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Hui Cao

Publications and source records attributed to Hui Cao.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Angular memory effect of transmission eigenchannels

The optical memory effect has emerged as a powerful tool for imaging through multiple-scattering media; however, the finite angular range of the memory effect limits the field of view. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that selective coupling of incident light into a high-transmission channel increases the angular memory-effect range. This enhancement is attributed to the robustness of the high-transmission channels against perturbations such as sample tilt or wavefront tilt. Our work shows that the high-transmission channels provide an enhanced field of view for memory effect-based imaging through diffusive media.

physics.optics↗

Complex Lasers with Controllable Coherence

The invention of lasers 60 years ago is one of the greatest breakthroughs in modern optics. Throughout the years, lasers have enabled major scientific and technological advancements, and have been exploited in numerous applications due to their advantages such as high brightness and high coherence. However, the high spatial coherence of laser illumination is not always desirable, as it can cause adverse artifacts such as speckle noise. To reduce the spatial coherence, novel laser cavity geometries and alternative feedback mechanisms have been developed. By tailoring the spatial and spectral properties of cavity resonances, the number of lasing modes, the emission profiles and the coherence properties can be controlled. This review presents an overview of such unconventional, complex lasers, with a focus on their spatial coherence properties. Laser coherence control not only provides an efficient means for eliminating coherent artifacts, but also enables new applications.

physics.optics↗

Multimode Lasing in Wave-Chaotic Semiconductor Microlasers

We investigate experimentally and theoretically the lasing behavior of dielectric microcavity lasers with chaotic ray dynamics. Experiments show multimode lasing for both D-shaped and stadium-shaped wave-chaotic cavities. Theoretical calculations also find multimode lasing for different shapes, sizes and refractive indices. While there are quantitative differences between the theoretical lasing spectra of the stadium and D-cavity, due to the presence of scarred modes with anomalously high quality factors, these differences decrease as the system size increases, and are also substantially reduced when the effects of surface roughness are taken into account. Lasing spectra calculations are based on Steady-State Ab Initio Laser Theory, and indicate that gain competition is not sufficient to result in single-mode lasing in these systems.

physics.optics↗

Multimode fiber based single-shot full-field measurement of optical pulses

Multimode fibers are widely explored for optical communication, imaging and sensing applications. The interference of fiber guided modes generates a speckle pattern, which has been used for high-precision spectroscopy, temperature, and strain sensing. Here we demonstrate a single-shot full-field temporal measurement technique based on a multimode fiber. The complex spatiotemporal speckle field is created by a reference pulse propagating through the fiber, and it interferes with a signal pulse. From the time-integrated interference pattern, both the amplitude and the phase of the signal are retrieved in spectral and temporal domains. The simplicity and high sensitivity of our scheme illustrate the potential of multimode fibers as versatile and multi-functional sensors.

physics.optics↗

Introducing non-local correlations into speckles

Laser speckles have become a fundamental component of the modern optics-research toolbox. Not only are speckle patterns the basis of numerous imaging techniques, but also, they are employed to generate optical potentials for cold atoms and colloidal particles. The ability to manipulate a speckle pattern's spatial intensity correlations, particularly long-range (non-local) ones, is essential in numerous applications. A typical fully-developed speckle pattern, however, only possesses short-ranged (local) intensity correlations which are determined by the spatial field correlations. Here we experimentally demonstrate and theoretically develop a general method for creating fully-developed speckles with strong non-local intensity correlations. The functional form of the spatial intensity correlations can be arbitrarily tailored without altering the field correlations. Our approach provides a versatile and utilitarian framework for enhancing and controlling non-local correlations in speckle patterns.

physics.optics↗

Random-laser dynamics with temporally modulated pump

We present an experimental study of the effects of temporal modulation of the pump intensity on a random laser. The nanosecond pump pulses exhibit rapid intensity fluctuations which differ from pulse to pulse. Specific temporal profiles of the pump pulses produce extraordinarily strong emission from the random laser. This process is deterministic and insensitive to the spatial configuration of the scatterers and spontaneous emission noise.

physics.optics↗

Spatio-temporal correlations in multimode fibers for pulse delivery

Long-range speckle correlations play an essential role in wave transport through disordered media, but have rarely been studied in other complex systems. Here we discover spatio-temporal intensity correlations for an optical pulse propagating through a multimode fiber with strong random mode coupling. Positive long-range correlations arise from multiple scattering in fiber mode space and depend on the statistical distribution of arrival times. By optimizing the incident wavefront of a pulse, we maximize the power transmitted at a selected time, and such control is significantly enhanced by the long-range spatio-temporal correlations. We provide an explicit relation between the correlations and the enhancements, which closely agrees with experimental data. Our work shows that multimode fibers provide a fertile ground for studying complex wave phenomena, and the strong spatio-temporal correlations can be employed for efficient power delivery at a well-defined time.

physics.optics↗

Suppressing spatio-temporal lasing instabilities with wave-chaotic microcavities

Spatio-temporal instabilities are widespread phenomena resulting from complexity and nonlinearity. In broad-area edge-emitting semiconductor lasers, the nonlinear interactions of multiple spatial modes with the active medium can result in filamentation and spatio-temporal chaos. These instabilities degrade the laser performance and are extremely challenging to control. We demonstrate a powerful approach to suppress spatio-temporal instabilities using wave-chaotic or disordered cavities. The interference of many propagating waves with random phases in such cavities disrupts the formation of self-organized structures like filaments, resulting in stable lasing dynamics. Our method provides a general and robust scheme to prevent the formation and growth of nonlinear instabilities for a large variety of high-power lasers.

physics.optics↗

Transverse localization of transmission eigenchannels

Transmission eigenchannels are building blocks of coherent wave transport in diffusive media, and selective excitation of individual eigenchannels can lead to diverse transport behavior. An essential yet poorly understood property is the transverse spatial profile of each eigenchannel, which is critical for coupling into and out of it. Here, we discover that the transmission eigenchannels of a disordered slab possess localized incident and outgoing profiles, even in the diffusive regime far from Anderson localization. Such transverse localization arises from a combination of reciprocity, local coupling of spatial modes, and nonlocal correlations of scattered waves. Experimentally, we observe signatures of such localization despite finite illumination area. Our results reveal the intrinsic characteristics of transmission eigenchannels in the open slab geometry, commonly used for applications in imaging and energy transfer through turbid media.

physics.optics↗

PCMSolver: an Open-Source Library for Solvation Modeling

PCMSolver is an open-source library for continuum electrostatic solvation. It can be combined with any quantum chemistry code and requires a minimal interface with the host program, greatly reducing programming effort. As input, PCMSolver needs only the molecular geometry to generate the cavity and the expectation value of the molecular electrostatic potential on the cavity surface. It then returns the solvent polarization back to the host program. The design is powerful and versatile: minimal loss of performance is expected, and a standard single point self-consistent field implementation requires no more than 2 days of work. We provide a brief theoretical overview, followed by two tutorials: one aimed at quantum chemistry program developers wanting to interface their code with PCMSolver, the other aimed at contributors to the library. We finally illustrate past and ongoing work, showing the library's features, combined with several quantum chemistry programs.

physics.chem-ph↗

An Efficient Privacy-Preserving Algorithm based on Randomized Response in IoT-based Smart Grid

Among existing privacy-preserving approaches, Differential Privacy (DP) is a powerful tool that can provide privacy-preserving noisy query answers over statistical databases and has been widely adopted in many practical fields. In particular, as a privacy machine of DP, Randomized Aggregable Privacy-Preserving Ordinal Response (RAPPOR) enables strong privacy, efficient, and high-utility guarantees for each client string in data crowdsourcing. However, as for Internet of Things(IoT), such as smart gird, data are often processed in batches. Therefore, developing a new random response algorithm that can support batch-processing tend to make it more efficient and suitable for IoT applications than existing random response algorithms. In this paper, we propose a new randomized response algorithm that can achieve differential-privacy and utility guar-antees for consumer's behaviors, and process a batch of data at each time. Firstly, by applying sparse coding in this algorithm, a behavior signature dictionary is created from the aggregated energy consumption data in fog. Then, we add noise into the behavior signature dictionary by classical randomized response techniques and achieve the differential privacy after data re-aggregation. Through the security analysis with the principle of differential privacy and experimental results verification, we find that our Algorithm can preserve consumer's privacy with-out comprising utility.

cs.CR↗

Customizing Speckle Intensity Statistics

We develop a general method for customizing the intensity statistics of speckle patterns on a target plane. By judiciously modulating the phase-front of a monochromatic laser beam, we experimentally generate speckle patterns with arbitrarily-tailored intensity probability-density functions. Relative to Rayleigh speckles, our customized speckles exhibit radically different topologies yet maintain the same spatial correlation length. The customized speckles are fully developed, ergodic, and stationary: with circular non-Gaussian statistics for the complex field. Propagating away from the target plane, the customized speckles revert back to Rayleigh speckles. This work provides a versatile framework for tailoring speckle patterns with varied applications in microscopy, imaging and optical manipulation.

physics.optics↗

Achieving Differential Privacy against Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring in Smart Grid: a Fog Computing approach

Fog computing, a non-trivial extension of cloud computing to the edge of the network, has great advantage in providing services with a lower latency. In smart grid, the application of fog computing can greatly facilitate the collection of consumer's fine-grained energy consumption data, which can then be used to draw the load curve and develop a plan or model for power generation. However, such data may also reveal customer's daily activities. Non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) can monitor an electrical circuit that powers a number of appliances switching on and off independently. If an adversary analyzes the meter readings together with the data measured by an NILM device, the customer's privacy will be disclosed. In this paper, we propose an effective privacy-preserving scheme for electric load monitoring, which can guarantee differential privacy of data disclosure in smart grid. In the proposed scheme, an energy consumption behavior model based on Factorial Hidden Markov Model (FHMM) is established. In addition, noise is added to the behavior parameter, which is different from the traditional methods that usually add noise to the energy consumption data. The analysis shows that the proposed scheme can get a better trade-off between utility and privacy compared with other popular methods.

cs.CR↗

Complete Polarization Control in Multimode Fibers with Polarization and Mode Coupling

Multimode optical fibers have seen increasing applications in communication, imaging, high-power lasers and amplifiers. However, inherent imperfections and environmental perturbations cause random polarization and mode mixing, making the output polarization states very different from the input one. This poses a serious issue for employing polarization sensitive techniques to control light-matter interactions or nonlinear optical processes at the distal end of a fiber probe. Here we demonstrate a complete control of polarization states for all output channels by only manipulating the spatial wavefront of a laser beam into the fiber. Arbitrary polarization states for individual output channels are generated by wavefront shaping without constraint on input polarizations. The strong coupling between spatial and polarization degrees of freedom in a multimode fiber enables full polarization control with spatial degrees of freedom alone, transforming a multimode fiber to a highly-efficient reconfigurable matrix of waveplates.

physics.optics↗

Super- and Anti-Principal Modes in Multi-Mode Waveguides

We introduce a new type of states for light in multimode waveguides featuring strongly enhanced or reduced spectral correlations. Based on the experimentally measured multi-spectral transmission matrix of a multimode fiber, we generate a set of states that outperform the established "principal modes" in terms of the spectral stability of their output spatial field profiles. Inverting this concept also allows us to create states with a minimal spectral correlation width, whose output profiles are considerably more sensitive to a frequency change than typical input wavefronts. The resulting "super-" and "anti-principal" modes are made orthogonal to each other even in the presence of mode-dependent loss. By decomposing them in the principal mode basis, we show that the super-principal modes are formed via interference of principal modes with closeby delay times, whereas the anti-principal modes are a superposition of principal modes with the most different delay times available in the fiber. Such novel states are expected to have broad applications in fiber communication, imaging, and spectroscopy.

physics.optics↗

Correlation-enhanced control of wave focusing in disordered media

A fundamental challenge in physics is controlling the propagation of waves in disordered media despite strong scattering from inhomogeneities. Spatial light modulators enable one to synthesize (shape) the incident wavefront, optimizing the multipath interference to achieve a specific behavior such as focusing light to a target region. However, the extent of achievable control was not known when the target region is much larger than the wavelength and contains many speckles. Here we show that for targets containing more than $g$ speckles, where $g$ is the dimensionless conductance, the extent of transmission control is substantially enhanced by the long-range mesoscopic correlations among the speckles. Using a filtered random matrix ensemble appropriate for coherent diffusion in open geometries, we predict the full distributions of transmission eigenvalues as well as universal scaling laws for statistical properties, in excellent agreement with our experiment. This work provides a general framework for describing wavefront-shaping experiments in disordered systems.

physics.optics↗

Enhancing light transmission through a random medium with inhomogeneous scattering and loss

We enhanced the total transmission of light through a disordered waveguide with spatially inhomogeneous scattering and loss by shaping the incident wavefront of a laser beam. Using an on-chip tapered lead, we were able to access all input modes in the waveguide with a spatial light modulator. The adaptive wavefront shaping resulted in selective coupling of input light to high transmission channels, which bypassed the regions of higher scattering and loss in the waveguide. The spatial inhomogeneity of scattering and loss led to redirecting of energy flux to optical paths with less scattering and loss to maximize total energy transported through the system. This work demonstrated the power of wavefront shaping in coherent control of light transport in inhomogeneous scattering media, which are common in real applications.

physics.optics↗

Intracavity frequency-doubled degenerate laser

We develop a green light source with low spatial coherence via intracavity frequency doubling of a solid-state degenerate laser. The second harmonic emission supports many more transverse modes than the fundamental emission, and exhibit lower spatial coherence. A strong suppression of speckle formation is demonstrated for both fundamental and second harmonic beams. Using the green emission for fluorescence excitation, we show the coherent artifacts are removed from the full-field fluorescence images. The high power, low spatial coherence and good directionality makes the green degenerate laser an attractive illumination source for parallel imaging and projection display.

physics.optics↗