Partitioning the pupil reduces the degree of baseline redundancy, and therefore improves the quality of images that can be obtained from the system. A practical realization of this approach uses an aperture partitioning element at an aft optics pupil of the optical system. This paper describes the design, implementation and testing of a new aperture partitioning element that is completely refle...

Large-area three-dimensional Penrose-type photonic quasicrystals are fabricated through a holographic lithography method using a lab-made diffractive optical element and a single laser exposure. The diffractive optical element consists of five polymer gratings symmetrically orientated around a central opening. The fabricated Penrose-type photonic quasicrystal shows ten-fold rotational symmetry....

We present a new design of a modal wave-front sensor capable of measuring directly the Zernike components of an aberrated wave front. The sensor shows good linearity for small aberration amplitudes and is particularly suitable for integration in a closed-loop adaptive system. We introduce a sensitivity matrix and show that it is sparse, and we derive conditions specifying which elements are nec...

We present a novel slanted faces of thin-disk composite Yb:YAG YAG laser which is side-pumped by four non-symmetric hollow- ducts. The pump light distribution in the disk is modeled by using Monte-Carlo ray tracing method. The temperature distribution inside the crystal is calculated by taking into account either the concentration of Yb+3 ion or the different transmission of laser output coupl...

Design procedures for simple two- and three-element diffractive telescopes, suitable for monochromatic applications, are described. We obtained the basic configuration for the two-element design analytically by solving design equations to set the Seidel aberrations to target values. Computer optimization is used to complete the design of the doublet and triplet telescopes. The two- and three-el...

The element efficiency of a phased array is the ratio of the radiated-to-available power of a single element, when only that element is excited. We relate this element efficiency to the output noise power generated by a quasi-optical grid amplifier array. Both electromagnetic and thermodynamic derivations will be presented. These ideas will be used to predict the total noise power and noise rad...

We describe a design methodology for synthesizing cubic-phase optical elements using two-dimensional subwavelength microstructures. We combined a numerical and experimental approach to demonstrate that by spatially varying the geometric properties of binary subwavelength gratings it is possible to produce a diffractive element with a cubic-phase profile. A test element was designed and fabricat...

The aged human eye is commonly affected by presbyopia, and therefore, it gradually loses its capability to form images of objects placed at different distances. Extended depth of focus (EDOF) imaging elements can overcome this inability, despite the introduction of a certain amount of aberration. This paper evaluates the EDOF imaging performance of the so-called peacock eye phase diffractive el...

Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) optical microresonator biosensors are a powerful tool for targeted detection of analytes at extremely low concentrations. However, in complex environments, non-specific adsorption can significantly reduce their signal to noise ratio, limiting their accuracy. To overcome this, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) can be employed in conjunction with appropriate recognition el...