A form birefringent optical element includes a structured layer and a dielectric environment disposed over the structured layer. At least one of the structured layer and the dielectric environment includes a nanovoided polymer, the nanovoided polymer having a first refractive index in an unactuated state and a second refractive index different than the first refractive index in an actuated state. Actuation of the nanovoided polymer can be used to reversibly control the form birefringence of the optical element. Various other apparatuses, systems, materials, and methods are also disclosed.

A traveling wave electrode modulator and a photonic integrated chip including the same. The traveling wave electrode modulator comprises a silicon base, an optical waveguide and a doped transitional area disposed in the silicon base, and a traveling wave electrode structure electrically connected to the transitional area. The traveling wave electrode structure comprises at least one layer of a continuous electrode continuously extending along the direction of extension of the optical waveguide, at least one layer of a periodic electrode periodically disposed along the direction of extension of the optical waveguide, and a conductive structure. The continuous electrode is electrically connected to the periodic electrode via the conductive structure, and the traveling wave electrode structure is electrically connected to the transitional area via the conductive structure.

A tunable spectral filter comprising a phase change material is incorporated into a multilayered dielectric structure. The dielectric permittivity, and thus the filter properties, of the structure can be modified by producing a change in the phase change material, e.g., causing a metal-insulator transition. By controllably causing such a change in the dielectric permittivity of the phase change material, the spectral transmittance and reflectance of the structure, and thus its filter properties, can be modified to provide a predetermined transmittance or reflectance of electromagnetic radiation incident on the structure. In preferred embodiments, the phase change material layer is a vanadium dioxide (VO.sub.2) film formed by atomic layer deposition (ALD).

A transparent optical element includes a primary electrode, a secondary electrode overlapping at least a portion of the primary electrode, an electroactive layer disposed between and abutting the primary electrode and the secondary electrode, and a control system operably coupled to at least one of the primary electrode and the secondary electrode and adapted to provide a drive signal to actuate the electroactive layer within an aperture of the transparent optical element.

A spacer with an integrated ribbon cable for insulating glazings includes a main body including two pane contact surfaces, a glazing interior surface, an outer surface, a hollow chamber, and at least one ribbon cable on the outer surface, wherein the ribbon cable is materially bonded to the outer surface.

An apparatus (10) for increasing a pulse length of a pulsed radiation beam, the apparatus comprising: a beam splitter (16) configured to split an input radiation beam (18) into a first beam (24) and a second beam (22); an optical arrangement (12,14), wherein the beam splitter and the optical arrangement are configured such that at least a portion of the first beam is recombined with the second beam into a modified beam after an optical delay of the first beam caused by the optical arrangement; and at least one optical element (30) in an optical path of the first beam, the at least one optical element configured such that the phase of different parts of a wavefront of the first beam is varied to reduce coherence between the first beam and the second beam.

A method and system is provided for operating a quantum information processing (QIP) system, including a dual-space, single-species architecture for trapped-ion quantum information processing. An exemplary method of preparing the ions include i) applying a first optical beam to the plurality of ions to shelve at least a portion of the plurality of ions from a first state to a second state, ii) applying a second optical beam to the plurality of ions to deshelve the at least a portion of the plurality of ions from the second state to a third state, iii) applying a third optical beam to optically pump the at least a portion of the plurality of ions from the third state and to a fourth state, and iv) iteratively repeat i) to iii) to transition a remaining portion of the plurality of ions to the fourth state.

Provided is an optical device including a radio frequency (RF) signal source configured to electrically provide an RF signal, a first diode configured to operate as a laser diode (LD) or an electro-absorption modulator (EAM) in response to the RF signal, a second diode configured to share an N region of the first diode, be serially connected to the first diode, and have a P region connected to a ground to operate as a capacitor for series push-pull operation with the first diode, and a resistor connected between the N region and the ground.

According to examples, apparatuses, systems, and methods for reconfiguring a multifunctional display panel are described. A display panel may include a polarization-dependent light modulation layer to modulate at least a phase of an incident light and to generate a modulated light. The modulated light is a function of at least one of a polarization state, a phase, or an amplitude of the incident light. One or more switchable polarization optical elements are operatively coupled to the polarization-dependent optical modulation layer. The one or more switchable polarization optical elements are to select an operational to mode of the display panel by adjusting the polarization state of the incident light to select the modulation applied to the incident light to generate the modulated light.

A phase modulation element including a substrate and a plurality of first columnar portions constituting a first metasurface, in which each of the plurality of first columnar portions includes a first surface that is closest to the substrate, and a second surface that is farthest from the substrate, and an area of the second surface is smaller than an area of the first surface in plan view from a direction perpendicular to the substrate.