Nonlinear Optics and Photosensitive Materials

Nonlinear light optics

By using holographic techniques we perform fundamental research on nonlinear optical materials relevant for photonics, high capacity information storage (holographic data storage), and optical data processing. Focus is laid on phenomena such as photorefractive effects in acentric and centrosymmetric crystals, light driven phase separation processes in polymer composites, enhancement of photorefraction and optical damage resistance or holographic scattering.

Selected publications:

1. Liu, Yang, et al. "Multifunctional and tunable trigate graphene metamaterial with “Lakes of Wada” topology." Optics Express 28.17 (2020): 24772-24788.
2. Kong, Yongfa, et al. "Recent progress in lithium niobate: optical damage, defect simulation, and on‐chip devices." Advanced Materials 32.3 (2020): 1806452.
3. Zheng, Dahuai, et al. "Real-time dynamic holographic display realized by bismuth and magnesium co-doped lithium niobate." Applied Physics Letters 114.24 (2019): 241903.
4. Zheng, Dahuai, et al. "The simultaneous enhancement of photorefraction and optical damage resistance in MgO and Bi2O3 co-doped LiNbO3 crystals." Scientific reports 6 (2016): 20308.
5. Prijatelj, Matej, et al. "Peculiar behaviour of optical polarization gratings in light-sensitive liquid crystalline elastomers." Optical Materials Express 6.3 (2016): 961-970.
6. Prijatelj, Matej, et al. "Far-off-Bragg reconstruction of volume holographic gratings: A comparison of experiment and theories." Physical Review A 87.6 (2013): 063810.

Novel photosensitive materials

We search for new high performance photosensitive materials, among them polymer composites with a particular emphasis on functionalized nanoparticle polymer composites, standard electrooptic crystals, molecular centrosymmetric crystals, polymers and and polymer dispersed liquid crystals. These media are patterned on the lengthscale of submicrons ("photonic crystals"), the structures are characterized by interferometry and diffraction of light and (very) cold neutrons. Modelling of the properties by employing analytical theories is conducted, too.

Selected publications:

1. Tomita, Yasuo, et al. "Fabrication of nanodiamond-dispersed composite holographic gratings and their light and slow-neutron diffraction properties." Phys. Rev. Appl, in print (2020).
2. Ellabban, Mostafa A., et al. "A Comprehensive Study of Photorefractive Properties in Poly (ethylene glycol) Dimethacrylate—Ionic Liquid Composites." Materials 10.1 (2017): 9.
3. Tomita, Yasuo, et al. "Photopolymerizable nanocomposite photonic materials and their holographic applications in light and neutron optics." Journal of modern optics 63.sup3 (2016): S1-S31.
4. Guo, Jinxin, et al. "Effects of chain-transferring thiol functionalities on the performance of nanoparticle-polymer composite volume gratings." Optics letters 39.23 (2014): 6743-6746.
5. Fujii, Ryuta, et al. "Nanoparticle polymer composite volume gratings incorporating chain transfer agents for holography and slow-neutron optics." Optics letters 39.12 (2014): 3453-3456.