We study efficiency of intensity-based dynamic speckle method for characterization of dynamic events which occur at variable rate in time within the temporal averaging interval. We checked the ability of the method to describe the speed of evolution by i) numerical simulation at variable speed, ii) processing of speckle patterns obtained from phase distributions fed to a SLM at controllable change of the temporal correlation radius of speckle intensity fluctuations and iii) conducting experiments with a polymer solution drying by using a hot-stage. The numerical and SLM simulation experiments allowed for modification of the used estimates in order to obtain relevant information.
Industrial inspection of processes by capture of speckle patterns often requires detection of a small activity area buried in a background. This work presents analysis of sensitivity of the dynamic speckle method by processing simulated and experimental correlated in time 8 bit encoded speckle patterns. Simulation of the patterns was done for an exponentially decreasing temporal correlation function of intensity fluctuations by Fresnel propagation of a monochromatic wave reflected from a delta-correlated in time phase screen and captured at different diameters and focal distances of the optical sensor objective lens. For the experiment, we used a 3D printed flat object with hollow sections that was covered with a transparent film and a droplet of a polymer solution and monitored the process of their drying. Both normalized and non-normalized processing algorithms were used.
We present a study of the diffraction efficiencies of polarization holographic gratings recorded in thin films of the azopolymer PAZO (poly[1-[4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenylazo) benzenesulfonamido]-1,2-ethanediyl, sodium salt]). Two series of layers have been prepared using two different solvents – distilled water and methanol. The gratings are inscribed by two plain waves with orthogonal circular polarizations (left and right circular) from a He-Cd gas laser (442 nm) at recording angle 20°, corresponding to grating period 1.3 μm. Higher diffraction efficiency is obtained for the thin film samples spin-coated from the methanol solution for thicknesses below 600 nm. Diffraction efficiency higher than 27% was achieved, as well as surface relief height more than 500 nm.
Dynamic speckle analysis is a promising tool for inspection of speed of processes. It relies on highly sensitive of speckle phenomenon to micro-changes in the optical paths. The same phenomenon is a source of severe noise, which contaminates substantially the outcome of analysis when a pointwise processing is applied to correlated in time speckle patterns. We obtained improvement of quality of the two-dimensional activity map produced by the pointwise processing by illumination at two wavelengths in the red and green part of the spectrum and separate processing of the raw data acquired in the red and the green channels of a color camera used to capture the speckle patterns. Summation of the activity maps corresponding to the two channels results in narrower spread of fluctuations of the estimate chosen to describe the activity.
Dynamic speckle metrology is a means for evaluating the speed of various processes in industrial or biological samples. The method indicates regions of lower or higher activity on the sample surface through statistical processing of speckle patterns formed on this surface under laser illumination. In this paper, we applied the method to study the influence of the substrate temperature on the drying process in azopolymer solutions leading to formation of thin photo birefringent polymer films. This would give the optimal temperature for obtaining smooth and uniform thin films for the shortest possible time. We recorded several sets of correlated in time speckle patterns of a transparent drop of azopolymer solution in two different solvents (water and methanol) on a glass plate illuminated by laser light. The temperature of the plate and respectively of the polymer solution was controlled by high-precision thermal stage. We built two-dimensional maps of activity at different moments and estimated the speed of drying of the polymer solution depending of the substrate temperature. This data were further correlated with the optical quality of the dry polymer thin films.
Upon polarimetry the polarization state of light can be obtained for different depolarizing or non-depolarizing medias such as biological specimens. Tissue polarimetry can facilitate a differentiation between healthy and (pre)cancerous tissues, without using any contrast agents and ionizing radiation. Early cancer detection is vital to increase the life expectancy of patients. Turbid medias like biological tissues can change the state and/or decrease the initial polarization of light. Circularly polarized light is preferred as found to possess better ability to detect abnormal changes in tissues, compared to linearly polarized light. In this paper we analyse polarimetric parameters, measured with Thorlabs Stokes meter included in tissue polarimetric experimental set- up in reflection geometry and multiple ex vivo colon samples. The polarimetric device operates in the spectral range between 400 nm and 700 nm, where all experiments had been conducted with wavelength of 635 nm. By reaching reference values for the polarimetric parameters we can propose a theoretical Mueller matrix, that can be used to describe the depolarization properties of the colon samples used in the experiments. The proposed Mueller matrix is to be modelled and experimentally validated to find out if it matches the theory and can be further decomposed to three matrices of depolarization, diattenuation and retardance. All of the aforementioned experimental approaches are a step closer to a pre-clinical trial, which is a bridge to the final and the most challenging goal - tissue polarimetric set-up for in vivo diagnostics.
In this paper we analyze the optical response of azopolymer (poly[1-[4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenylazo) benzenesulfonamido] -1,2-ethan-ediyl, sodium salt]), shortly denoted as PAZO. The photoinduced birefringence of this material has a potential for polarization holographic recording. We consider thin PAZO layers with embedded TiO2 spherical particles. This is a numeric simulation motivated by the search of photoinduced birefringence enhancement in azopolymer layers. The scattering of a single particle in the dye-polymer matrix is calculated using the exact vector Maxwell equations. The particles are treated as ensemble of non-aggregated spheres with normal distribution of sizes, characterized by the mean radius <r< and standard deviation σ = <r>/4. Multiple scattering by individual particles is ignored. The refractive index of the PAZO matrix at 442 nm has a complex value (due to absorption) as we have determined it from experimental spectrophotometric data. The 442 nm wavelength is commonly used for recording polarization holographic gratings in azopolymer materials. Embedded TiO2 spheres with mean radius from 10 to 80 nm are considered. The angular dependences of all the scattering matrix elements, which describe the optical response of the composite layers, are estimated.
Observation of speed of processes by dynamic speckle metrology has been applied to different samples of industrial or biological nature. The method allows for detecting regions of lower or higher activity on the sample surface through statistical processing of the speckle patterns formed on this surface under laser illumination. The aim of the paper is to check applicability of this dynamic speckle technique for monitoring of the drying process in polymer water and methanol solutions. For the purpose, we recorded several sets of 256 correlated in time speckle patterns of a transparent drop of PAZO water solution and PAZO methanol solution on a glass plate illuminated by a He-Ne laser. The sets were separated by intervals of several minutes, and the last set was recorded 100 minutes after the start of the experiment. For statistical description of activity on the observed sample we applied pointwise correlation-based algorithms to binary patterns formed by comparison of intensities at each point to a sign threshold. The obtained two-dimensional maps of the used statistical estimator at different time lags clearly indicated the difference between water and methanol solutions and proved efficiency of dynamic speckle analysis for monitoring of drying processes in polymer solutions.
The implementation of tissue polarimetry in medicine arises mainly for the need of non-invasive and highly sensitive discrimination between healthy and tumor tissues. This fast, relatively cheap method may be useful for better histological diagnostics by the physicians. Although, the most challenging goal is to apply tissue polarimetric optical system for in vivo measurements, initially one have to optimize the optical system using ex vivo histological samples, phantoms and etc. This paper is focused on the polarimetric parameters from lower gastrointestinal tract histological samples, by using polarized light with several wavelengths, namely 444 nm, 488 nm, 514 nm, 594 nm and 635 nm, detected and processed by commercially available polarimeter. Our experimental results reveal the best wavelength choice in favor of 635 nm for all colon samples used. Light with circular polarization was used in the experiments, as found to survive more scattering events, compared to linearly polarized light. Furthermore, circularly polarized light carries additional information about the phase difference between the two orthogonal components of the electric field (Ex and Ey) and in the case of reflection, the incident state of polarization undergoes a ip of its helicity. By this way, a better detection of histological changes in tissues, related to abnormal tissue structure can be made. Furthermore, the multiwavelength, polarimetric analysis may provide better insight for future in vivo implementation and the results from the ex vivo biological samples presented in this study, contribute to better discrimination based on optical measurements, applicable for tumor detection.
Azopolymers are well known organic materials for polarization holographic recording due to the induced anisotropy under illumination with polarized light. They possess all the desirable characteristics of the known polarization-sensitive materials, as high sensitivity and reversibility, but excel them substantially in the magnitude of the photoinduced birefringence. This makes possible to record reversible polarization gratings with high diffraction efficiency.
In this paper results of experimental investigations on the reversibility properties of birefringence photoinduced in azopolymers are reported, depending on the conditions of subsequent optical and thermal treatment. Thin films of different polymers were prepared in order to examine the kinetics of multiple recording and erasure of birefringence in different types of azopolymers. The reversibility of the polarization recording has been studied using two different method of erasure – by increased temperature and on illumination with circularly polarized light.
Azopolymers are one of the most efficient types of media for recording the polarization state of light. An essential optical parameter to characterize them is the value of the birefringence Δn induced on illumination with polarized light. Laser beam is used as a pump and the birefringence is commonly probed by another laser with wavelength, different from the pump one. However, data about the spectral behavior of Δn are given rarely.
In this work we present experimental data for the dynamics of spectra of birefringence during illumination with pump lasers with wavelengths varying from 355 nm to 514 nm i.e. from the peak of absorbance to the edge of the absorbance band of the azopolymer used. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of nanoparticles from zinc oxide (ZnO) with different concentrations, incorporated in the azopolymer. The azopolymer used for this study is the water soluble poly[1- [4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenylazo)benzenesulfonamido]-1,2-ethanediyl, sodium salt], shortly denoted as PAZO. As indicated by our experiments, thin films from this azopolymer can be used for polarization diffractive elements, operating in the entire visible range of the spectrum.
In this article we present a study of the photoinduced birefringence (Δn) in films of a water soluble azopolymer: poly[1- [4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenylazo)benzenesulfonamido]-1,2-ethanediyl, sodium salt] (PAZO). Varying the concentration of the azopolymer in the solution, films with wide range of thicknesses are obtained – from 50 to 2500 nm. The film thickness is determined with a Talystep precision profilometer. Birefringence is measured using a polarimetric setup with a recording laser at 473 nm and probe He-Ne laser at 633 nm. As shown experimentally, the maximal photoinduced birefringence (Δnmax) does not depend on the thickness and is of the order of 0.07 for all of the investigated samples. The recording time however considerably increases for films thicker than 500 nm.
In this paper we present a study of the photoinduced anisotropy in novel nanocomposite films of azopolymers doped with ZnO nanoparticles with different sizes – 50 and 100 nm. The photoresponse was evaluated by classical polarimetric setup with two crossed polarizers, recording laser with wavelength 473 nm and probe He-Ne laser. Our experimental results indicate that doping with both 50 and 100 nm sized particles improves the response time, however the smaller size nanoparticles provide increase of Δnmax with up to 40%, as the 100 nm particles reduce the saturated value of the birefringence, due to the higher scattering.
Polarization multiplexing of holograms in azobenzene polymers has been investigated. The optimal conditions for multiplexing two holograms with teh same spatial frequency in the same volume of the polymer and the same linear polarization of the reference wave have been found. The first hologram is inscribed with two p-polarized waves and the second-with p-polarized reference wave and s-polarized subject wave. The two images can be read simultaneously or separately using a linear analyzer or a polarization beam splitter.
Photoanisotropic materials make it possible to produce novel optical elements with specific polarization characteristics. Good examples are polarization holographic gratings (PHG) recorded with two waves with orthogonal circular polarizations. It has been shown that these PHG are of great interest for polarimetry as they allow for an easy and fast measurement of the Stokes parameter S3, including its spectral dependence. Here we discuss in details the polarization characteristics of PHG recorded in high-efficient photoanisotropic materials. It has been taken into consideration that due to the nonzero recording angle the real interference pattern is modulated not only by polarization, but also by intensity. This modifies the final modulation of the photoinduced anisotropic changes in the optical constants of the material and hence, the polarization characteristics of the produced gratings. The differences between the 'ideal' and a real PHG depend on the recording angle and on the photoresponse of the recording material, especially on the presence of scalar component in the photoinduced changes of the refractive index n. These polarization characteristics have also been observed experimentally.
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