Holographic optical traps use the forces exerted by computer-generated holograms to trap, move and otherwise transform mesoscopically textured materials. This article introduces methods for optimizing holographic optical traps' efficiency and accuracy, and an optimal statistical approach for characterizing their performance. This combination makes possible real-time adaptive optimization.

Optical tweezers use focused laser light to manipulate microscopic particles. We discuss the underlying physics of the technique in terms of a gradient force exerted by the light on the particles. The versatility of optical tweezers is highlighted, in particular, we explain how spatial light modulators and various imaging methods have greatly enhanced their range of applications.

Optical traps have shown to be a flexible and powerful tool for 3D manipulations on the microscale. However, when it comes to sensitive measurements of particle displacements and forces thorough calibration procedures are required, which can be already demanding for trapped spheres. For asymmetric structures, with more complicated shapes, such as helical bacteria, novel calibration schemes need...

Digital signal processing, holography, and quantum and classical information processing rely heavily upon recording the amplitude and phase of coherent optical signals. One method for achieving coherent information storage makes use of electromagnetically induced transparency. Storage is achieved by compressing the optical pulse using the steep dispersion of the electromagnetically induced tran...

Fulgide is well-known as a thermally irreversible organic photochromic compound [1,2]. It is one of the important materials in the field of optical signal processing and optical storage. Focusing on the holographic storage applications of 3indoly-benzylfulgimide/PMMA film, in this chapter include the following themes. In section 2, first the Fulgide, photochroism and photo-induced anisotropy ar...

A reconfigurable coupled-resonator optical waveguide made of a few directly coupled ring resonators is employed to control the delay of data streams modulated at tens of gigabits per second. A delay of 8 bit lengths (1 optical byte) with a small pulse broadening and 1 dB/bit fractional loss is achieved by using only eight rings. The limiting role of waveguide loss and spurious backreflections i...

We demonstrate an improved signal-to-noise ratio in a scanning optical microscope used to read out information from a magneto-optical data storage layer. By placing a shading band in the return path of the optical system we can reduce noise by as much as 3 dB in certain spatial frequency ranges. The signal-to-noise ratio improvement arises from differences in the signal and noise distributions ...

Coherent optical beams are used to communicate, store, and process information in a growing number of applications. The availability of coherent laser sources is of critical importance for the realization of such optical information systems. An incoherent source randomly populates the available temporal and spatial channels of the optical system, making it difficult to represent information. Co...

A review on the work performed by our group on slow light via Stimulating Brillouin scattering (SBS) is presented. We describe the fundamentals of the slow-light phenomena and how SBS can be used to obtain tunable optical delays in optical fibers. We then review the mechanisms to overcome the limitations imposed by the narrow SBS resonance bandwidth and to optimize the slow-light performance fo...