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1. In-vacuum measurements of optical scatter versus annealing temperature for amorphous Ta ₂ O ₅ and TiO ₂ :Ta ₂ O ₅ thin films

   https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.415665  

   Capote, Elenna_M; Gleckl, Amy; Guerrero, Jazlyn; Rezac, Michael; Wright, Robert; Smith, Joshua_R (March 2021, Journal of the Optical Society of America A)

   Optical coatings formed from amorphous oxide thin films have many applications in precision measurements. The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Advanced Virgo use coatings of $\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}{\mathrm{O}}_2$(silica) and $\mathrm{T}\mathrm{i}{\mathrm{O}}_2:\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{a}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5$(titania-doped tantala) and post-deposition annealing to 500°C to achieve low thermal noise and low optical absorption. Optical scattering by these coatings is a key limit to the sensitivity of the detectors. This paper describes optical scattering measurements for single-layer, ion-beam-sputtered thin films on fused silica substrates: two samples of $\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{a}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5$and two of $\mathrm{T}\mathrm{i}{\mathrm{O}}_2:\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{a}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5$. Using an imaging scatterometer at a fixed scattering angle of 12.8°, in-situ changes in the optical scatter of each sample were assessed during post-deposition annealing to 500°C in vacuum. The scatter of three of the four coated optics was observed to decrease during the annealing process, by 25–30% for tantala and up to 74% for titania-doped tantala, while the scatter from the fourth sample held constant. Angle-resolved scatter measurements performed before and after vacuum annealing suggest some improvement in three of the four samples. These results demonstrate that post-deposition, high-temperature annealing of single-layer tantala and titania-doped tantala thin films in vacuum does not lead to an increase in scatter, and may actually improve their scatter. 

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2. Mid-IR spectroscopy of Er ³⁺ doped low-phonon CsCdCl ₃ and CsPbCl ₃ crystals

   https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.470152  

   Brown, Ei_Ei; Fleischman, Zackery_D; McKay, Jason; Hommerich, Uwe; Kabir, Al_Amin; Riggins, Jazmine; Trivedi, Sudhir; Dubinskii, Mark (September 2022, Journal of the Optical Society of America B)

   The mid-IR spectroscopic properties of ${\mathrm{E}\mathrm{r}}^{3+}$doped low-phonon ${\mathrm{C}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{l}}_3$and ${\mathrm{C}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{b}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{l}}_3$crystals grown by the Bridgman technique have been investigated. Using optical excitations at $\sim <\#comment/>800\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}$and $\sim <\#comment/>660\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}$, both crystals exhibited IR emissions at $\sim <\#comment/>1.55$, $\sim <\#comment/>2.75$, $\sim <\#comment/>3.5$, and $\sim <\#comment/>4.5\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{m}$at room temperature. The mid-IR emission at 4.5 µm, originating from the ${}^4{\mathrm{I}}_{9/2}\to <\#comment/>{}^4{\mathrm{I}}_{11/2}$transition, showed a long emission lifetime of $\sim <\#comment/>11.6\mathrm{m}\mathrm{s}$for ${\mathrm{E}\mathrm{r}}^{3+}$doped ${\mathrm{C}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{l}}_3$, whereas ${\mathrm{E}\mathrm{r}}^{3+}$doped ${\mathrm{C}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{b}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{l}}_3$exhibited a shorter lifetime of $\sim <\#comment/>1.8\mathrm{m}\mathrm{s}$. The measured emission lifetimes of the ${}^4{\mathrm{I}}_{9/2}$state were nearly independent of the temperature, indicating a negligibly small nonradiative decay rate through multiphonon relaxation, as predicted by the energy-gap law for low-maximum-phonon energy hosts. The room temperature stimulated emission cross sections for the ${}^4{\mathrm{I}}_{9/2}\to <\#comment/>{}^4{\mathrm{I}}_{11/2}$transition in ${\mathrm{E}\mathrm{r}}^{3+}$doped ${\mathrm{C}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{l}}_3$and ${\mathrm{C}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{b}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{l}}_3$were determined to be $\sim <\#comment/>0.14\times <\#comment/>{10}^{-<\#comment/>20}{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^2$and $\sim <\#comment/>0.41\times <\#comment/>{10}^{-<\#comment/>20}{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^2$, respectively. The results of Judd–Ofelt analysis are presented and discussed. 

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3. Growth and characterization of Sc ₂ O ₃ doped Ta ₂ O ₅ thin films

   https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.59.00A106  

   Fazio, Mariana; Yang, Le; Markosyan, Ashot; Bassiri, Riccardo; Fejer, Martin_M; Menoni, Carmen_S (December 2019, Applied Optics)

   We present the optical and structural characterization of films of ${\mathrm{T}\mathrm{a}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5$, ${\mathrm{S}\mathrm{c}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$, and ${\mathrm{S}\mathrm{c}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$doped ${\mathrm{T}\mathrm{a}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5$with a cation ratio around 0.1 grown by reactive sputtering. The addition of ${\mathrm{S}\mathrm{c}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$as a dopant induces the formation of tantalum suboxide due to the “oxygen getter” property of scandium. The presence of tantalum suboxide greatly affects the optical properties of the coating, resulting in higher absorption loss at $\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}=1064\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}$. The refractive index and optical band gap of the mixed film do not correspond to those of a mixture of ${\mathrm{T}\mathrm{a}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5$and ${\mathrm{S}\mathrm{c}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$, given the profound structural modifications induced by the dopant. 

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4. Spectroscopic study of the 4 f ⁷ 6 s ^{2 8} S 7/2∘−4 f ⁷ ( ⁸ S ^∘ )6 s 6 p ( ¹ P ^∘ ) ⁸ P _9/2 transition in neutral europium-151 and europium-153: absolute frequency and hyperfine structure

   https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.467968  

   Herd, M_T; Maruko, C.; Herzog, M_M; Brand, A.; Cannon, G.; Duah, B.; Hollin, N.; Karani, T.; Wallace, A.; Whitmore, M.; et al (September 2022, Journal of the Optical Society of America B)

   We report on spectroscopic measurements on the $4f^{7}6s^2{}^8{S}_{7/2}^{\circ <\#comment/>}\to <\#comment/>4f^7{(}^8{S}^{\circ <\#comment/>}\left)6s6p{(}^1{P}^{\circ <\#comment/>}\right){}^8{P}_{9/2}$transition in neutral europium-151 and europium-153 at 459.4 nm. The center of gravity frequencies for the 151 and 153 isotopes, reported for the first time in this paper, to our knowledge, were found to be 652,389,757.16(34) MHz and 652,386,593.2(5) MHz, respectively. The hyperfine coefficients for the $6s6p{(}^1{P}^{\circ <\#comment/>}){}^8{P}_{9/2}$state were found to be $\mathrm{A}\left(151\right)=-<\#comment/>228.84\left(2\right)\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$, $\mathrm{B}\left(151\right)=226.9\left(5\right)\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$and $\mathrm{A}\left(153\right)=-<\#comment/>101.87\left(6\right)\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$, $\mathrm{B}\left(153\right)=575.4\left(1.5\right)\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$, which all agree with previously published results except for A(153), which shows a small discrepancy. The isotope shift is found to be 3163.8(6) MHz, which also has a discrepancy with previously published results. 

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5. Spectrally simplified approach for leveraging legacy geostationary oceanic observations

   https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.465491  

   Houskeeper, Henry_F; Hooker, Stanford_B; Cavanaugh, Kyle_C (September 2022, Applied Optics)

   The use of multispectral geostationary satellites to study aquatic ecosystems improves the temporal frequency of observations and mitigates cloud obstruction, but no operational capability presently exists for the coastal and inland waters of the United States. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the current iteration of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, termed the $R$Series (GOES-R), however, provides sub-hourly imagery and the opportunity to overcome this deficit and to leverage a large repository of existing GOES-R aquatic observations. The fulfillment of this opportunity is assessed herein using a spectrally simplified, two-channel aquatic algorithm consistent with ABI wave bands to estimate the diffuse attenuation coefficient for photosynthetically available radiation, $K_d\left(\mathrm{P}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{R}\right)$. First, anin situABI dataset was synthesized using a globally representative dataset of above- and in-water radiometric data products. Values of $K_d\left(\mathrm{P}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{R}\right)$were estimated by fitting the ratio of the shortest and longest visible wave bands from thein situABI dataset to coincident,in situ $K_d\left(\mathrm{P}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{R}\right)$data products. The algorithm was evaluated based on an iterative cross-validation analysis in which 80% of the dataset was randomly partitioned for fitting and the remaining 20% was used for validation. The iteration producing the median coefficient of determination ( $R^2$) value (0.88) resulted in a root mean square difference of $0.319{\mathrm{m}}^{-<\#comment/>1}$, or 8.5% of the range in the validation dataset. Second, coincident mid-day images of central and southern California from ABI and from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were compared using Google Earth Engine (GEE). GEE default ABI reflectance values were adjusted based on a near infrared signal. Matchups between the ABI and MODIS imagery indicated similar spatial variability ( $R^2=0.60$) between ABI adjusted blue-to-red reflectance ratio values and MODIS default diffuse attenuation coefficient for spectral downward irradiance at 490 nm, $K_d\left(490\right)$, values. This work demonstrates that if an operational capability to provide ABI aquatic data products was realized, the spectral configuration of ABI would potentially support a sub-hourly, visible aquatic data product that is applicable to water-mass tracing and physical oceanography research. 

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