We have studied two-photon absorption (TPA) recording in photochromic diarylethenes for a three-dimensional (3D) optical memory, and demonstrated the TPA recording for the first time using a laser diode with a pulse width of 2 ns without a thermal influence. In comparison with the recording sensitivity by a femtosecond fiber laser, it was found that the peak power can be greatly reduced and the TPA sensitivity has squared characteristics depending on the pulse width range from 94 fs to 2 ns. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) analysis of optical intensity through refractive pits suggests that 3D recording in multilayered medium is more suitable, because optical aberrations induced by the lens effect of refractive pits are greatly reduced and the reflectance from a pit is improved, in comparison with that in a bulk medium.

Blazed diffractive optical elements (DOEs) were studied for the violet wavelength by electron-beam lithography. By optimizing electron-beam writing parameters and electron-dose distributions, we fabricated eight kinds of grating (period A = 10-0.54 microgm) with excellent blazed structure. It has been demonstrated that the measured diffraction efficiency values agreed well with the rigorous theoretical ones. For the fine period of 0.54 microm, we confirmed a peak appearance of 75.6% (TE) experimentally. A wave aberration as small as approximately 0.01 lambda (rms) was obtained for the first-order diffracted wave from the fabricated DOEs. Blazed DOEs for the violet wavelength could be used as key devices in a high-density optical disk pickup of the next generation.

Rectangular-apertured micro-Fresnel lens arrays are proposed. These lens arrays have been fabricated by an electron-beam writing system specially developed for the fabrication of microoptical devices. It is experimentally demonstrated that the lens arrays showed uniform focusing characteristics, and that each lens exhibited a diffraction-limited focusing characteristic with efficiency of 74%.

Blazed reflection micro-Fresnel lenses and their use in an integrated focus sensor are proposed. Theoretical analysis indicates that the optical characteristics of reflection Fresnel lenses can be improved compared with a conventional transmission micro-Fresnel lens. These reflection Fresnel lenses were fabricated using electron-beam lithography and exhibited the diffraction-limited focusing characteristics with 71% high efficiency. The focus sensor has a folded optical path and includes a beam splitter integrated with thin film components, such as a reflection elliptical Fresnel lens and a quadrant photodetector. The reflection elliptical Fresnel lens in the focus sensor exhibiting excellent astigmatic characteristics agreed with the theoretical results, and the focus error signal was detected. This sensor can be developed as the optical head of an optical disk system.

The relationship between the size of films in a dry foam and the size of the bubbles is investigated. The study was carried out using foam structures simulated using Surface Evolver, with the structures covering a wide range of poly-dispersities. It was found that the most important factor influencing the size of a film is the size of the smaller bubble to which it is attached. The larger bubble does have an influence, but it is much smaller, with the film size increasing by approximately 80% as the larger bubble goes from the same size as the smaller bubble to infinitely large. The relationship between a film's size and the size of the two bubbles to which it is attached was found to be independent of the underlying bubble size distribution, with the probability distribution for the size of the film depending only on the size of the neighbouring bubbles.