Optical fibers or integrated optical waveguides have arbitrary cross-sectional index or refraction distribution. An efficient finite element method for analyzing the propagation characteristics of dielectric / optical waveguides with open boundary is presented. The propagation modes are hybrid, for which a variational expression is formulated in terms of the longitudinal electric and magnetic f...

We report on the successful treatment of nodular cutaneous sarcoidosis lesions using a flashlamp pumped pulsed dye laser (FPDL). After a test treatment session with FPDL, we were able to achieve complete remission of the treated skin lesions. The nontreated areas increased in size and served as a control. The patient has since undergone further treatments of the remaining areas, with complete c...

Fluorescence measurements are easily made with the aid of a cryogenic fiber optic probe. Emission wavelength time matrixes, excitation emission matrixes, and time-resolved excitation emission matrixes are rapidly collected with a pulsed tunable dye laser, a spectrograph, and an intensified charged-coupled device. Compound identification is based on spectral and lifetime information. The potenti...