Melanin particles often present as an aggregate of smaller melanin pigment granules and have a heterogeneous surface morphology. When irradiated with light within the absorption spectrum of melanin, these heterogeneities produce measurable concentrations of the electric field that result in temperature gradients from thermal effects that are not seen with spherical or ellipsoidal modeling of melanin. Modeling melanin without taking into consideration the heterogeneous surface morphology yields results that underestimate the strongest signals or over{estimate their spatial extent. We present a new technique to image phase changes induced by heating using a computational model of melanin that exhibits these surface heterogeneities. From this analysis, we demonstrate the heterogeneous energy absorption and resulting heating that occurs at the surface of the melanin granule that is consistent with three{photon absorption. Using the three{photon dluorescence as a beacon, we propose a method for detecting the extents of the melanin granule using photothermal microscopy to measure the phase changes resulting from the heating of the melanin.
A computational analysis of a microchannel reacting flow that includes diffusion and heat transfer processes to
determine design rules for sensor placement is described. The objective is to optimize the positioning of nanohole array
sensors which measure concentration and temperature and to analyze the characteristics of the local quantities sensed by
nanohole arrays. Because the position and minimum spacing of the sensors are limited by material and fabrication
constraints, the computational analysis is used to verify the effectiveness and limitations of this approach. Thermal
boundary analysis is performed to analyze the relation between the sensed layer (micro-sensing region) over the
nanohole array sensors and the boundary layer development. The relationship between the sensor position and the nodes
of the numerical solution that limit this design process are discussed.
A fast, sensitive temperature sensor using changes in extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) through an array of nanoholes in a metallic film with a monochromatic collimated light source is analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The device is composed of a dielectric material in contact with a metallic film with an array of nanoholes, (25 arrays per chip were treated as a single sensor), on a glass substrate. Although the present experiment used a volume of water in a test cell to demonstrate the phenomena, there are many configurations that implement this technology in a variety of applications. The fast response of the device is expected because it measures the average temperature of a thin layer of the dielectric material directly above the nanoholes, ~100 nm. The thermal response parameter of the nanohole array sensing region is ~108 times smaller and orders of magnitude faster than that of the reference thermistor. The increased speed and sensitivity of the nanohole array temperature sensor over the thermistor is observed in the reported data. The configuration of this temperature sensor was used for simplicity and to demonstrate that EOT effects can be used for temperature sensing.
A numerical parametric investigation using a 2-level factorial design of experiments was performed to determine the effect of the f-number, sample position, sample thickness and the number of passes through the nonlinear optical sample on the beam transmittance through an optical system and on the threshold intensity. Calculated temperature profiles and excited state population dynamics are also reported. These results describe trends that are used in making decisions during the design process.
The optical transmission processes for a nonlinear optical (NLO) material are influenced by the properties of its environment. NLO properties such as intersystem crossing rates may be altered by characteristics of the host such as polarity. The effects of the host material on the optical transmission of the NLO material is investigated using numerical laser beam propagation modeling (LBPM) techniques. Numerical simulations are reported for the optical transmission for zinc meso-tetra(p-methoxyphenyl)tetrabenzporphyrin (ZnTMPTBP) in liquids of differing polarity such as toluene, tetrahydrofuran (THF), dichloromethane (DCM), acetone, and pyridine. In addition to investigating the effect of the solvent on transmission, these calculations explore the effect on transmission of two different singlet lifetimes which have been reported in the literature. Transmission curves are calculated using separately determined parameters obtained from curve fitting using zscan data. Calculated results are compared with experimental data for all cases. Z-scans are also calculated for several cases and the results compared to experimental data. Numerical simulations provide a valuable tool to study the optical transmission behavior of NLO materials such as ZnTMPTBP.
A strategy for protecting and improving the performance of a nonlinear optical device exposed to a high-energy beam is numerically investigated. In this strategy, a thermally stimulated defocusing material is used in combination with a RSA material. To test this new approach, the ability of a CS2 cell dyed with a liner absorber material to protect a NLO device is determined using calculated values of beam and aperture transmission and the temperature distribution in the NLO device. The results demonstrate that the strategy provides thermal protection and marginally reduces the aperture transmission. These current calculations suggests that other approaches, such as multi-cell devices, may be more effective at providing thermal protection and reducing beam transmission. However, this current approach needs further investigation at other linear transmissions and in addition might be combined with other approaches, such as multiple layers to provide enhanced protection.
The application of a numerical algorithm to the design procedure of a multi-cell limiter (MCL) is discussed and calculated numerical results are compared to experimental results. This application illustrates the ability to predict optical limiting under circumstances that are comparable to the design process of a MCL. Both the optical limiting and the temperature profile through the MCL are determined for three design cases. Also, the numerical analysis is used to investigate thermal damage using the calculated temperature profile. The results illustrate the potential application of a numerical simulation in designing a MCL and that the accuracy of the numerical model is on the same order as the experimental uncertainties.
The significance of microscale heat transfer mechanisms during short pulsed laser radiation of thermally stimulated nonlinear optical material is investigated. Significant differences occur between the temperature predictions of the diffusion equation and microscale model. The temperature response effects the index of refraction gradient and results in large differences in the predicted instantaneous transmittance values of the laser beam. The results show that the percentage difference error in the calculated average transmittance value for the two models will decrease from over 30% initially, to less than eight percent after four times the material relaxation time, (tau) , has passed. The material relaxation time is related to the sonic velocity in the material. The results demonstrate that the microscale heat transfer mechanism dominates for times less than 4(tau) . The diffusion or Fourier heat transfer mechanism should be used only when the laser pulse duration is much longer than the material relaxation time.
The application of a numerical algorithm to the design procedure of a multicell stepped limiter (MCSL) is discussed. This application illustrates the ability to predict thermal damage and the thermal lensing effects that occur within the stepped limiter. Both the optical limiting and the temperature profile through the MCSL are determined for three design cases. The results illustrate the potential application of a numerical simulation in designing a MCSL and of predicting thermal damage.
A criterion is developed for determining the range of microscale heat transfer effects in systems exposed to laser radiation. Criteria in terms of the time and spatial scale for using microscale heat transfer mechanisms have been reported. The significance of microscale heat transfer effects during high incident laser radiation is investigated. Numerical simulations show the microscale heat transfer effects are scaleable with respect to the incident laser radiation. The significance of the microscale mechanism is shown to be dependent on the rate of heating. There is good agreement with values reported in the literature and the present model's predicted temperatures and normalized reflectance changes for a thermoreflectance problem.
The numerical simulation of the short time response, femtoseocond to picosecond regime, of a saturable absorbing
material is described. Transient relationships for the intensity and temperature dependent absorption coefficient and index of
refraction are included. The thermal response includes a hyperbolic microscale heat transfer mechanism. Initial results are
reported for the calculated transmitted intensity, excited state population and temperature field of a slugglish saturable Kerr
medium. This short time model can be used to investigate the onset of thermally stimulated nonlinear optical behavior, the
"switch on" time, and other short time effects.
Transient thermoreflectance techniques, especially the picosecond transient thermoreflectance method (PTTR), provide a means of determining the thermo-physical properties of a thin film and of measuring thin film properties and temperature during manufacturing. In these techniques a pump and probe method is used to heat the sample and to measure the reflectance from it. It has been shown using a plane wave analysis and a 1D thermal analysis based on uniform spatial irradiation that internal reflections caused by the spatial temperature field significantly affect the accuracy of the method in some materials. The internal reflection mechanism alters the temperature field as compared to that predicted without it. Criteria to define the range of importance of the internal reflection mechanism have been developed based on these assumptions. THese results are extended using numerical analysis to investigate the effects of an incident Gaussian beam instead of uniform irradiation. The code includes mechanism to describe the temperature and intensity dependent absorption coefficients and index of refraction. It is found that the 2D effects decrease the 1D normalized reflectance change by 24 percent. A technique for the incorporating the code into the analysis of the PTTR is described.
The numerical simulation of the nonlinear optical behavior of bacteriorhodopsin in a solution of water is described. Relationships for the intensity dependent absorption coefficient and index of refraction are developed and used in the numerical simulation of bacteriorhodopsin as an optical limiter and as defocussing element for laser pulses in the picosecond regime. The algorithm is a transient finite volume method that is coupled with a 'ray model' of the radiation which simultaneously solves the heat transfer and Maxwell's equations. The nonlinear behavior of the material is included in this analysis using a modified Euler predictor-corrector integration technique. Calculated power limiting and z-scan curves are in qualitative agreement with experiments. These results indicate that the code can be used to investigate and optimize optical systems which use the nonlinear behavior of bacteriorhodopsin.
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