Lasers, Photonics, and Electro-Optics – serie

In this monograph, the authors offer a comprehensive examination of the latest research on Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD). Chapters explore the physics of LCVD as well as the principles of a wide range of related phenomena-including laser-matter interactions, heat transfer, fluid flow, chemical kinetics, and adsorption. With this reference, researchers will discover how to apply these principles to developing theories about various types of LCVD processes; gain greater insight into the basic mechanisms of LCVD; and obtain the ability to design and control an LCVD system.

This work describes progress in near-field optical science and technology. The title implies capabilities of optical near-field not only for imaging/microscopy but also for fabrication/manipulation/processing on a nanometric scale. The authors introduce the differences between near-field optics and far-field optics from both experimental and theoretical perspectives. The work touches on a wide range of topics in near-field optics, and can be used both by the novice and experienced researcher already familiar with the subject, to connect the experimental with the theoretical aspects of near-field optics.

The laser, initially called the "optical maser," was proposed in 1958 by Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow; in 1960, Theodore Maiman was the first among several researchers to achieve laser oscillation by using a ruby crystal. In the following quarter of a century, a considerable amount of re­ search and development has taken place, and the laser is now utilized for many diverse applications, ranging from the commonplace compact disk to intricate surgical applications in medicine. Since I first entered the laboratory of Professor Yasuharu Suematsu in 1962 to complete my thesis, I have been studying the new field of laser optics. In spite of many expectations and a vast investment in research, the first practical use of lasers was difficult to of Univ. Erlangen once jokingly achieve. The late Professor K. H. Zchauer remarked that laser was defined by an English physicist as "Less Application of Stimulated Expensive Research. " In a similiar vein, Dr. Herwig Kogelnik reminded me that in the early 1960s, maser was often called "Money Acqui­ sition Scheme for Expensive Research. " Initially I worked with a ruby laser, then with a helium-neon-gas laser, and am presently engaged in semiconductor laser research. There are proba­ bly not a large number of researchers who have had the opportunity to build these three representative types of lasers. My primary objective of study lies in optical communications however, and therefore, I have been approaching the laser mainly as a lightwave propagator.

Conventional optical science and technology have been restricted by the diffraction limit from reducing the sizes of optical and photoruc devices to nanometric dimensions. Thus, the size of optical integrated circuits has been incompatible with that of their counterpart, integrated electronic circuits, which have much smaller dimensions. This book provides potential ideas and methods to overcome this difficulty. Near-field optics has developed very rapidly from around the middle 1980s after preliminary trials in the microwave frequency region, as proposed as early as 1928. At the early stages of this development, most technical efforts were devoted to realizing super-high-resolution optical microscopy beyond the diffraction limit. However, the possibility of exploiting the optical near-field, phenomenon of quasistatic electromagnetic interaction at subwavelength distances between nanometric particles has opened new ways to nanometric optical science and technology, and many applications to nanometric fabrication and manipulation have been proposed and implemented. Building on this historical background, this book describes recent progress in near-field optical science and technology, mainly using research of the author's groups. The title of this book, Near-Field Nano-Optics-From Basic Principles to Nano-Fabrication and Nano-Photonics, implies capabilities of the optical near­ field not only for imaging/microscopy, but also for fabrication/manipulation/proc­ essing on a nanometric scale.