local molecular environment, therefore surrounding structures and ancillary species exert forms of influence on the photophysical processes inherent within dielectric media. At optical wavelengths where the secondary structure displays little intrinsic optical absorption, the role of such components is often interpreted as modifying the input through a corrective local index of refraction. Although expedient in the discussion of bulk properties of a macroscopic medium, it is reasonably supposed at a local chromophore-photon level that optical mechanisms operate in a different fashion. Using a fully quantized approach to the representation of local molecular electronic structure and electrodynamics, this research develops rigorous theory and a corresponding physical interpretation of how photon absorption, scattering and energy transfer are modified by vicinal, non-absorbing chromophores. The results provide insight into the mechanisms achieved within multi-chromophore systems, highlighting factors that assist in the optimization of optical characteristics in designer materials.