Fabrication of low OH loss holey fibers with varying air hole sizes and their optical properties

We experimentally investigate a flexible fabrication technique for low OH and transmission losses holey fibers with a Ge-doped core and air holes in a silica cladding region. Versatile holey fibers of different size, pitch, and shape of air holes were achieved by controlling the temperature and heating time of the holey fiber preform. In addition, we suppress the OH loss of less than ∼0.323 dB/km at 1383 nm. After fabricating holey fibers, we measure their optical properties including cut-off wavelength, mode field diameter, splicing loss, dispersion, bending loss, and polarization dependent loss based on the size of air holes. The total transmission loss was measured to be ∼0.226 dB/km at 1550 nm by improving the fabrication process. After fabricating optical patch cord based on holey fibers, we measured the long-term stability of the fabricated holey fiber by using the temperature cycling technique for 24 and obtained low power fluctuation of 0.2 dB. We achieve the high quality holey fiber with a low bending loss of ∼0.04 dB/turn under a bending radius of 2.5 mm at 1550 nm. We also obtain a tunable band rejection filter with a number of bending turns.     

FTTH用微结构光纤的性能研究

光纤到户对光纤在小弯曲半径条件下的衰减特性提出了更高的要求。微结构光纤可以实现极小弯曲半径的低衰减光信号传输,是小弯曲半径单模光纤技术解决方案的有力竞争者。设计了一种新的微结构光纤,并研制出光纤样品。这种结构的光纤具有非常优良的弯曲特性。其最小弯曲半径可达2mm,1 550nm附加损耗小于0.1dB,并且具有优良的偏振模色散特性,熔接损耗也非常小,其与G.652D单模光纤的熔接损耗为0.12dB。这些特性使其在光纤到户的复杂应用环境中具有明显的应用优势。     

Numerical investigation and optimization of a photonic crystal fiber for simultaneous dispersion compensation over S + C + L wavelength bands

In this paper, we numerically investigate and optimize the profile of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) that can eliminate the residual dispersion from the telecom link as well as can provide identical dispersion compensation over S + C + L bands. A full-vectorial finite element method combined with genetic algorithm is used to optimize the fiber’s profile as well as to accurately determine its modal properties. The optimized PCF exhibits a dispersion of −98.3 ps/nm/km with a variance of ±0.55 ps/nm/km from 1.48 μm to 1.63 μm (i.e., over 150 nm bandwidth) and a zero dispersion slope. Macro-bending loss performance of the designed PCF is also studied and it is found that the fiber shows low bending losses for the smallest feasible bending radius of 5 mm. Further, sensitivity analysis has been carried out for the proposed fiber design and it has been found that a ±2% change in the fiber parameters may lead to a ±8% shift of the dispersion from its nominal value.     

Diode-lasers based apparatus and method for single-mode fibers spectral splice loss measurements

Arc-discharge fusion splicing is widely used in the telecommunication industry for joining single-mode optical fibers to Er-doped fiber coils. These coils are used as the gain medium in erbium-doped amplifiers (EDFAs). The quality and integrity of splicing these coils to fibers can impact key EDFA performance parameters. This article describes an automated splice loss and Er-doped fiber absorption measurement system. The measurement system is equipped with 1310, 1550 and 1563 nm DFB lasers, broadband light source, InGaAs detectors and fiber-optic internal standards. Furthermore, the article describes a method for measuring splice loss between Er-doped fiber and the fibers spliced to coil ends. The system controls splice loss between SM-28 or HI980 fiber and Er-doped fiber to 0.094 ± 0.052 dB at 1550 nm. Moreover, the system can measure accurately Er-doped fiber absorption to within ±3.19% at 1563 nm.     

Design and analysis of multi-ring microstructured-core optical fibers

A novel design of single-mode large-mode-area optical fiber is presented. The core is composed of alternate high and low-index regions to form an effectively low-index contrast between the core and the cladding. The proposed fiber is investigated by the finite-element method with anisotropic perfect matched layer boundary conditions. In addition, the bending losses of the fibers are calculated and compared with those of the step-index optical fibers. In particular, numerical simulations demonstrate that single-mode operation can be achieved in one such fiber with mode area larger than 600 μm² at the wavelength of 1.55 μm and bending loss lower than 0.02 dB/m for bending radius greater than 20 cm.     

Very large mode area optical fiber with complex ring cores

A novel kind of single-mode large-mode-area optical fiber is presented in this paper. The proposed fiber core is composed of high-index central rod and the surrounding multilayer rings. The mode characteristics are discussed considering the fiber structure parameters. The calculation results show that the proposed fiber possesses extreme large mode area of 2975 μm² with single mode operation at the wavelength of 1.08 μm. Even larger mode area of the complex ring core fiber with single mode output can be achieved by coiling the fiber, due to the significant difference of bending loss between the fundamental mode and the higher-order transverse modes. Such fibers are expected to find applications in the field of fiber lasers and amplifiers.     

Water sensor using macrobending-sensitive fiber for real-time submersion monitoring

A fast reusable water sensor for long-distance real-time submersion monitoring was fabricated using a macrobending-sensitive fiber (MSF). The proposed water sensor consists of floating matter, periodic macrobending deformers, and a MSF. In this structure, the floating matter moves up and down according to the buoyant force of water, thereby controlling the bending loss of the MSF and allowing the proposed sensor to detect submersion. A basic bending experiment was conducted using a MSF and macrobending deformer, and the results used to fabricate an efficient water sensor. In contrast to existing sensors where the optical loss increases in the case of submersion, the optical loss of the fabricated sensor decreases due to the buoyant force when the selected area is submerged. As such, the fabricated sensor is able to transmit submersion information further than sensors that detect submersion by increasing the optical loss, and it is unaffected by environmental factors, such as humidity and pollutants in the water. The proposed sensor detects submersion by monitoring a 16 dB optical power change of 1550 nm, and the change in the optical power of the fabricated sensor is only affected by the buoyant force. In addition, the proposed water sensor quickly returns to its initial state when the water disappears, and the insertion loss when it is connected to a single-mode fiber (SMF) at both ends using a connector is only −1.2 dB at 1550 nm.     

Spliced-fiber mode filter for 1060-nm single-mode transmission

We present a novel mode filter operating for the 1060-nm band, which selectively removes the power of the high-order mode (HOM) from a conventional single-mode fiber (C-SMF) that supports two modes at the short-wavelength band. Our mode filter is fabricated very easily by fusion-splicing a short section of short-wavelength single-mode fiber in the middle of the C-SMF link. By using our spliced-fiber mode filter (SF-MF), a high HOM suppression performance of > 18 dB has been achieved with a low insertion loss of < 0.3 dB over the full band of optical communications from 1050 nm to 1650 nm. We have also developed a new mode power measurement scheme that takes advantage of the bending sensitivity of the HOM guidance. This measurement scheme enabled us to evaluate accurately the performance factors of the fabricated mode filter.     

Optical loss measurements in femtosecond laser written waveguides in glass

The optical loss is an important parameter for waveguides used in integrated optics. We measured the optical loss in waveguides written in silicate glass slides with high repetition-rate (MHz) femtosecond laser pulses. The average transmission loss of straight waveguides is about 0.3 dB/mm at a wavelength of 633 nm and 0.05 dB/mm at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. The loss is not polarization dependent and the waveguides allow a minimum bending radius of 36 mm without additional loss. The average numerical aperture of the waveguides is 0.065 at a wavelength of 633 nm and 0.045 at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. In straight waveguides more than 90% of the transmission loss is due to scattering.     

Novel shooting method with simple control strategy for fiber lasers

A novel shooting method with excellent simple control strategy is developed for solving the failure to convergence of the traditional shooting methods themselves in fiber lasers model. Compared with the published literature, the novel shooting method provides a clear physical understanding method for getting the threshold pump power and the exact results with given random functions in Yb³⁺-doped fiber lasers and Er³⁺-doped fiber lasers. Then, the results in Er³⁺-doped fiber lasers and Yb³⁺-doped fiber lasers demonstrate that the solutions using the novel shooting method has high accuracy of 10⁻⁸ W with several iteration steps, which have extended the applicable range of the end-pumped power even lower than 1 mW pump power. Furthermore, compared with 1480 nm pump for the threshold and slope efficiencies of the Er³⁺-doped fiber lasers, 978 nm fiber lasers can extend wider scope of application and be pump source in the coming future. Finally, the lower threshold and higher slope efficiency at 975 nm than those of 910 nm pump in Yb³⁺-doped fiber lasers, 975 nm pump laser provides for broad band excellent cladding pump source.     

Long range surface plasmon polariton waveguides at 1.31 and 1.55 μm wavelengths

We investigate characteristics of gold metal strip waveguides based on long range surface plasmon polaritons (LRSPPs) along thin metal strips embedded in a polymer for practical applications at the telecommunication wavelengths of 1.31 and 1.55 μm. Guiding properties of the gold strip waveguides are theoretically and experimentally evaluated with the limited thickness and width up to ∼20 nm and ∼10 μm, respectively. The lowest propagation loss of ∼1.4 dB/cm is obtained with a 14.5-nm-thick and 2-μm-wide gold strip at 1.55 μm. With a single-mode fiber, the lowest coupling loss of ∼0.4 dB/facet is achieved with a 14.5-nm-thick and 5-μm-wide gold strip at 1.55 μm. The lowest insertion losses are obtained 8-9 dB with 1.5 cm-long gold strips of a limited thickness and width at both the wavelengths. We demonstrate a 10 Gbps optical signal transmission via the LRSPP waveguide with a 14 nm-thick, 2.5 μm-wide, and 4 cm-long gold strip. These LRSPP waveguides have potential applications for optical interconnects and communications.     

The cascaded exponential-tapered multimode interference couplers based triplexer design for FTTH system

A novel compact triplexer, which consists of series cascaded exponential-tapered multimode interference couplers, is introduced in this paper. General self-image properties of the exponential-tapered multimode interference couplers are investigated thoroughly to fulfill the compact integrated triplexer. By combining four exponential-tapered MMI couplers, a novel compact 0.6 cm-long triplexer that is with ITU standard wavelength of 1310 nm, 1490 nm and 1550 nm for FTTH is achieved without requiring complicated design. And it can be fabricated by common planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology. From the simulation results for wavelength of 1310 nm, 1490 nm and 1550 nm, the insertion losses are 0.34 dB, 0.9 dB and 1.17 dB, with isolations for each output waveguide ranging from 12.74 dB to 37.15 dB. The 3 dB passband widths for 1310 nm, 1490 nm and 1550 nm are 112.39 nm, 29.44 nm and 26.7 nm.     

Characteristics of pulse fiber amplifier with China-made LMA fiber and (6+1)×1 multimode combiner

A pulse master-oscillator fiber power amplifier system with china-made large-mode-area fiber and a (6+1)×1 multimode combiner is demonstrated. The system generates up to 4.8 W of amplified radiation (100 kHz) at a wavelength of 1064 nm with a near-diffraction-limited beam quality (M²=1.2), and the overall slope efficiency with respect to the launched pump power is 50%. Some basic characteristics of this system, including the pulse-amplification characteristics, the gain characteristics, as well as the emission spectrum characteristics are investigated in detail.     

Passive Q-switching of short-length Tm-doped silica fiber lasers by polycrystalline Cr:ZnSe microchips

We demonstrate passive Q-switching of short-length double-clad Tm³⁺-doped silica fiber lasers near 2 μm pumped by a laser diode array (LDA) at 790 nm. Polycrystalline Cr²⁺:ZnSe microchips with thickness from 0.3 to 1 mm are adopted as the Q-switching elements. Pulse duration of 120 ns, pulse energy over 14 μJ and repetition rate of 53 kHz are obtained from a 5-cm long fiber laser. As high as 530 kHz repetition rate is achieved from a 50-cm long fiber laser at ∼10-W pump power. The performance of the Q-switched fiber lasers as a function of fiber length is also analyzed.     

50 km bidirectional FTTH transmission comparing different PON standards

In this paper, a bidirectional Fiber To The Home (FTTH) is proposed where WDM transmitter is used as a seeding source with wavelength of 1550 nm. The system utilizes a Travelling wave Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (TSOA) with injection current 0.15A. 50 km range FTTH architecture is demonstrated for both downstream and upstream channels. We investigated the impact of different data rates on upstream and downstream data. The BER results show that the performance of our scheme is good for 10 Gbps system for downstream transmission as it accommodates 64 ONUs. From simulation results show the BER of 9.95e-009 is reported at 15 Gbps but only in case of 32 ONUs. Similarly, in case of upstream transmission, Q-Factor of 15.04 dB is reported for 32 ONUs. So this scheme is a practical solution to meet the data rate of the optical links simultaneously in tomorrow's PON access networks.     

Polarization maintaining holey fibers for residual dispersion compensation over S + C + L wavelength bands

We report on a highly birefringent holey fiber for broadband dispersion compensation covering the S, C, and L telecommunication bands i.e. wavelength ranging from 1460 to 1625 nm. The finite element method with circular perfectly matched layer boundary condition is used to investigate the guiding properties. Numerical analysis demonstrates that it is possible to obtain negative dispersion coefficient of about −470 to −850 ps/nm/km over S to L-bands and a relative dispersion slope perfectly matched with single mode fiber (SMF) of about 0.0036 nm⁻¹ at 1550 nm. At the same time birefringence of the order 2.53 × 10⁻² is realized at 1550 nm wavelength. Owing to superior optical properties of the proposed holey fiber, this can be a promising candidate for broadband dispersion compensation and sensing applications.     

Highly sensitive bend sensor based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer using photonic crystal fiber

Optical fiber bend sensor with photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is demonstrated experimentally. The results show that the PCF-based MZI is sensitive to bending with a sensitivity of 3.046 nm/m⁻¹ and is independent on temperature with a sensitivity of 0.0019 nm/°C, making it the best candidate for temperature insensitive bend sensors. To that end, another kind of bend sensor with higher sensitivity of 5.129 nm/m⁻¹ is proposed, which is constructed by combining an LPFG and an MZI with zero offset at the second splice mentioned above.     

Multi-Wavelength-Switchable Double Clad Yb3+-Doped Fiber Laser Based on Reflectivity Control of Fiber Bragg Gratings by Induced Bend Loss

We propose and demonstrate an all-fiber multi-wavelength switchable double-clad Yb³⁺-doped fiber laser based on the reflectivity cavity control by induced bend loss. The wavelength switching is realized by a variable reflecting mirror that employs a cascaded array of three high reflection (>99%) fiber Bragg gratings at 1064, 1080 and 1096 nm, with a bending controller inserted between each grating. The order of the Bragg gratings is decided according to the gain profile of the Yb³⁺-doped fiber and the induced bending loss allows us to select the Bragg-wavelength laser operation. The laser is capable of switching continuously from one wavelength to another, and slope efficiencies over 50% are obtained at each wavelength.     

Full L-band coverage of multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a dual-pass unbalanced in-line Sagnac interferometer as a novel comb filter for implements in erbium-doped fiber lasers to obtain wide wavebands of multiwavelength radiations with enhancements of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). The hybrid combinations of the comb filter with the two schemes of nonlinear polarization rotation and intensity dependent loss have successfully not only enlarged the lasing bandwidth up to 47 nm but also enhanced the SNR up to 40 dB. The simultaneous lasing-wavelengths of 117 channels are also obtained. The multiwavelength lasing spectra with free spectral range of 0.4 nm covering the full L-band are useful for the applications of DWDM and WDM-PON systems.