Fourier transform spectrometer based on high-repetition-rate mid-infrared supercontinuum sources for trace gas detection

We present a fast-scanning Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) in combination with high-repetition-rate mid-infrared supercontinuum sources, covering a wavelength range of 2-10.5 µm. We demonstrate the performance of the spectrometer for trace gas detection and compare various detection methods: baseband detection with a single photodetector, baseband balanced detection, and synchronous demodulation at the repetition rate of the supercontinuum source. The FTS uses off-the-shelf optical components and provides a minimum spectral resolution of 750 MHz. It achieves a noise equivalent absorption sensitivity of ∼10^-6 cm^-1 Hz^-1/2 per spectral element, by using a 31.2 m multipass absorption cell.

Fast and stable gratings inscription in POFs made of different materials with pulsed 248 nm KrF laser

This paper presents fiber Bragg grating (FBG) inscription with a pulsed 248 nm UV KrF laser in polymer optical fibers (POFs) made of different polymers, namely polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), cyclic-olefin polymer and co-polymer, and Polycarbonate. The inscribed gratings and the corresponding inscription parameters are compared with grating inscribed in POFs made of the aforementioned materials but with the hitherto most used laser for inscription, which is a continuous wave 325 nm UV HeCd laser. Results show a reduction of the inscription time of at least 16 times. The maximum time reduction is more than 130 times. In addition, a reflectivity and a bandwidth close to or higher than the ones with the 325 nm laser were obtained. The polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (POFBGs) inscribed with the 248 nm laser setup present high stability with small variations in their central wavelength, bandwidth, and reflectivity after 40 days.

Compact multichannel high-resolution micro-electro-mechanical systems-based interrogator for Fiber Bragg grating sensing

We propose a novel type of compact high-resolution multichannel micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-based interrogator, where we replace the linear detector with a digital micromirror device (DMD). The DMD is typically cheaper and has better pixel sampling than an InGaAs detector used in the 1550 nm range, which leads to cost reduction and better performance. Moreover, the DMD is a 2D array, which means that multichannel systems can be implemented without any additional optical components in the interrogator. This makes the proposed interrogator highly cost-effective, particularly for multichannel systems. The digital nature of the DMD also provides opportunities for advanced programmable Hadamard spectroscopy, which, without significant penalties, can greatly improve the wavelength fit resolution. Our results show that DMDs can be used in high-resolution spectroscopy and for Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogation.

Polymer optical fiber Bragg grating inscription with a single UV laser pulse

We experimentally demonstrate the first polymer optical fiber Bragg grating inscribed with only one krypton fluoride laser pulse. The device has been recorded in a single-mode poly(methyl methacrylate) optical fiber, with a core doped with benzyl dimethyl ketal for photosensitivity enhancement. One laser pulse with a duration of 15 ns, which provide energy density of 974 mJ/cm², is adequate to introduce a refractive index change of 0.74×10^-4 in the fiber core. After the exposure, the reflectivity of the grating increases for a few minutes following a second order exponential saturation. The produced Bragg grating structure rejects 17.9 dB transmitted power, thus providing 98.4% reflectivity, which is well suited for sensing applications. In addition, we report the importance of the fiber thermal treatment before or after the inscription, showing its effects on the lifetime and quality of the grating structures. Optimizing the irradiation conditions and the material chemical composition, a higher refractive index change in the fiber core is feasible. This demonstration significantly improves the potential for commercial exploitation of the technology.

Record power, ultra-broadband supercontinuum source based on highly GeO2 doped silica fiber

We demonstrate highly germania doped fibers for mid-infrared supercontinuum generation. Experiments ensure a highest output power of 1.44 W for a broadest spectrum from 700 nm to 3200 nm and 6.4 W for 800 nm to 2700 nm from these fibers, while being pumped by a broadband Erbium-Ytterbium doped fiber based master oscillator power amplifier. The effect of repetition frequency of pump source and length of germania-doped fiber has also been investigated. Further, germania doped fiber has been pumped by conventional supercontinuum source based on silica photonic crystal fiber supercontinuum source. At low power, a considerable broadening of 200-300 nm was observed. Further broadening of spectrum was limited due to limited power of pump source. Our investigations reveal the unexploited potential of germania doped fiber for mid-infrared supercontinuum generation. These measurements ensure the potential of germania based photonic crystal fiber or a step-index fiber supercontinuum source for high power ultra-broad band emission being by pumped a 1060 nm or a 1550 nm laser source. To the best of our knowledge, this is the record power, ultra-broadband, and all-fiberized supercontinuum light source based on silica and germania fiber ever demonstrated to the date.

Performance of low-cost few-mode fiber Bragg grating sensor systems: polarization sensitivity and linearity of temperature and strain response

We evaluate whether 850 nm fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor systems can use low-cost 1550 nm telecom fibers; in other words, how detrimental the influence of higher-order modes is to the polarization stability and linearity of the strain and temperature response. We do this by comparing polarization sensitivity of a few-mode 850 nm FBG sensor to a strictly single-mode 850 nm FBG sensor system using 850 nm single-mode fibers. We also compare the performance of the FBGs in strain and temperature tests. Our results show that the polarization stability and the linearity of the response degrade due to the presence of the higher-order modes. We demonstrate that, by using simple coiling of the 1550 nm fiber, one can regain the performance of the few-mode system and make it usable for high precision measurements.

Dynamic gate algorithm for multimode fiber Bragg grating sensor systems

We propose a novel dynamic gate algorithm (DGA) for precise and accurate peak detection. The algorithm uses a threshold-determined detection window and center of gravity algorithm with bias compensation. We analyze the wavelength fit resolution of the DGA for different values of the signal-to-noise ratio and different peak shapes. Our simulations and experiments demonstrate that the DGA method is fast and robust with better stability and accuracy than conventional algorithms. This makes it very attractive for future implementation in sensing systems, especially based on multimode fiber Bragg gratings.

Time-dependent variation of fiber Bragg grating reflectivity in PMMA-based polymer optical fibers

In this Letter, we investigate the effects of viscoelasticity on both the strength and resonance wavelength of two fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) inscribed in microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) made of undoped PMMA. Both FBGs were inscribed under a strain of 1% in order to increase the material photosensitivity. After the inscription, the strain was released, and the FBGs spectra were monitored. We initially observed a decrease of the reflection down to zero after which it began to increase. After that, strain tests were carried out to confirm the results, and finally the gratings were monitored for a further 120 days, with a stable reflection response being observed beyond 50 days.

Cladding defects in hollow core fibers for surface mode suppression and improved birefringence

We demonstrate a novel polarization maintaining hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber geometry that reduces the impact of surface modes on fiber transmission. The cladding structure is modified with a row of partially collapsed holes to strip away unwanted surface modes. A theoretical investigation of the surface mode stripping is presented and compared to the measured performance of four 7-cells core fibers that were drawn with different collapse ratio of the defects. The varying pressure along the defect row in the cladding during drawing introduces an ellipticity of the core. This, combined with the presence of antiresonant features on the core wall, makes the fibers birefringent, with excellent polarization maintaining properties.

Photosensitivity mechanism of undoped poly(methyl methacrylate) under UV radiation at 325 nm and its spatial resolution limit

In this Letter, we provide evidence suggesting that the main photosensitive mechanism of an undoped poly(methyl methacrylate)-based microstructured optical fiber under UV radiation at 325 nm is a competitive process of both photodegradation and polymerization. We found experimentally that increasing strain during photo-inscription leads to an increased photosensitivity, which is evidence of photodegradation. Likewise, refractive index change in the fiber was measured to be positive, which provides evidence for further polymerization of the material. Finally, we relate the data obtained to the spatial recording resolution of the samples.

The all-fiber cladding-pumped Yb-doped gain-switched laser

Gain-switching is an alternative pulsing technique of fiber lasers, which is power scalable and has a low complexity. From a linear stability analysis of rate equations the relaxation oscillation period is derived and from it, the pulse duration is defined. Good agreement between the measured pulse duration and the theoretical prediction is found over a wide range of parameters. In particular we investigate the influence of an often present length of passive fiber in the cavity and show that it introduces a finite minimum in the achievable pulse duration. This minimum pulse duration is shown to occur at longer active fibers length with increased passive length of fiber in the cavity. The peak power is observed to depend linearly on the absorbed pump power and be independent of the passive fiber length. Given these conclusions, the pulse energy, duration, and peak power can be estimated with good precision.

Highly photosensitive polymethyl methacrylate microstructured polymer optical fiber with doped core

In this Letter, we report the fabrication of a highly photosensitive, microstructured polymer optical fiber using benzyl dimethyl ketal as a dopant, as well as the inscription of a fiber Bragg grating in the fiber. A refractive index change in the core of at least 3.2×10(-4) has been achieved, providing a grating with a strong transmission rejection of -23 dB with an inscription time of only 13 min. The fabrication method has a big advantage compared to doping step index fiber since it enables doping of the fiber without using extra dopants to compensate for the index reduction in the core introduced by the photosensitive agent.

Gain-switched all-fiber laser with narrow bandwidth

Gain-switching of a CW fiber laser is a simple and cost-effective approach to generate pulses using an all-fiber system. We report on the construction of a narrow bandwidth (below 0.1 nm) gain-switched fiber laser and optimize the pulse energy and pulse duration under this constraint. The extracted pulse energy is 20 μJ in a duration of 135 ns at 7 kHz. The bandwidth increases for a higher pump pulse energy and repetition rate, and this sets the limit of the output pulse energy. A single power amplifier is added to raise the peak power to the kW-level and the pulse energy to 230 μJ while keeping the bandwidth below 0.1 nm. This allows frequency doubling in a periodically poled lithium tantalate crystal with a reasonable conversion efficiency.

Deep-blue supercontinnum sources with optimum taper profiles--verification of GAM

We use an asymmetric 2 m draw-tower photonic crystal fiber taper to demonstrate that the taper profile needs careful optimisation if you want to develop a supercontinuum light source with as much power as possible in the blue edge of the spectrum. In particular we show, that for a given taper length, the downtapering should be as long as possible. We argue how this may be explained by the concept of group-acceleration mismatch (GAM) and we confirm the results using conventional symmetrical short tapers made on a taper station, which have varying downtapering lengths.

Power dependence of supercontinuum noise in uniform and tapered PCFs

We experimentally investigate the noise properties of picosecond supercontinuum spectra generated at different power levels in uniform and tapered photonic crystal fibers. We show that the noise at the spectral edges of the generated supercontinuum is at a constant level independent on the pump power in both tapered and uniform fibers. At high input power the spectral bandwidth is limited by the infrared loss edge, this however has no effect on the noise properties.

Optical Cherenkov radiation by cascaded nonlinear interaction: an efficient source of few-cycle energetic near- to mid-IR pulses

When ultrafast noncritical cascaded second-harmonic generation of energetic femtosecond pulses occur in a bulk lithium niobate crystal optical Cherenkov waves are formed in the near- to mid-IR. Numerical simulations show that the few-cycle solitons radiate Cherenkov (dispersive) waves in the λ = 2.2 - 4.5 μm range when pumping at λ₁ = 1.2 - 1.8 μm. The exact phase-matching point depends on the soliton wavelength, and we show that a simple longpass filter can separate the Cherenkov waves from the solitons. The Cherenkov waves are born few-cycle with an excellent Gaussian pulse shape, and the conversion efficiency is up to 25%. Thus, optical Cherenkov waves formed with cascaded nonlinearities could become an efficient source of energetic near- to mid-IR few-cycle pulses.

Gain-switched CW fiber laser for improved supercontinuum generation in a PCF

We demonstrate supercontinuum generation in a PCF pumped by a gain-switched high-power continuous wave (CW) fiber laser. The pulses generated by gain-switching have a peak power of more than 700 W, a duration around 200 ns, and a repetition rate of 200 kHz giving a high average power of almost 30 W. By coupling such a pulse train into a commercial nonlinear photonic crystal fiber, a supercontinuum is generated with a spectrum spanning from 500 to 2250 nm, a total output power of 12 W, and an infrared flatness of 6 dB over a bandwidth of more than 1000 nm with a power density above 5 dBm/nm (3 mW/nm). This is considerably broader than when operating the same system under CW conditions. The presented approach is attractive due to the high power, power scalability, and reduced system complexity compared to picosecond-pumped supercontinuum sources.

Green tea consumption, abdominal obesity as related factors of lacunar infarction in Korean women

OBJECTIVES

Our purpose was to evaluate interaction of green tea consumption and abdominal obesity as related factors for lacunar infarction in Korean women.

DESIGN

A hospital-based, incident case-control study.

SETTINGS

The Prevention and Managements of Stroke in Women study.

PARTICIPANTS

Cases (n=233) of first incident lacunar infarction were enrolled and matched by age to stroke-free hospital controls (n=204).

MEASUREMENTS

The data were collected through face-to-face interviews by well trained research assistants to assess demographic, medical, lifestyle, marital status, religions status, green tea consumptions, family history of stroke, smoking status, alcohol consumption, meat and vegetable intake frequency, and past history of hypertension. Biochemical analysis, fasting blood specimens for lipid, glucose, and cholesterol level were acquired.

RESULTS

Compared with the non green tea consumer and obese women group, only the green tea consumption and non obese women group had a protective effect of lacunar infarction when adjusted for age, and age plus diet factors (OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.09, 0.59; OR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.08, 0.56 respectively), but lost their significance after adjustment for age, diet factors, vascular risk factors and full model included atherogenic index factors (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.09 to 1.01; OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.12, 1.89 respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

The interaction of green tea consumption and non obesity have reduced risk of lacunar infarction, but not after adjustment for age, diet factors, vascular risk factors and atherogenic index. Also individually green tea consumption and abdominal obesity have failed to find an independent relationship with lacunar infarction after adjustment by all risk factors. Green tea consumption and green tea consumption with non obese group seemed to have a protective effect for lacunar infarction. In the results of our study, these results still remain controversial, and then we need further and larger study to get at the root of real causal effect of both relationships.

Ethanol extract of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi prevents oxidative damage and neuroinflammation and memorial impairments in artificial senescense mice

Aging is a progressive process related to the accumulation of oxidative damage and neuroinflammation. We tried to find the anti-amnesic effect of the Scutellaria baicalens Georgia (SBG) ethanol extract and its major ingredients. The antioxidative effect of SBG on the mice model with memory impairment induced by chronic injection of D-galactose and sodium nitrate was studied. The Y-maze test was used to evaluate the learning and memory function of mice. The activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and the content of malondialdehyde in brain tissue were used for the antioxidation activities. Neuropathological alteration and expression of bcl-2 protein were investigated in the hippocampus by immunohistochemical staining. ROS, neuroinflammation and apoptosis related molecules expression such as Cox-2, iNOS, procaspase-3, cleaved caspase-3, 8 and 9, bcl-2 and bax protein and the products of iNOS and Cox-2, NO, PGE2, were studied using LPS-activated Raw 264.7 cells and microglia BV2 cells. The cognition of mice was significantly improved by the treatment of baicalein and 50 and 100 mg/kg of SBG in Y-maze test. Both SBG groups showed strong antioxidation, antiinflammation effects with significantly decreased iNOS and Cox-2 expression, NO and PGE2 production, increased bcl-2 and decreased bax and cleaved caspase-3 protein expression in LPS induced Raw 264.7 and BV2 cells. We also found that apoptotic pathway was caused by the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway with the decreased cleaved caspase-9 and unchanged cleaved caspase-8 expression. These findings suggest that SBG, especially high dose, 100 mg/kg, improved the memory impairments significantly and showed antioxidation, antiinflammation and intrinsic caspase-mediated apoptosis effects.

Limits to compression with cascaded quadratic soliton compressors

We study cascaded quadratic soliton compressors and address the physical mechanisms that limit the compression. A nonlocal model is derived, and the nonlocal response is shown to have an additional oscillatory component in the nonstationary regime when the group-velocity mismatch (GVM) is strong. This inhibits efficient compression. Raman-like perturbations from the cascaded nonlinearity, competing cubic nonlinearities, higher-order dispersion, and soliton energy may also limit compression, and through realistic numerical simulations we point out when each factor becomes important. We find that it is theoretically possible to reach the single-cycle regime by compressing high-energy fs pulses for wavelengths lambda = 1.0-1.3 microm in a beta -barium-borate crystal, and it requires that the system is in the stationary regime, where the phase mismatch is large enough to overcome the detrimental GVM effects. however, the simulations show that reaching single-cycle duration is ultimately inhibited by competing cubic nonlinearities as well as dispersive waves, that only show up when taking higher-order dispersion into account.

Nonlocal explanation of stationary and nonstationary regimes in cascaded soliton pulse compression

We study soliton pulse compression in materials with cascaded quadratic nonlinearities and show that the group-velocity mismatch creates two different temporally nonlocal regimes. They correspond to what is known as the stationary and nonstationary regimes. The theory accurately predicts the transition to the stationary regime, where highly efficient pulse compression is possible.

Nucleotide triphosphates inhibit the degradation of unfolded proteins by HslV peptidase

Escherichia coli HslVU is an ATP-dependent protease consisting of two heat shock proteins, the HslU ATPase and HslV peptidase. In the reconstituted enzyme, HslU stimulates the proteolytic activity of HslV by one to two orders of magnitude, while HslV increases the rate of ATP hydrolysis by HslU several-fold. Here we show that HslV alone can efficiently degrade certain unfolded proteins, such as unfolded lactalbumin and lysozyme prepared by complete reduction of disulfide bonds, but not their native forms. Furthermore, HslV alone cleaved a lactalbumin fragment sandwiched by two thioredoxin molecules, indicating that it can hydrolyze the internal peptide bonds of lactalbumin. Surprisingly, ATP inhibited the degradation of unfolded proteins by HslV. This inhibitory effect of ATP was markedly diminished by substitution of the Arg86 residue located in the apical pore of HslV with Gly, suggesting that interaction of ATP with the Arg residue blocks access of unfolded proteins to the proteolytic chamber of HslV. These results suggest that uncomplexed HslV is inactive under normal conditions, but may can degrade unfolded proteins when the ATP level is low, as it is during carbon starvation.

Stability of two-dimensional spatial solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media

We discuss the existence and stability of two-dimensional solitons in media with spatially nonlocal nonlinear response. We show that such systems, which include thermal nonlinearity and dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates, may support a variety of stationary localized structures, including rotating dipole solitons. We also demonstrate that the stability of these structures critically depends on the spatial profile of the nonlocal response function.

Nonlocal description of X waves in quadratic nonlinear materials

We study localized light bullets and X waves in quadratic media and show how the notion of nonlocality can provide an alternative simple physical picture of both types of multidimensional nonlinear waves. For X waves we show that a local cascading limit in terms of a nonlinear Schrödinger equation does not exist-one needs to use the nonlocal description, because the nonlocal response function does not converge toward a function. Also, we use the nonlocal theory to show that the coupling to the second harmonic is able to generate an X shape in the fundamental field despite having anomalous dispersion, in contrast to the predictions of the cascading limit.

Role of the GYVG pore motif of HslU ATPase in protein unfolding and translocation for degradation by HslV peptidase

HslVU is an ATP-dependent protease consisting of HslU ATPase and HslV peptidase. In an HslVU complex, the central pores of HslU hexamer and HslV dodecamer are aligned and the proteolytic active sites are sequestered in the inner chamber of HslV. Thus, the degradation of natively folded proteins requires unfolding and translocation processes for their access into the proteolytic chamber of HslV. A highly conserved GYVG(93) sequence constitutes the central pore of HslU ATPase. To determine the role of the pore motif on protein unfolding and translocation, we generated various mutations in the motif and examined their effects on the ability of HslU in supporting the proteolytic activity of HslV against three different substrates: SulA as a natively folded protein, casein as an unfolded polypeptide, and a small peptide. Flexibility provided by Gly residues and aromatic ring structures of the 91st amino acid were essential for degradation of SulA. The same structural features of the GYVG motif were highly preferred, although not essential, for degradation of casein. In contrast, none of the features were required for peptide hydrolysis. Mutations in the GYVG motif of HslU also showed marked influence on its ATPase activity, affinity to ADP, and interaction with HslV. These results suggest that the GYVG motif of HslU plays important roles in unfolding of natively folded proteins as well as in translocation of unfolded proteins for degradation by HslV. These results also implicate a role of the pore motif in ATP cleavage and in the assembly of HslVU complex.

Ring vortex solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media

We study the formation and propagation of two-dimensional vortex solitons, i.e. solitons with a phase singularity, in optical materials with a nonlocal focusing nonlinearity. We show that nonlocality stabilizes the dynamics of an otherwise unstable vortex beam. This occurs for either single or higher charge fundamental vortices as well as higher order (multiple ring) vortex solitons. Our results pave the way for experimental observation of stable vortex rings in other nonlocal nonlinear systems including Bose-Einstein condensates with pronounced long-range interparticle interaction.

Bubble generation in a twisted and bent DNA-like model

The DNA molecule is modeled by a parabola embedded chain with long-range interactions between twisted base pair dipoles. A mechanism for bubble generation is presented and investigated in two different configurations. Using random normally distributed initial conditions to simulate thermal fluctuations, a relationship between bubble generation, twist and curvature is established. An analytical approach supports the numerical results.

Energy funneling in a bent chain of Morse oscillators with long-range coupling

A bent chain of coupled Morse oscillators with long-range dispersive interaction is considered. Moving localized excitations may be trapped in the bending region. Thus chain geometry acts like an impurity. An energy funneling effect is observed in the case of random initial conditions.

Deubiquitinating enzymes as cellular regulators

Modification of proteins by the covalent attachment of ubiquitin is a key regulatory mechanism of many cellular processes including protein degradation by the 26S proteasome. Deubiquitination, reversal of this modification, must also regulate the fate and function of ubiquitin-conjugated proteins. Deubiquitinating enzymes catalyze the removal of ubiquitin from ubiquitin-conjugated substrate proteins as well as from its precursor proteins. Deubiquitinating enzymes occupy the largest family of enzymes in the ubiquitin system, implying their diverse function in regulation of the ubiquitin-mediated pathways. Here we explore the diversity of deubiquitinating enzymes and their emerging roles as cellular regulators.

Antagonistic regulation of myogenesis by two deubiquitinating enzymes, UBP45 and UBP69

Protein modification by ubiquitin is a dynamic and reversible process that is involved in the regulation of a variety of cellular processes. Here, we show that myogenic differentiation of embryonic muscle cells is antagonistically regulated by two deubiquitinating enzymes, UBP45 and UBP69, that are generated by alternative splicing. Both enzymes cleaved off ubiquitin from polyubiquitinated protein conjugates in vivo as well as from linear ubiquitin-protein fusions in vitro. In cultured myoblasts, the level of UBP69 mRNA markedly but transiently increased before membrane fusion, whereas that of UBP45 mRNA increased as the cells fused to form myotubes. Both myoblast fusion and accumulation of myosin heavy chain were dramatically stimulated by the stable expression of UBP69 but strongly attenuated by that of the catalytically inactive form of the protease, suggesting that the mutant enzyme acts dominant negatively on the function of the wild-type protease. In contrast, stable expression of UBP45 completely blocked both of the myogenic processes but that of inactive enzyme did not, indicating that the catalytic activity of the enzyme is essential for its inhibitory effects. These results indicate that differential expression of UBP45 and UBP69 is involved in the regulation of muscle cell differentiation.

Solitons in quadratic nonlinear photonic crystals

We study solitons in one-dimensional quadratic nonlinear photonic crystals with modulation of both the linear and nonlinear susceptibilities. We derive averaged equations that include induced cubic nonlinearities, which can be defocusing, and we numerically find previously unknown soliton families. Because of these induced cubic terms, solitons still exist even when the effective quadratic nonlinearity vanishes and conventional theory predicts that there can be no soliton. We demonstrate that both bright and dark forms of these solitons can propagate stably.

Modulational instability in periodic quadratic nonlinear materials

We investigate the modulational instability of plane waves in quadratic nonlinear materials with linear and nonlinear quasi-phase-matching gratings. Exact Floquet calculations, confirmed by numerical simulations, show that the periodicity can drastically alter the gain spectrum but never completely removes the instability. The low-frequency part of the gain spectrum is accurately predicted by an averaged theory and disappears for certain gratings. The high-frequency part is related to the inherent gain of the homogeneous non-phase-matched material and is a consistent spectral feature.

Modulational instability in nonlocal nonlinear Kerr media

We study modulational instability (MI) of plane waves in nonlocal nonlinear Kerr media. For a focusing nonlinearity we show that, although the nonlocality tends to suppress MI, it can never remove it completely, irrespective of the particular profile of the nonlocal response function. For a defocusing nonlinearity the stability properties depend sensitively on the response function profile: for a smooth profile (e.g., a Gaussian) plane waves are always stable, but MI may occur for a rectangular response. We also find that the reduced model for a weak nonlocality predicts MI in defocusing media for arbitrary response profiles, as long as the intensity exceeds a certain critical value. However, it appears that this regime of MI is beyond the validity of the reduced model, if it is to represent the weakly nonlocal limit of a general nonlocal nonlinearity, as in optics and the theory of Bose-Einstein condensates.

Accurate switching intensities and length scales in quasi-phase-matched materials

We consider unseeded type I second-harmonic generation in quasi-phase-matched quadratic nonlinear materials and derive an accurate analytical expression for the evolution of the average intensity. The intensity-dependent nonlinear phase mismatch that is due to the cubic nonlinearity induced by quasi phase matching is found. The equivalent formula for the intensity of maximum conversion, the crossing of which changes the one-period nonlinear phase shift of the fundamental abruptly by pi , corrects earlier estimates [Opt. Lett. 23, 506 (1998)] by a factor of 5.3. We find the crystal lengths that are necessary to obtain an optimal flat phase versus intensity response on either side of this separatrix intensity.

Nonlinearity and disorder: classification and stability of nonlinear impurity modes

We study the effects produced by competition of two physical mechanisms of energy localization in inhomogeneous nonlinear systems. As an example, we analyze spatially localized modes supported by a nonlinear impurity in the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation and describe three types of nonlinear impurity modes, one- and two-hump symmetric localized modes and asymmetric localized modes, for both focusing and defocusing nonlinearity and two different (attractive or repulsive) types of impurity. We obtain an analytical stability criterion for the nonlinear localized modes and consider the case of a power-law nonlinearity in detail. We discuss several scenarios of the instability-induced dynamics of the nonlinear impurity modes, including the mode decay or switching to a new stable state, and collapse at the impurity site.

Parametric localized modes in quadratic nonlinear photonic structures

We analyze two-color spatially localized nonlinear modes formed by parametrically coupled fundamental and second-harmonic fields excited at quadratic (or chi(2)) nonlinear interfaces embedded in a linear layered structure--a quadratic nonlinear photonic crystal. For a periodic lattice of nonlinear interfaces, we derive an effective discrete model for the amplitudes of the fundamental and second-harmonic waves at the interfaces (the so-called discrete chi(2) equations) and find, numerically and analytically, the spatially localized solutions--discrete gap solitons. For a single nonlinear interface in a linear superlattice, we study the properties of two-color localized modes, and describe both similarities to and differences from quadratic solitons in homogeneous media.

Solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media: exact solutions

We investigate the propagation of one-dimensional bright and dark spatial solitons in a nonlocal Kerr-like media, in which the nonlocality is of general form. We find an exact analytical solution to the nonlinear propagation equation in the case of weak nonlocality. We study the properties of these solitons and show their stability.

Failure to induce inhibition of cyclin A and up-regulation of p21 expression in phorbol ester-resistant U937 cells by phorbol ester

Differentiation resistant U937 cells were derived from parental U937 cells by selecting for continuously growing U937 cells in cell cultures continuously exposed to phorbol 12 myristate 13-acetate (PMA). Unlike in other known PMA resistant U937, the basal expression of protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes in these PMA resistant cells (R-U937) was significantly decreased. Subsequent analyses revealed differences between the wild type U937 and the R-U937 cells with respect to G1 phase arrest, which seemed to occur in U937 because of low levels of cdk2 kinase activity. This abolished cdk2 kinase activity is mainly due to inhibition of cdk2 phosphorylation, cyclin A down-regulation and cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor p21 up-regulation. Our data suggest that events down-stream of PKC activation may mediate cell cycle control. Thus, the R-U937 cells could be useful for further PKC mediated cell cycle control studies.

Influence of four-wave mixing and walk-Off on the self-focusing of coupled waves

Four-wave mixing and walk-off between two optical beams are investigated for focusing Kerr media. It is shown that four-wave mixing reinforces the self-focusing of mutually trapped waves by lowering their power threshold for collapse, only when their phase mismatch is small. On the contrary, walk-off inhibits the collapse by detrapping the beams, whose partial centroids experience nonlinear oscillations.

Engineering competing nonlinearities

Weak modulation of a quasi-phase-matching (QPM) grating opens possibilities for engineering both the average quadratic nonlinearity and the incoherent average cubic nonlinearity induced by QPM. The relative strength of the average quadratic and effective (intrinsic plus induced) cubic nonlinearity is studied for LiNbO(3) . We show how the induced average cubic nonlinearity can be engineered to dominate the intrinsic material cubic nonlinearity and how doing so will allow the intensity at which the quadratic and cubic nonlinearities balance and thus compete to be decreased to a few gigawatts per square centimeter.

Two-color nonlinear localized photonic modes

We analyze second-harmonic generation (SHG) at a thin effectively quadratic nonlinear interface between two linear optical media. We predict multistability of SHG for both plane and localized waves, and also describe two-color localized photonic modes composed of a fundamental wave and its second harmonic coupled together by parametric interaction at the interface.

Nonlinear phase shift and all-optical switching in quasi-phase-matched quadratic media

Recently it was shown that in quasi-phase-matched quadratic media the average intensities are subject to an induced Kerr effect. We analytically study the influence of this induced cubic nonlinearity on the amplitude and phase modulation of the fundamental wave and predict efficient all-optical switching.

Bright spatial solitons in defocusing Kerr media supported by cascaded nonlinearities

We show that resonant wave mixing that is due to quadratic nonlinearity can support stable bright spatial solitons, even in the most counterintuitive case of a bulk medium with defocusing Kerr nonlinearity. We analyze the structure and stability of such self-guided beams and demonstrate that they can be generated from a Gaussian input beam, provided that its power is above a certain threshold.

Effect of a fluctuating phase mismatch on spatial solitons in quadratic media

We investigate the evolution of self-guided beams in a chi((2)) medium with a fluctuating phase mismatch between the fundamental wave and its second harmonic, as may occur in particular when the quasi-phase-matching technique is applied. We show that the fluctuations reduce the phase correlation and act as an effective loss to solitary waves.

Exploiting discreteness for switching in waveguide arrays

A new approach to multiport switching in arrays of nonlinear waveguides is proposed. Whereas other schemes have relied on suppressing the inherent transverse discreteness of these arrays, this approach takes advantage of that feature. One of the effects of discreteness is to keep intense beams trapped in a single waveguide for the length of the array. Switching may be achieved by use of a controlled perturbation to displace such a trapped beam in the transverse direction. This displacement is quantized to an integer number of waveguides, thus permitting unambiguous selection of the output channel.