Ultrafast Metaphotonics

Ecosystem coupling: A unifying framework to understand the functioning and recovery of ecosystems

Terahertz (THz) wave generation based on ultrafast laser are one of the most predominant and popular technologies. In particular, for THz generation by photoconductor antenna and optical rectification, higher optical to THz conversion efficiency usually requires ultrafast laser excitation into semiconductor or nonlinear crystal, therefore it is of great desire to develop ultrafast laser with high performance. CW Yb-doped lasers at 980 nm have been applied to generate THz wave range from 0.5 to 6 THz by DFG technique. To meet the demand of some THz wave generation (e.g. BNA crystal, gold nanoplasma), 980 nm ultrafast fiber laser are ideal pump sources and in desire to be developed. Here we demonstrate a 978 nm robust all-polarization-maintaining (PM) picosecond fiber laser mode- locked by phase-biased nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (PB- NALM). By introducing a nonreciprocal - <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pi$</tex-math></inline-formula> /2 phase shifter into the fiber loop, a self-starting stable mode-locking is obtained with the center wavelength of 978.14 nm and a 3-dB bandwidth of 0.43 nm. The pulse duration is 8.1 ps corresponding to the time bandwidth product (TBP) of 1.09. The maximum average output power is 14.5 mW with a repetition rate of 45.438 MHz. After a master oscillator power amplification system, the 978 nm average output power reaches 2.12 W, which is then injected into a PPLN crystal for second harmonic generation and 52 mW 489 nm ultrashort lasers is obtained. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of PB-NALM-based mode-locked fiber laser at 978 nm. The 978 nm ultrafast fiber laser and SHG to 489 nm have great potential in terahertz emission by shorter NIR and blue light.

近年来国内森林生态系统服务功能研究较多,但应用价值不高,其科学性受到诸多质疑。从森林水源涵养功能的多尺度内涵、过程以及其计量方法出发,对国内外研究动态和发展趋势进行了总结分析,重新审视森林水源涵养功能的研究意义,探讨森林水源涵养功能的多尺度特征。从森林水源涵养功能作用的空间尺度上看,其拦蓄洪水削减洪峰的功能仅在较小尺度上有效,而调节径流的功能只有当森林土壤的入渗量超过蒸散量时,才可能有更多地下水补给河道径流,进而增加旱季河道流量。同时森林水源涵养功能也具有明显的时间尺度特征,具体表现为在次降水事件中,由于蒸散发量较小,森林水源涵养功能的物质量等于森林不同层次的截留量,在功能上表现为拦蓄降水;在长时间尺度上,由于林地蒸散要耗去大量水分,森林水源涵养功能的物质量等于森林不同层次的截留量减去林地蒸散发量,在功能上表现为净化水质和调节径流。大多数研究仅对单一林分的个别层次蓄水功能进行研究,缺乏流域尺度或者更大空间尺度的森林水源涵养功能研究。建议从区域降尺度到流域或将坡面尺度上推到流域,集中在流域尺度解决森林水源涵养空间异质性将是解决森林水源涵养功能尺度外推的有效办法。就目前国内流行的森林水源涵养功能计量方法而言,其与尺度及研究目的有较大相关性,在研究中应根据研究目的、研究尺度和可获取的数据情况选择合适的计量方法。研究突出了不同尺度作用下森林水文过程的复杂性及重要性,并结合森林与水关系的争论问题,分析目前国内对森林水源涵养功能研究的一些误区,提出森林水源涵养功能研究的一些关键科学问题及未来可能的发展方向,主要包括:1)明确界定森林水源涵养功能的边界,探索森林水源涵养功能计量的新方法;2)加强不同时空尺度关联的森林水源涵养功能研究,包括正确评价森林水源涵养功能的时空变异规律,森林生态系统水源涵养功能的尺度效应,森林水源涵养与下游水生态安全,森林水源涵养研究范式转变等核心问题。;Forest water conservation as an important ecosystem function has caused a rising interests in the scientific community in recent years. However, there remain some arguments in several aspects regarding the forest water conservation function. For the concept of the forest water conservation, there is no clear definition about its connotation. Another concern is the scaling issue. It is a challenge to scale up the estimation for the forest water conservation from the plot scale to larger scale, e.g., watershed scale or regional scale. Many quantification methods have been developed, but their suitability, performance, advantages and disadvantages are unknown. Many of such argument issues are significant limits of the forest water conservation in science and management. On the basis of the literature review, we clarify the important role of the water conservation in forest ecosystem function. We also summarize and analyze the concepts of the forest water conservation and its multi-scale connotation, processes and quantification methods. On the spatial scale, function of the forest in mitigating peak flow is effective at a smaller scale but not necessarily at a larger scale. More groundwater recharges into stream flow when forest soil infiltration exceeds evapotranspiration, thus increasing stream flow in the dry season. During a rainfall event, forest water conservation has different features at different temporal scales. For example, the amount of the forest conservation during a rainfall event dominates by the forest canopy interception and most water is stored in the forest due to less evapotranspiration in the rainfall event scale. At the longer temporal scale, the forest water conservation can be determined by the forest canopy interception subtracting evapotranspiration. The functional roles of the forest water conservation at longer temporal scale dominate by purifying water from natural rainfall and mitigating seasonal flow peaks of the river discharges. Most previous studies of the forest water conservation focused on water storage function at the plot scale, but lack better understanding in the forest water conservation function at the watershed or regional scales. We suggest the approach that combines downscaling from the regional to watershed scales and upscaling from the hillside to the watershed scales can an effective way of the scale extrapolation. This idea can be used to address the heterogeneity issue of the forest water conservation function at different spatio-temporal scales. Among the existing quantification approaches of the forest water conservation function, each one highly relies on the temporal and spatial scales and its application goal. An appropriate calculation method should be carefully evaluated and considered based on the objectives, data availability, temporal and spatial scales of each study case. The suitability difference in different calculation methods of the forest water conservation demonstrates the complexity and importance of the multi-scale consideration in forest hydrological processes. In the context of the long-term debates about the relationship between the forest and water, we figure out a few confusing points in the current studies of the forest water conservation function. We also propose the critical scientific questions that should be addressed and a few directions in future studies of forest water conservation function including: 1) to clearly define the connotation and boundary of the forest water conservation function, and develop innovatory methods for determining the forest water conservation function; 2) to pay more attentions on the forest water conservation function studies associated with the different spatial and temporal scales, including evaluation of the spatio-temporal variations in forest water conservation function, the scaling effects on estimation of the water conservation function, the trade-off relationship between the upstream forest water conservation and the downstream ecological water need, and the development of the innovatory ways of forest water conservation practices.

This study focused on the structure of the aquatic insect community in spatial and temporal scales in the Esparza River. The river was sampled for one full year throughout 2007. During the dry season low flow months, five sampling points were selected in two different habitats (currents and pools), with five replicates per sample site. During the wet season with peak rain, only the data in the "current habitat" were sampled at each site. Specimens present in the different substrates were collected and preserved in situ. A nested ANOVA was then applied to the data to determine richness and density as the response variables. The variations in temporal and spatial scales were analyzed using width, depth and discharge of the river, and then analyzed using a nested ANOVA. Only a correlation of 51% similarity in richness was found, while in spatial scale, richness showed significant variation between sampling sites, but not between habitats. However, the temporal scale showed significant differences between habitats. Density showed differences between sites and habitats during the dry season in the spatial scale, while in the temporal scale significant variation was found between sampling sites. Width varied between habitats during the dry season, but not between sampling points. Depth showed differences between sampling sites and season. This work studies the importance of community structure of aquatic insects in rivers, and its relevance for the quality of water in rivers and streams.

Relationships between land use and water quality of rivers and lakes vary spatially and temporally. These variations were analyzed using spatial analysis and mathematical statistical methods for the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai. Based on the data of water quality and land use in 2001， 2005， 2010， 2015， and 2020， five spatial scales （200， 500， 1 000， 2 000， and 5 000 m reach buffer） of the landscape pattern were extracted using correlation and redundancy analysis to explore the impact of land use composition and spatial pattern on water quality at different spatial and temporal scales. The results showed that： ① the water quality of Suzhou Creek has gradually improved in the past 20 years； other indicators were between Class II to Class IV in 2020 except TN， and TN was the main pollutant. ② The main land use type of the buffer zone was construction land， and the proportion of greenland and woodland showed a small growth trend. ③ The water quality was closely related to landscape pattern， showing temporal and spatial scale effects. On the time scale， indicators such as construction land， agricultural land， landscape dominance， aggregation， and diversity had significant correlations with various water quality parameters， and there was an inverse correlation in 2010 compared with that in other years for NH4+-N， TP， and TN. The landscape pattern in 2001 had the greatest explanation for water quality， with an explanation rate of 93.65%. The impact of greenland and woodland on water quality has begun to emerge in the past 10 years. ④ On the spatial scale， there were significant correlations between greenland and woodland， patch number， landscape shape index， diversity index， and water quality. There was a strong positive regulatory effect of greenland and woodland on NH4+-N， TP， and TN at the scale of 2 000 m. The patch number and landscape shape index had relatively strong regulatory effects on water quality on a larger spatial scale， whereas the Shannon diversity index had a better positive regulatory effect on water quality on a small scale. The landscape pattern within a buffer of 2 000 m had the highest interpretation degree for all factors， with an explanation rate of 68.47%. The study showed that rationally planning the proportion of greenland and woodland within the 2 000 m buffer zone and optimizing its landscape configuration is an important measure to purify the surface water quality of Suzhou Creek.

A light field is a 4D function describing the radiance across a boundary between the volume containing a scene, and the disjoint volume in which the eyepoint may be placed. Light field rendering is the process of rendering novel views of a scene captured by the light field function. It is a purely image-based rendering technique which uses no geometric knowledge of the scene. Although the lack of needed geometric information make light fields an attractive way of capturing real-world scenes, it has made it difficult to effectively use light fields in combination with other rendering techniques, or even rendering multiple light fields in the same scene.We present a rendering method for light fields which allows multiple instances of a light field to be rendered in combination with a polygon rendered scene. Of particular note is our ability to render multiple light fields which appear to intersect in space consistently when viewed from any direction. The method is demonstrated by creating a forest consisting of thousands of instances of a tree light field, rendered on a polygon terrain.

Healthy ecosystems such as forests and wetlands have a great potential to support adaptation to climate change and are the foundation of sustainable livelihoods. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) can help to protect and maintain healthy ecosystems providing resilience against the impacts of climate change. This paper explores the role of EbA in reconciling socio-economic development with the conservation and restoration of nature in Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya, East Africa. Using selected ecosystems in the Lake region, the paper identifies key EbA approaches and explores trade-offs and synergies at spatial and temporal scales and between different stakeholders. The research methods used for this study include site visits, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, participatory workshops and literature reviews. An analytical framework is applied to advance the understanding of EbA approaches and how they lead to synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services provision at spatial and temporal scales and multiple stakeholders. Our results show that EbA approaches such as ecosystem restoration have the potential to generate multiple adaptation benefits as well as synergies and trade-offs occurring at different temporal and spatial scales and affecting various stakeholder groups. Our paper underscores the need to identify EbA trade-offs and synergies and to explore the ways in which they are distributed in space and time and between different stakeholders to design better environmental and development programmes.

A whole-lake acoustic telemetry array was utilized to monitor the three-dimensional position of 20 largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Code division multiple access (CDMA) technology enabled the simultaneous monitoring of the 20 transmitters (equipped with pressure and temperature sensors) at 15 s intervals with sub-meter accuracy. Fish were monitored between November 2003 and April 2004 to evaluate the behaviour of fish across different temporal and spatial scales. The distance moved by largemouth bass, assessed both on a daily and hourly basis, varied by season and was positively correlated with water temperature. For example, daily movement rates were 2.69 ± 1.45 km/day in mid November (average daily water temperature 5.9°C), 2.24 ± 0.73 km/day in early January (5.1°C), and 7.28 ± 2.62 km/day in mid April (7.7°C). Interestingly, daily movement rates varied by as much as 25 fold among individual fish. Visualization of fish swimming paths revealed that whereas some fish occupied discrete areas and made only localized movements, other individuals made lengthier journeys covering much of the lake in periods of as little as one day. Analysis of fish behaviour at a finer temporal scale revealed that during the winter, fish spend more than 95% of their time swimming at speeds less than 0.1 m/s (0.07 ± 0.24 m/s). During late fall, and especially in spring, swimming speeds were higher with mean swimming speeds of 0.11 ± 0.27 m/s and 0.19 ± 0.29 m/s, respectively. When the telemetry dataset was queried to simulate 24 h manual tracking intervals, it was clear that manual tracking data would not have been representative of actual daily movement rates, underestimating daily movement and swimming speeds by at least 75 fold. This study identifies the importance of evaluating fish activity at multiple spatial (whole lake to sub-meter position) and temporal (seasonal to seconds) scales and illustrates the potential of CDMA telemetry to yield such data.

Surface albedo has been documented as one of the Essential Climate Variables (ECV) of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) that governs the Earth's Radiation Budget. The availability of surface albedo data is necessary for a comprehensive environmental modelling study. Thus, both temporal and spatial scale issues need to be rectified. This study reports about the availability of surface albedo data through in-situ and remote sensing satellite observations. In this paper, we reviewed the existing models for surface albedo derivation and various initiatives taken by related environmental agencies in order to understand the issues of climate with respect to surface albedo. This investigation evaluated the major activities on albedo-related research specifically for the retrieval methods used to derive the albedo values. Two main existing albedo measurement methods are derived through in-situ measurement and remotely sensed observations. In-situ measurement supported with number of instruments and techniques such aspyrheliometers, pyranometers and Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) and remotely sensed observations using angularly integrated Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) by both geostationary and polar orbit satellites. The investigation results reveals that the temporal and spatial scaling is the major issues when the albedo values are needed for microclimatic study, i.e. high-resolution time-series analyses and at heterogeneity and impervious surface. Thus, an improved technique of albedo retrieval at better spatial and temporal scale is required to fulfil the need for such kind of studies. Amongst many others, there are two downscaling methods that have been identified to be used in resolving the spatial scaling biased issues: Smoothing Filter-based Intensity Modulation (SFIM) and Pixel Block Intensity Modulation (PBIM). The temporal issues can be resolved using the multiple regression techniques of land surface temperature, selected air quality parameters, aerosol and daily skylight.

In nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals, the selection of pump light wavelengths for the generation of terahertz (THz) waves is limited due to problems associated with coherence length, refractive index, and absorption by the crystal. Relaxation of this limitation would open up potential light sources for THz generation. One such solution, Cherenkov phase matching, removes the coherence length constraint. In this study, we attempted to generate THz waves from an NLO crystal using femtosecond pulses of various wavelengths. Specifically, 805-nm and 1560-nm femtosecond pulses were used to pump a prism-coupled LiNbO3 crystal. Broadband THz-wave generation and a THz-wave output proportional to the square of the pump light intensity were observed at both wavelengths. The generation of THz waves by prism-coupled Cherenkov phase matching was not limited by the wavelength of the pump light. Moreover, THz-wave generation at even greater intensities may be possible by optimizing the pump source and coupling to an NLO crystal.

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Multi-hazard events have the potential to cause damages to infrastructures and people that may differ greatly from the associated risks posed by singular hazards. Interrelations between natural hazards also operate on different spatial and temporal scales than single natural hazards. Therefore, the measure of spatial and temporal scales of natural hazard interrelations still remain challenging. The objective of this study is to refine and measure temporal and spatial scales of natural hazards and their interrelations by using a spatiotemporal clustering technique. To do so, spatiotemporal information about natural hazards are extracted from the ERA5 climate reanalysis. We focus here on the interrelation between two natural hazards (extreme precipitation and extreme wind gust) during the period 1969-2019 within a region including Great Britain and North-West France. The characteristics of our input data (i.e. important size, high noise level) and the absence of assumption about the shape of our hazard clusters guided the choice of a clustering algorithm toward the DBSCAN clustering algorithm. To create hazard clusters, we retain only extreme values (above the 99% quantile) of precipitation and wind gust. We analyse the characteristics (eg., size, duration, season, intensity) of single and compound events of rain and wind impacting our study area. We then measure the impact of the spatial and temporal scales defined in this study on the nature of the interrelation between extreme rainfall and extreme wind in the UK. We therefore demonstrate how this methodology can be applied to a different set of natural hazards.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

We provide an analysis of retrievable non-line-of-sight (NLOS) information from hidden objects, whose passive blackbody radiation is reflected from a non-specular surface, such as a rough wall, and derive an optimized optical design procedure for capturing the NLOS light field. In particular, we investigate two NLOS imaging regimes. In the scattering-limited regime, the reflecting surface is rough compared to the blackbody radiation wavelength, and the scattering generally corrupts the NLOS information. The light field in this regime is modeled by the bidirectional reflectance distribution function using a geometric optics approximation. In the diffraction-limited regime, the reflecting surface is smooth compared to the radiation wavelength. This light field is modeled by the Wigner distribution function and carries with it all the diffraction properties of the imaging system that can degrade the NLOS information. By merging these two expressions, we are able to understand the measured NLOS light field for surfaces that range from highly scattering to highly specular, and for long and short radiation wavelengths. In particular, using the Fresnel number and its scattering-counterpart which we have newly proposed in this current paper, we can theoretically predict the optimal imaging lens focusing conditions for the best optical design to retrieve the NLOS information for a variety of surfaces and wavelengths. Moreover, our analysis provides an intuitive physical interpretation of the NLOS information degradation in the light field space under these various reflectance conditions and can be used to numerically simulate the measured light field. We note that those analyses are also applicable to a single NLOS image capture, since a conventional camera image is a slice of the light field. Once we measure the NLOS data with the best optical design, we can then use it for any desired applications, such as the NLOS imaging and object location estimation. Experiments are performed using long-wave infrared radiation and THz radiation from thermally elevated objects to explore the scattering-limited and diffraction-limited regimes respectively. We find that there is a notable shift in the ideal lens focusing conditions in these two cases, and that the measured shifts are accurately predicted by our model.

Infrasound waves are sensitive to atmospheric processes that are unresolved in numerical weather prediction models, and to atmospheric properties at altitudes that are poorly constrained by observations. We report on the use of infrasound observations to probe atmospheric phenomena occurring over temporal scales from less than one hour to days, and at altitudes that extend up to the stratopause. Two measurement campaigns were conducted to capture infrasound signals from repeating explosion sequences from the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in Oklahoma. The first campaign captured infrasound signals propagating in a tropospheric waveguide, while the second captured signals propagating in a stratospheric waveguide. In both cases, we resolve sub-hour variations in infrasound signal characteristics that we show are related to unresolved atmospheric phenomena. We further resolve day-to-day variations for the two different waveguides and assess how well these longer-term variations can be explained using meteorological models. Using a normal-mode code based on a Chebyshev collocation method, we also compared ground infrasonic recordings and numerically synthesized pressure waveforms. The results provide insight into the value that infrasound measurements can provide for meteorology over different temporal and spatial scales.

Summary form only given. The investigation of strong-field light-matter interactions is increasingly being applied to surfaces and nanostructures. Local enhancement and sub-wavelength confinement facilitate highly nonlinear optics in tailored optical near-fields. Using ultrashort pulses at visible and near-infrared frequencies, metallic nanotips have been shown to allow for enhanced nonlinear photoelectron emission confined to nanometric volumes; numerous effects regarding strong-field emission and carrier-envelope sensitivity were recently identified [1-3]. Currently, there is increasing interest in the impact of spatial inhomogeneity on electron dynamics in nanoscale systems[4]. Here, we investigate localized photoelectron emission from single gold nanotips with ultrashort laser pulses at near- and mid-infrared frequencies. We observe localized optical field emission throughout a wavelength range from 800 nm to 8 μm. The emission is found to be polarization sensitive, and photoelectron energies of hundreds of electronvolts are recorded. Simulations within a two-step photoemission model reveal that the dynamics are governed by the spatial confinement of the driving field. The talk will disseminate these recent results [5,6] and will present novel applications in time-resolved electron imaging based on such localized electron sources. Figure 1a displays the general experimental scenario, in which electrons are field-emitted from a nanometric gold tip using femtosecond laser pulses at various wavelengths. In the low frequency limit, the physical process underlying strong-field infrared photoemission is transient tunnelling through a barrier generated by the driving field. It can be characterized using the intensity dependence of the emission yield, which agrees well with a simple Fowler-Nordheim type tunnelling model (Fig. 1c). Alongside the transition to the strong-field regime, electron acceleration in the locally enhanced optical fields becomes important. Specifically, the kinetic energy spectra consist of a plateau region and an intensity-dependent cutoff. Because of the low absorption of gold at mid-infrared wavelengths and the scaling of the Keldysh-parameter with frequency [5], we can more deeply access the strong-field regime than in previous experiments on nanostructures. The intensities of the local driving fields are substantial enough to accelerate electrons to kinetic energies of hundreds of electronvolts (Fig. 1b). This causes a wavelength scaling of the observed cutoffs that directly reflects the strong spatial localization of the driving field at the nanotip apex [5]. Specifically, the strong-field acceleration at such high energies leads to conditions, in which electrons escape the enhanced near-field within much less than an optical cycle (cf. Fig. 1a). In conclusion, the combination of ultrashort mid-infrared pulses and optical field enhancement allows for unique access to a parameter regime in strong-field physics, in which the spatial and temporal scales of the driving field become coupled. This illustrates new prospects for ultrafast control of electron dynamics in ways that are exclusive to nanostructures.

We have developed a supercurrent distribution imaging system for high Tc superconductive thin films and demonstrated the visualization of the supercurrent distribution in the vortex-penetrated YBa2Cu3O7−δ thin film strips. The terahertz (THz) radiation and detection system with a scanning femtosecond laser was employed to visualize the distribution. The imaging system utilizes the principle that the femtosecond optical pulses excite THz radiation into the free space by optical supercurrent modulation, and the radiation amplitude is proportional to the local supercurrent density at the optically excited area. Prior to the observation of the supercurrent distribution, we studied optical excitation effects on the vortices trapped in the strips, calibration of the current density from the THz radiation amplitude, temperature dependence of the THz radiation properties, etc. The laser power dependence of the THz radiation in the remanent state revealed that the excitation with powers larger than the relatively weak finite value (about 10 mW in the present case) strongly affects the vortices trapped in the films. We attributed this behavior to the optically excited depinning effect. We derived a calibration function from the THz radiation images into the supercurrent density distributions by observing the bias-current dependence of the THz radiation, and applied it for the diagnosis of the distributions in the vortex-penetrated strips. The THz radiation images were successfully transferred into the supercurrent density distributions with quantitative agreement. The minimum magnetic flux resolution at the optically excited area was roughly estimated to be 3 φ0 where φ0 is a single flux quantum. The measurement of the laser beam profile indicated that the spatial resolution of the THz radiation images is limited by the laser beam diameter: 25 μm in our case. The observed distributions revealed that the vortices easily penetrate into the strip under an external magnetic field BEX of 0.9 mT, and the persistent supercurrent exists only near the strip edges in the remanent state after removal of the field. The calculations of the convolution between the observed laser pattern and the trial functions suggested that the supercurrent distribution width in the remanent state after removal of the field of 0.9 mT is estimated to be less than 1 μm. The temperature dependence of the supercurrent distributions revealed that, below 60 K, the thermal activation produces no significant effects on the penetrated vortices at BEX=0.9 mT, whereas, the vortices in the remanent state after removal of the field of 15 mT were strongly affected by the thermal activation. The decreasing rate of the supercurrent density at the edge with increasing temperature was larger than that inside the strip. This suggested that the vortices trapped near the edges exhibit rather different behavior from the ones that penetrated into the inner part of the strip.