• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.295-302
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• 2022

In this paper, a wedge prism application method was studied to design a full-high-definition (FHD)-class high-resolution flexible endoscope. In the case of the conventional flexible endoscope optical system, the F number is made large or a liquid lens is applied to obtain the same imaging performance in a wide depth of field. However, there is a problem in that the diameter of the optical system increases because an additional light guide and equipment are required. To solve this problem, two wedge prisms were applied to the flexible endoscope optical system to adjust the image distance for each object distance. First, two wedge prisms were symmetrically placed on the designed endoscopic optical system. An image distance satisfying the target imaging performance according to each objective distance was derived. Next, the wedge prism decenter value for controlling the image distance was derived. By combining these two data, a wedge prism decenter value that satisfied the target imaging performance at each object distance was applied in multi configurations. As a result of the optimal design applied with the wedge prism, a target imaging performance of more than 20% of the modulation transfer function for a resolution of 178 cycles/mm was satisfied in the entire depth of field of 100 mm-7 mm.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.267-274
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• 2022

In this paper, we report the design and fabrication of binary diffractive optical elements (DOEs) for random-dot-pattern projection for Schlieren imaging. We selected the binary phase level and a pitch of 10 ㎛ for the DOE, based on cost effectiveness and ease of manufacture. We designed the binary DOE using an iterative Fourier-transform algorithm with binary phase optimization. During initial optimization, we applied a computer-generated pseudorandom dot pattern of uniform intensity as a target pattern, and found significant intensity nonuniformity across the field. Based on the evaluation of the initial optimization, we weighted the target random dot pattern with Gaussian profiles to improve the intensity uniformity, resulting in the improvement of uniformity from 52.7% to 90.8%. We verified the design performance by fabricating the designed binary DOE and a beam projector, to which the same was applied. The verification confirmed that the projector produced over 10,000 random dot patterns over 430 mm × 430 mm at a distance of 5 meters, as designed, but had a slightly less uniformity of 84.5%. The fabrication errors of the DOE, mainly edge blurring and spacing errors, were strong possibilities for the difference.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.331-337
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• 2022

Raman spectroscopy is an optical technique that can identify molecules in a label-free manner, and is therefore heavily investigated in various areas ranging from biomedical engineering to materials science. Probe-based Raman spectroscopy can perform minimally invasive chemical analysis, and thus has potential as a real-time diagnostic tool during surgery. In this study, Raman experimentation was calibrated by examining the Raman shifts with respect to the concentrations of chemical substances. Raman signal characteristics, targeted for normal mice and cerebral tissues of the 5xFAD dementia mutant model with accumulated amyloid beta plaques, were measured and analyzed to explore the possibility of diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The application to the diagnosis of dementia was cross-validated by measuring Raman signals of amyloid beta. The results suggest the potential of Raman spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool that may be useful in various areas of application.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.120-125
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• 2021

We have developed a linearly polarized high-power Yb-doped fiber laser in the master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) scheme for efficient spectral beam combining. We modulated the phase of the seed laser by pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS), with the bit length optimized to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), and subsequently amplified seed power in a 3-stage amplifier system. We have constructed by coiling the polarization-maintaining (PM) Yb-doped fiber, with core and cladding diameters of 20 ㎛ and 400 ㎛ respectively, to a diameter of 9-12 cm for suppression of the mode instability (MI). Finally, we obtained an output power of 1.004 kW with a slope efficiency of 83.7% in the main amplification stage. The beam quality factor M² and the polarization extinction ratio (PER) were measured to be 1.12 and 21.5 dB respectively. Furthermore, the peak-intensity difference between the Rayleigh signal and SBS signal was observed to be 2.36 dB in the backward spectra, indicating that SBS is successfully suppressed. In addition, it can be expected that the MI does not occur because not only there is no decrease in slope efficiency, but also the beam quality for each amplified output is maintained.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.274-280
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• 2020

In this paper, the effect of atmospheric turbulence is numerically modeled and analyzed via a phase-screen model, in regard to long-range optical energy transfer using coherent beam combination. The coherent-beam-combination system consists of three channel beams pointing at a target at a distance of 1-2 km. The phase and propagation direction of each channel beam are assumed to be corrected in an appropriate manner, and the atmospheric turbulence that occurs while the beam propagates through free space is quantified with a phase-screen model. The phase screen is statistically generated and constructed within the range of fluctuations of the structure constant Cn2 from 10-15 to 10-13 [m-2/3]. Particularly, in this discussion the shape, distortion, and combining efficiency of the 3-channel combined beam are calculated at the target plane by varying the structure constant used in the phase-screen model, and the effect of atmospheric turbulence on beam-combination efficiency is analyzed. Analysis with this numerical model verifies that when coherent beam combination is used for long-range optical energy transfer, the received power at the target can be at least three times the power obtainable by incoherent beam combination, even for maximal atmospheric fluctuation within the given range. This numerical model is expected to be effective for analyzing the effects of various types of atmospheric-turbulence conditions and beam-combination methods when simulating long-range optical energy transfer.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.281-289
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• 2020

This paper reports a slim mobile lens design using a hybrid refractive/diffractive optical element. Conventionally a wide field of view (FOV) camera-lens design adopts a retrofocus type having a negative (-) lens at the forefront, so that it improves in imaging performance over the wide FOV, but with the sacrifice of longer total track length (TTL). However, we chose a telephoto type as a baseline design layout having a positive (+) lens at the forefront, to achieving slimness, based on the specification analysis of 23 reported optical designs. Following preliminary optimization of a baseline design and aberration analysis based on Zernike-polynomial decomposition, we applied a hybrid refractive/diffractive element to effectively reduce the residual chromatic spherical aberration. The optimized optical design consists of 6 optical elements, including one hybrid element. It results in a very slim telephoto ratio of 1.7, having an f-number of 2.0, FOV of 90°, effective focal length of 2.23 mm, and TTL of 3.7 mm. Compared to a comparable conventional lens design with no hybrid elements, the hybrid design improved the value of the modulation transfer function (MTF) at a spatial frequency of 180 cycles/mm from 63% to 71-73% at zero field (0 F), and about 2-3% at 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 fields. It was also found that a design with a hybrid lens with only two diffraction zones at the stop achieved the same performance improvement.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.247-258
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• 2020

In this paper, based on a stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm we study phase control of a coherent-beam-combining system under turbulent atmospheric conditions. Based on the statistical theory of atmospheric turbulence, we carry out the analysis of the phase and wavefront distortion of a laser beam propagating through a turbulent atmospheric medium. We also conduct numerical simulations of a coherent-beam-combining system with 7- and 19-channel laser beams distorted by atmospheric turbulence. Through numerical simulations, we characterize the phase-control characteristics and efficiency of the coherent-beam-combining system under various degrees of atmospheric turbulence. It is verified that the SPGD algorithm is capable of realizing 7-channel coherent beam combining with a beam-combining efficiency of more than 90%, even under the turbulent atmospheric conditions up to cn2 of 10-13 m-2/3. In the case of 19-channel coherent beam combining, it is shown that the same turbulent atmospheric conditions result in a drastic reduction of the beam-combining efficiency down to 60%, due to the elevated impact of the corresponding refractive-index inhomogeneity. In addition, by putting together the number of iterations of the SPGD algorithm required for phase locking under atmospheric turbulence and the time intervals of atmospheric phenomena, which typically are of the order of ㎲, it is estimated that hundreds of MHz to a few GHz of computing bandwidth of SPGD-based phase control may be required for a coherent-beam-combining system to confront such turbulent atmospheric conditions. We expect the results of this paper to be useful for quantitatively analyzing and predicting the effects of atmospheric turbulence on the SPGD-based phase-control performance of a coherent-beam-combining system.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2022

In a head-mounted display (HMD) for virtual-reality applications, a narrow viewing angle is preferred to the usual, wide viewing angle because the HMD is positioned close in front of the user's eyes, and the display position is fixed. In this paper, we propose a new back-light unit (BLU) for implementing a narrow viewing angle, which is suitable for a HMD. By optimizing the scattering patterns in the light-guide-plate and inverse-prism structures, the viewing angle and correlations between structural parameters in the BLU components are analyzed with ray-tracing simulations. As a result, a double-angle inverse-prism structure incorporating the scattering patterns of a light-guide plate is chosen, which results in a 14% increase in center luminance, a 16% decrease in the vertical viewing angle, and a light efficiency of up to 70%, compared to a conventional BLU. Thus, the new BLU system is expected to be applied in a high-efficiency liquid crystal display.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.146-158
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• 2022

The detector of a focal-plane-array mid-wave infrared (MWIR) camera has different response characteristics for each detector pixel, resulting in nonuniformity between detector pixels. In addition, image nonuniformity occurs due to heat generation inside the camera during operation. To solve this problem, in the process of camera manufacturing it is common to use a gain-and-offset table generated from a blackbody to correct the difference between detector pixels. One method of correcting nonuniformity due to internal heat generation during the operation of the camera generates a new offset value based on input frame images. This paper proposes a technique for dividing an input image into block image patches and generating offset values using only homogeneous patches, to correct the nonuniformity that occurs during camera operation. The proposed technique may not only generate a nonuniformity-correction offset that can prevent motion marks due to camera-gaze movement of the acquired image, but may also improve nonuniformity-correction performance with a small number of input images. Experimental results show that distortion such as flow marks does not occur, and good correction performance can be confirmed even with half the number of input images or fewer, compared to the traditional method.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.137-145
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• 2022

A directional coupler device, one of the fundamental components of photonic integrated circuits, distributes optical power by evanescent field coupling between two adjacent optical waveguides. In this paper, the design process for manufacturing a directional coupler device is reviewed, and the accuracy of the design results, as seen from the characteristics of the actual fabricated device, is confirmed. When designing a directional coupler device through a two-dimensional (2D) beam-propagation-method (BPM) simulation, an optical structure is converted to a two-dimensional planar structure through the effective index method. After fabricating the directional coupler device array, the characteristics are measured. To supplement the 2D-BPM results that are different from the experimental results, a 3D-BPM simulation is performed. Although 3D-BPM simulation requires more computational resources, the simulation result is closer to the experimental results. Furthermore, the waveguide core refractive index used in 3D-BPM is adjusted to produce a simulation result consistent with the experimental results. The proposed design procedure enables accurate design of directional coupler devices, predicting the experimental results based on 3D-BPM.