Jorge Francés

• University of Alicante

In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to model bending phenomena on holographic volume gratings based on Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA), in which the bending as a phase in the dielectric permittivity expansion is introduced, and the Shooting Method (SM) is employed to solve the resulting system of equations. Further validation of our...

This work introduces a novel computational approach based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction of the solution space in optimisation problems with known linear interdependencies among solution variables. By creating synthetic datasets with deliberately engineered properties and applying PCA, the solution space’s remapp...

In this work we present a formalism based on scalar Green’s functions to deal with electromagnetic scattering problems. Although the formulations of the Mie theory and Born approximations in terms of electromagnetic scattering are well known and relevant, they have certain disadvantages: complexity, computational time, few symmetries, etc. Therefor...

In this work we present a formalism based on scalar Green’s functions to deal with electromagnetic scattering problems. Although the formulations of the Mie theory and Born approximations in terms of electromagnetic scattering are well known and relevant, they have certain disadvantages; complexity, computational time, few symmetries, etc. Therefor...

In the present work, the viability of a novel recording geometry to produce reflection holographic couplers is analyzed. Recalling the idea of previous works, photopolymers are used as the recording material because they have been proven to be well-suited for the intended see-through application: the capability to provide a virtual image without co...

The study of liquid crystal (LC) director distribution is an important area of research in materials science and technology. Parallel-aligned liquid crystal (PA-LC) devices have been extensively studied due to their applications in liquid crystal displays, optical devices, and sensors. Estimating the LC director distribution is a critical step in d...

In the present work, the viability of a novel recording geometry to produce reflection holographic couplers is analyzed. Recalling the idea of previous works, photopolymers are used as the recording material, as they are well-suited for the intended see-through application. Moreover, Kogelnik’s theory fundamentals give us the proper background to e...

The phase-shift exhibited by liquid crystal on silicon devices (LCoS) depends on the voltage applied and the illumination wavelength. Most of the LCoS used in the labs are digitally addressed using a binary pulse width modulated signal. Usually, these devices are characterized for a very small range of the available binary voltage values and for sp...

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) microdisplays are an element commonly found in advanced photonic applications. Phase-only modulation and spatial light modulators (SLMs) use parallel-aligned LCoS (PA-LCoS) microdisplays due to their large resolution and small pixel size. However, the crosstalk between neighbouring pixels induces several phenomena,...

An advanced polarimetric model for liquid crystal devices is presented and the sources of uncertainty to determine the values of its parameters are evaluated using a Monte-Carlo approach.

A numerical formulation based on the precise-integration time-domain (PITD) method for simulating periodic media is extended for overcoming the Courant-Friedrich-Levy (CFL) limit on the time-step size in a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. In this new method, the periodic boundary conditions are implemented, permitting the simulation...

This work shows the redesign of an elemental experience based on the Helmholtz resonator using 3D printing. A Helmholtz resonator is based on a volume and at least one opening that can include a tube or not. The air column inside the tube can be considered the mass of the system, whereas the volume represents the system’s stiffness. Due to these an...

Spatial light modulation with liquid crystal on silicon microdisplays is at the heart of a wide range of modern optics and photonics areas. We show how to model these devices with a focus on applications.

This work presents recent results derived from the rigorous modelling of holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (H-PDLC) gratings. More precisely, the diffractive properties of transmission gratings are the focus of this research. This work extends previous analysis performed by the authors but includes new features and approaches. More preci...

Photopolymers can be used to fabricate different holographic optical elements, although maximization of the phase-shift in photopolymers has been a challenge for the last few decades. Different material compositions and irradiation conditions have been studied in order to achieve it. One of the main conclusions has been that with continuous laser e...

In this work, we study the imaging characteristics of an optical see-through display based on a holographic waveguide. To fabricate this device, two transmission holograms are recorded on a photopolymer material attached to a glass substrate. The role of the holograms is to couple the incident light between air and the glass substrate, accomplishin...

We study the recording of complex diffractive elements, such as achromatic lenses, fork gratings or axicons. Using a 3-D diffusion model, previously validated, we are able to predict the behavior of photopolymer during recording. The experimental recording of these complex elements is possible thanks to a new generation spatial light modulator capa...

The storage of volume holographic reflection gratings in low-toxicity photopolymers represents a challenge at present since they can be used in many important applications such as biosensors and holographic optical elements. In this context, an acrylate-based photopolymer developed in our research group was employed to study the recording of unslan...

In recent works, we demonstrated the accuracy and physical relevance of a highly simplified reverse-engineering analytical model for a parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon devices (PA-LCoS). Both experimental measurements and computational simulations applying the rigorous split-field finite difference time domain (SF-FDTD) technique led to t...

In this work, an accurate numerical modeling of the diffraction properties of transmission holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (H-PDLC) gratings is presented. The method considers ellipsoid geometry-based liquid crystal (LC) droplets with random properties regarding size and location across the H-PLDC layer and also the non-homogeneous ori...

Simplified analytical models with predictive capability enable simpler and faster optimization of the performance in applications of complex photonic devices. We recently demonstrated the most simplified analytical model still showing predictive capability for parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon (PA-LCoS) devices, which provides the voltage-...

Holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystals (HPDLCs) are the result of the optimization of the photopolymer fabrication techniques. They are made by recording in a photopolymerization induced phase separation process (PIPS) in which the liquid crystal molecules diffuse to dark zones in the diffraction grating originated. Thanks to the addition of...

In this work, we present a method of manufacturing an optical see-through display based on a holographic waveguide with transmission holograms that couple the incident light between air and the glass substrate, accomplishing total internal reflection. The holograms (slanted transmission gratings with a spatial frequency of 1700 lines/mm) were recor...

The parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon (PA-LCoS) microdisplay has become a widely used device for the photonics community. It is a very versatile tool that can perform several tasks which transforms it into a key element in many different photonics applications. Since our group is interested in holography, in this chapter, we want to use th...

Photopolymers are appealing materials for many optical applications. For most of them, shrinkage plays an important role in the final properties of the display, especially in holographic data storage applications. In this paper, we demonstrate that to quantify correctly the shrinkage, it is mandatory to measure the angle of propagation for both dif...

Photopolymers are optical recording materials appealing for many different applications such as holography, data storage, interconnectors, solar concentrations, or wave-guides fabrication. Recently the capacity of photopolymers to record diffractive optical elements (DOE’s) has been investigated. Different authors have reported proposes to record D...

Photopolymers can be appealing materials for diffractive optical elements fabrication. In this paper, we present the recording of diffractive lenses in PVA/AA (Polyvinyl alcohol acrylamide) based photopolymers using a liquid crystal device as a master. In addition, we study the viability of using a diffusion model to simulate the lens formation in...

Phase-only modulation is necessary in a great number of modern spatial light modulation applications, and the spatial light modulator (SLM) technology of choice is usually the parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon (PA-LCoS) microdisplay. Various degradation effects have been analyzed in the literature which may be introduced by SLMs and whose...

Free-radical photopolymer materials can be fabricated using a wide range of monomers, binders, dyes, etc. It was shown that in some photopolymers the surface and the internal diffusion for acrylamide materials are very different and also it was demonstrated the viability of acrylamide materials to achieve 2π phase depth for low spatial diffractive...

A family of conservative, truly nonlinear, oscillators with integer or non-integer order nonlinearity is considered. These oscillators have only one odd power-form elastic-term and exact expressions for their period and solution were found in terms of Gamma functions and a cosine-Ateb function, respectively. Only for a few values of the order of no...

Photopolymers present appealing optical properties for holographic and diffractive applications. They enable modulation of the electrical permittivity and thickness and are self-processing, and layers with a wide range of thicknesses and properties can be fabricated on demand. In order to obtain a complete characterization of the material, low spat...

The split-field finite-difference time-domain method is extended to second-harmonic generation in two-dimensionally periodic structures. Making use of the full coefficient-tensor formalism, a coupled nonlinear system of equations, which must be solved at each update of the electromagnetic field, is developed. The accuracy of the method is verified...

Parallel-aligned (PA) liquid-crystal on silicon (LCoS) microdisplays are especially appealing in a wide range of spatial light modulation applications since they enable phase-only operation. Recently we proposed a novel polarimetric method, based on Stokes polarimetry, enabling the characterization of their linear retardance and the magnitude of th...

The Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method is applied to the analysis of vibroacustic problems and to study the propagation of longitudinal and transversal waves in a stratified media. The potential of the scheme and the relevance of each acceleration strategy for massively computations in FDTD are demonstrated in this work. In this paper, we...

Photopolymer are appealing materials for diffractive elements recording. Two of their properties when they are illuminated are useful for this goal: the relief surface changes and the refractive index modifications. In this paper we use a 2-dimensional model, based on direct parameter measurements, for predicting the refractive index distributions...

A wide range of chemical compositions are possible to design photopolymers. These materials are also appealing for diffractive and holographic applications due to their capability to modulate the refractive index and/or the thickness when illuminated. Some of the most interesting applications for photopolymers are the optical data storage, security...

Parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon (PA-LCoS) displays have become the most attractive spatial light modulator device for a wide range of applications, due to their superior resolution and light efficiency, added to their phase-only capability. Proper characterization of their linear retardance and phase flicker instabilities is a must to ob...

Recently we proposed a novel polarimetric method, based on Stokes polarimetry, enabling the characterization of the linear retardance and its flicker amplitude in electro-optic devices behaving as variable linear retarders. In this work we apply extensively the technique to parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon devices (PA-LCoS) under the most...

We present a modified coupled wave theory to describe the properties of nonslanted reflection volume diffraction gratings. The method is based on the beta value coupled wave theory, which will be corrected by using appropriate boundary conditions. The use of this correction allows predicting the efficiency of the reflected order for nonslanted refl...

A polarimetric method for the measurement of linear retardance in the presence of phase fluctuations is presented. This can be applied to electro-optic devices behaving as variable linear retarders. The method is based on an extended Mueller matrix model for the linear retarder containing the time-averaged effects of the instabilities. As a result,...

We focus on the evaluation of the applicability of the classical and well-established linear polarimeter to the measurement of linear retardance in the presence of phase flicker. This analysis shows that there are large errors in the results provided by the linear polarimeter when measuring the linear retardance of a device. These errors depend on...

The implementation of split-field finite difference time domain (SF-FDTD) applied to light-wave propagation through periodic media with arbitrary anisotropy method in graphics processing units (GPUs) is described. The SF-FDTD technique and the periodic boundary condition allow the consideration of a single period of the structure reducing the simul...

In this work a unified treatment of solid and fluid vibration problems is developed by means of the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD). The scheme here proposed takes advantage from a scaling factor in the velocity fields that improves the performance of the method and the vibration analysis in heterogenous media. Moreover, the scheme has been ex...

A set of simplified and rigorous electromagnetic vector theories is used for analyzing the transmittance characteristics of diffraction phase gratings. The scalar diffraction theory and the effective medium theory are validated with the exact results obtained via the rigorous coupled-wave theory and the finite-difference time-domain method. The eff...

Recently the possibility to record phase diffractive optical elements (DOEs) onto photopolymers has been explored. Two of their properties when they are illuminated are useful to this goal: the relief surface changes and the refractive index modifications. The recording intensity distribution with a sinusoidal profile is the easiest profile to reco...

Among the existent technologies of spatial light modulator devices, parallel aligned liquid crystal on silicon displays (PA-LCoS) have found wide acceptance. They are especially interesting since they provide phase-only modulation with no coupling of amplitude modulation. Optimal use of these devices requires proper calibration of their modulation...

The split-field finite-difference time-domain (SF-FDTD) method for one-dimensionally periodic structures is extended to include the coefficient-tensor description of second- and third-order nonlinear-optical media. A set of nonlinear equations related to the split-field values of the electric field is established. An iterative fixed-point approach...

The present paper describes an optimized C++ library for the study of electromagnetics. The implementation is based on the Finite-Difference Time-Domain method for transient analysis, and the Finite Element Method for electrostatics. Both methods share the same core and are optimized for CPU and GPU computing. To illustrate its running, FEM method...

The finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD) allows electromagnetic field distribution analysis as a function of time and space. The method is applied to analyze holographic volume gratings (HVGs) for the near-field distribution at optical wavelengths. Usually, this application requires the simulation of wide areas, which implies more memory and...

The Split-Field Finite-Difference Time-Domain (SF-FDTD) formulation is extended to periodic structures with Kerr-type nonlinearity. The optical Kerr effect is introduced by an iterative fixed-point procedure for solving the nonlinear system of equations. Using the method, formation of solitons inside homogenous nonlinear media is numerically observ...

There is no doubt that the concept of volume holography has led to an incredibly great amount of scientific research and technological applications. One of these applications is the use of volume holograms as optical memories, and in particular, the use of a photosensitive medium like a photopolymeric material to record information in all its volum...

Accurate approximate closed-form solutions for the cubic-quintic Duffing oscillator are obtained in terms of elementary functions. To do this, we use the previous results obtained using a cubication method in which the restoring force is expanded in Chebyshev polynomials and the original nonlinear differential equation is approximated by a cubic Du...

The implementation of the Split-Field Finite Difference Time-Domain (SP-FDTD) method in Graphics Pro- cessing Units is described in this work. This formalism is applied to light wave propagation through periodic media with arbitrary anisotropy. The anisotropic media is modeled by means of a permittivity tensor with non-diagonal elements and absorbi...

Novel liquid crystal on silicon displays (LCoS) technology has found widespread use in a number of applications dealing with the spatial modulation of the properties of a light wavefront. Parallel aligned LCoS (PA-LCoS) are especially interesting since they provide phase-only modulation with no coupling of amplitude modulation. However, typically L...

The use of innovative technologies in education offers new possibilities that complement classroom teaching and may also help to improve the quality of education, enabling students to actively participate in the learning process. With this in mind, in 2009 the University of Alicante (UA) created a program to promote technological and educational in...

We present two methods, interferometry at the zero spatial frequency limit and analysis of diffracted orders for very low spatial frequency gratings, to characterize photopolymers with dispersed nematic liquid crystals. These methods provide us with real time information about the transformations taking place inside the material during recording. [...

Relief surface changes provide interesting possibilities for storing diffractive optical elements on photopolymers and are an important source of information for characterizing and understanding the material behavior. In this paper we use a 3-dimensional model, based on direct parameter measurements, for predicting the relief structures generated o...

In this work a set of simplified theories for predicting diffraction efficiencies of diffraction phase and triangular gratings are considered. The simplified theories applied are the scalar diffraction and the effective medium theories. These theories are used in a wide range of the value Λ/λ and for different angles of incidence. However, when 1 <...

Interference and diffraction of light are elementary topics in optics. The aim of the work presented here is to develop an accurate and cheap optical-system simulation software that provides a virtual laboratory for studying the effects of propagation in both time and space for the near- and far-field regions. In laboratory sessions, this software...

The aim of this comment is to provide more information about the study of the dynamics of a finite extensibility nonlinear oscillator conducted by Febbo [M. Febbo, A finite extensibility nonlinear oscillator, Applied Mathematics and Computation 217 (2011) 6464–6475]. We show that the linearized harmonic balance method is not sufficiently adequate f...

In a recent paper (A. Yildirim, Z. Saadatnia, H. Askari, "Application of the Hamiltonian approach to nonlinear oscillators with rational and irrational elastic terms", Mathematical and Computer Modelling 54 (2011) 697-703) the so-called Hamiltonian approach (HA) was applied to obtain analytical approximate solutions for conservative nonlinear oscil...

In this work a vectorized and parallel version of the Finite-Difference Time-Domain method (FDTD) is applied to Volume Holographic Gratings (VHG) and Thin-Film Filters (TFF). In particular, in this work gratings with a grating period vector forming an arbitrary angle with the perpendicular to the plane of incidence are analyzed. Angular and wavelen...

In this work we present an analysis of non-slanted reflection gratings by using a corrected Coupled Wave Theory which takes into account boundary conditions. It is well known that Kogelnik's Coupled Wave Theory predicts with great accuracy the response of the efficiency of the zero and first order for volume phase gratings, for both reflection and...

Relief surface changes provide interesting possibilities for storing diffractive optical elements on photopolymers and are an important source of information to characterize and understand the material behaviour. In this paper we present a 3-dimensional model based on direct measurements of parameters to predict the relief structures generated on t...

We propose a rigorous electromagnetic analysis for a Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) geometry consisting of multiple hollow slits that go across the fiber core along the propagation axis z. The slits are regarded as invariant along the transverse dimension x but exhibit multiple sinusoidal bends in the y-z plane, which prevents the transversal profile...

In holographic applications the direct parameters determination of photopolymers as optical recording media is a very difficult task due to the presence of two different phenomena: polymer formation and monomer diffusion. We propose a direct method based on zero spatial frequency recording, to eliminate the diffusion influence, and on interferometr...