Customizing optical patterns via feedback-based wavefront shaping

TL;DR

This paper introduces a feedback-based wavefront shaping method that generates customized optical patterns without prior knowledge of the system, enabling advanced control of light for various optical applications.

Contribution

The authors develop an overlap-coefficient optimized wavefront shaping technique that produces tailored optical patterns and improves focusing in scattering media without needing transmission matrix information.

Findings

Successfully generated multiple focused spots with varying intensities

Created complex patterns like cat images and speckle distributions

Achieved higher signal-to-background ratios in scattering systems

Abstract

We show that customized optical patterns can be generated by employing feedback-based wavefront shaping without prior knowledge of the transmission matrix of optical systems. To control the spatial distribution of intensity within the target region, the overlap coefficient is employed as the key feedback signal for wavefront shaping, and the optimal phase pattern for generating the customized optical pattern is reached when the overlap coefficient converges to unity. By using the overlap-coefficient optimized wavefront shaping, we generate customized optical patterns such as multiple focused spots of different intensity, cat image, and speckle patterns of tailored intensity distribution. Besides, we also show that a sharp focusing spot can be generated in highly scattering systems with the overlap-coefficient optimized wavefront shaping, and the achieved signal-to-background ratio is much higher than that achieved with the conventional wavefront shaping. Our method provides new possibilities to control the interference of light for many applications, such as optical imaging, quantum interference, and optical trapping and manipulation.