Random object optical field diagnostics by using carbon nanoparticles

We propose a new approach of using carbon nanoparticles for correlation optical diagnostics of a complex scalar optical field created by scattering and diffraction of radiation off a rough surface. This surface is simulated and we generate a diffraction pattern of the amplitude and phase distribution in the far field. Carbon nanoparticles of a certain size and concentration are obtained by the bottom-up methods of hydrothermal synthesis of citric acid and urea followed by centrifugation. The optical properties of carbon nanoparticles, such as luminescence and absorption in the visible spectrum that essentially differs for different wavelengths, as well as particle size of about dozen nanometers, are the determining criteria for using these particles as probes for the optical speckle field. Luminescence made it possible to register the coordinate position of carbon nanoparticles in real time. The algorithm for reconstruction of the scalar optical field intensity distribution through the analysis of the nanoparticle positions is here displayed. The skeleton of the optical speckle field is analyzed by Hilbert transform to restore the phase. Special attention is paid to the restoration of the speckle field’s phase singularities.