Combined system of optical coherence tomography and fluorescence spectroscopy based on double-cladding fiber

We report the development of an all-fiber multimodal system, based on a double-cladding fiber (DCF) and related devices, suitable for simultaneous measurements of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fluorescence spectroscopy (FS). The DCF together with a DCF coupler and a single-body DCF lens has assisted in the realization of a multimodal but single-unit probe for the combined system. The DCF lens allowed simultaneous focusing of input beams for OCT and FS and also the effective collection of both signal beams from a sample. The DCF coupler could extract the OCT signal via the core channel and the FS signal through the cladding channel. The OCT image and the fluorescence spectra of a plant tissue were then simultaneously measured to validate the performance of the proposed multimodal system.     

100 μm core diameter monolithic fiber side-pumping coupler for 10 mJ 10 ns all-fiber laser

In this paper, we report a monolithic fiber side-pumping coupler that allows for very large mode area double clad fiber designs. This coupler is constituted of a multi-mode pump fiber and a double clad fiber (DCF). The pump power is coupled to the DCF through the side of DCF. The pump coupling peak power of 163.7 W @ 560 ??s with the coupling efficiency of 98.0% is achieved, and the signal coupling energy of 10 mJ @ 10 ns (??1 MW @ 10 ns) with the coupling efficiency of 96.3% is obtained, when the core diameter of the DCF is 100 ??m. Furthermore, this side-pumping coupler is successfully applied to a high peak power pulse all-fiber laser with the output energy of over 10 mJ @ 10 ns.     

Threshold analysis of fiber-coupler-combined fiber lasers

Threshold conditions of coherently combined fiber lasers, joint by fiber couplers (FCs), have been studied. After considering the phase change of a light wave crossing the fiber inside the FC, it has been shown that, at the two input ports of the coupler connecting with the amplifying fibers, the phase difference between the two incoming fields should be equal to −π/2 if the threshold gain of the compound system is to be minimized. Starting from these input ports, following the circulations of waves, threshold conditions can be established. Expressions for the output and leakage powers, and optimum coupler splitting ratio nullifying the leakage when constituent fiber lasers giving different free-running powers have been derived. And, the threshold gain reductions of individual lasers after being coherently combined have been predicted.     

Development of single mode fiber coupling coefficient using kinetic model

We propose a simple kinetic model that can be used to improve the coupling coefficient value of a single mode fiber coupler in the fabrication process. The proposed model is time independent, where the internal and external parametric functions are included. The simulation is integrated over the coupling ratio range for the various fiber separations. The coupling coefficient value of the device is examined by using the coupling ratio range from 1% to 75%. The result obtained is compared with the experimental results, where it is noted that the separation of fiber cores significantly affects the coupling coefficient, exhibiting exponential behavior. We also found that the coupling coefficient gradient is significantly changed with respect to the coupling ratio. This model can be used to determine power losses of the fiber coupler at the coupled region, while the fabrication of the fiber coupler is operated.     

A fiber-based single-unit dual-mode optical Imaging system: Swept source optical coherence tomography and fluorescence spectroscopy

We propose a fiber optic single-unit but dual-mode optical imaging system that can provide fast cross-sectional imaging capabilities of swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and functional capabilities of fluorescence spectroscopy (FS). By adopting a fiber optic FS system into a fiber-based SS-OCT system, a compact and effective multimodal single-unit SSOCT-FS system is achieved. Here, the key element of the proposed multimodal imaging system is a specially designed fiber coupler based on double-clad fiber (DCF), which has only cladding-mode coupling capability. The DCF couplers are fabricated with home-drawn DCF by several fabrication methods; a twisting method, a side-polishing method and a fused biconical tapered (FBT) method. Experimentally, the FBT method provides rather flat cladding mode coupling efficiency over 40% in a wide wavelength range. With this specially designed DCF coupler, the OCT signal and the fluorescence signal is measured independently but with a single-unit system. The performance of the SSOCT-FS system is confirmed by measuring the cross-sectional image and the fluorescence signal of a photosensitizer chlorin e6 injected in-vivo rat tumor model.     

熔锥型侧面泵浦耦合器的研究

 现在高功率光纤激光器和光纤放大器采用的双包层掺杂光纤,相对于从半导体泵浦激光器发射出的多模泵浦光束的大发散角,其内包层的直径很小,因此把泵浦光有效地耦合到双包层掺杂光纤的内包层是一个急需解决的难题。研制一种熔锥型侧面泵浦耦合器,可以大幅度提高泵浦光功率,实现增益光纤的多点泵浦,在双包层光纤放大器中使用良好,安全稳定,实现了较高的耦合效率,达到了70%,信号光通过率98%,信号输入与泵浦输入的隔离度大于50 dB,泵浦输入对输出端反向传输光的隔离度27 dB。通过对比结构紧凑性、耦合效率、系统稳定性等相关指标发现,熔锥型侧面泵浦耦合器完全可以满足高功率光纤激光器和光纤放大器的使用要求。     

A Dispersion Flattening Dispersion Compensating Fiber Design for Broadband Dispersion Compensation

An efficient dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) design is proposed based on a coaxial fiber structure, which provides dispersion compensation over a broad wavelength region matching that of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier gain spectrum. The design can provide dispersion coefficient that is nearly twice those of existing DCF designs. Due to the basic nature of the dispersion curve of this design, the total link dispersion cannot only be compensated but also can be flattened.     

Rate equations studies on coherently combined fiber lasers connected by an optical coupler

Attempt has been made to apply the steady-state rate equations to study two coherently combined Er³⁺-doped fiber lasers joined by an optical fiber coupler. In order to establish the boundary conditions, which are necessary for solving the equations, we have taken into consideration the fact that a constructive interference at the coupler assures that the laser radiations from both constituent lasers are directed to the coupler output port to which a reflection mirror defining both lasers is attached. Consequently, effective reflectivity, provided by the coupler-mirror combination, can be specified in terms of the laser powers of both laser signals, and the rate equations describing the compound system can be solved. Using the derived solutions, quantitative investigations can be made on the influences of different laser parameters. For example, the influence of the length difference between doped fibers, the splitting ratio of the coupler and power difference between the two pump radiations have been given in this report.     

Comparison of Yb-doped fiber laser with one-end and double-end pumping configuration

A high-power Ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) with homemade double clad fiber (DCF) is introduced in this paper. The output power characteristics of a linear cavity fiber laser have been studied theoretically by solving the rate equations and experimentally tested with single- and double-end-pumping configurations. When both ends of the fiber are pumped by two high-power laser diodes with a launched power of 300 W each, a maximum CW output of 444 W is obtained with a slope efficiency of 75%.     

混合型光纤喇曼放大器增益和带宽的研究

混合型色散补偿光纤喇曼放大器由普通G652光纤和色散补偿光纤(DCF)组成,包括:DCF +G652、G652 +DCF和 G652+DCF +G652。讨论了它们的工作原理.使用FRA-OptiAmplifier4.0软件对其进行了优化设计,最佳结构为G652 +DCF.它可补偿光纤网络的色散,扩展通信波长范围.1427 nm的喇曼激光器作为激发源,用Q8384光谱分析仪测量了光纤的喇曼增益谱和小信号放大光谱,混合型色散补偿光纤喇曼放大器在S带和C带具有88 nm的增益带宽,这增加了光纤通信网络的传输通道.     

A Dispersion Flattening Dispersion Compensating Fiber Design for Broadband Dispersion Compensation

An efficient dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) design is proposed based on a coaxial fiber structure, which provides dispersion compensation over a broad wavelength region matching that of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier gain spectrum. The design can provide dispersion coefficient that is nearly twice those of existing DCF designs. Due to the basic nature of the dispersion curve of this design, the total link dispersion cannot only be compensated but also can be flattened.     

Wide band gain flattening Yb-doped fiber amplifier

The gain flattening of Yb³⁺-doped fiber amplifier of 1053 nm band has been realized in experiment using three cascade 1 × 2 fused tapered fiber coupler. The gain flattening band is about 20 nm with less than 1 dB power fluctuation around 1053 nm, which is agree with our numerical stimulation results very well.     

Determine locking range of coherently combined fiber lasers joined by fiber couplers

When the wavelength difference of two fiber lasers, sharing a common reflection mirror with the aid of an optical coupler, is tuned to fall into a certain range, the array lasers can be locked to generate coherent radiation with a wavelength somewhere between the two constituent field wavelengths. Based on the fact that the laser should oscillate at the wavelength with the lowest losses and the band widths of the reflection curves of the laser tuning elements are finite, the locking range of the laser array has been quantified. For the tuning element (i.e., fiber gratings) selected in this work, the calculations show that the locking range is mainly dependent on the coupling coefficients of the gratings which ever is smaller.     

Broadly tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser using a twin-core fiber coupler

A tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (MW-BEFL) using a twin-core fiber (TCF) coupler is proposed and demonstrated. The TCF coupler is formed by splicing a section of TCF between two single-mode fibers. By simply applying bending curvature on the TCF coupler, the peak net gain is shifted close to the Brillouin pump (BP), which has advantage for suppressing self-lasing cavity modes with low-BP-power injection. In this work, the dependency of the Stokes signals tuning range on the free spectral range (FSR) of TCF coupler is studied. It is also found that the tuning range of MW-BEFL can exceed the FSR of TCF coupler by adopting proper BP power and 980-nm pump power. Up to 40 nm tuning range of MW-BEFL in the absence of self-lasing cavity modes is achieved.     

Yb3+-doped double-clad fiber laser with all fiber cavity

A novel all fiber cavity Yb3+-doped double-clad fiber laser (DCFL) based on two double-clad fiber (DCF)Bragg grating is presented. The fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as the input and output mirrors have been formed in Yb3+-doped DCF with the phase-mask method, and their reflectivities are 99% and 22%,respectively. When the input pump power is 417 mW, the maximum output power is 144 mW with linewidth ＜0.1 nm at the wavelength of 1.057μm, over 40-dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and 50.8% slope efficiency.     

Transmitting spectra-temperature characteristic of single-mode fiber coupler for fiber gyro application

The relationship between the transmitting spectra characteristic of a fused single mode fiber coupler (SMFC) and the performance of interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope (IFOG) is analyzed in theory firstly. Then the transmitting spectra-temperature characteristic of SMFC is experimented, and the influence of the spectrum-stability of the SMFC on IFOG is simulated and experimented. Through the theory analysis and experiment research, it is confirmed that the spectrum output from the SMFC's throughput port is more stable than that output from the coupled port, and the bias instability of the rotation errors induced by the variation of spectrum output from the SMFC's coupled port is 10 times of that output from the throughput port. Therefore, to choose the SMFC's throughput port as the input port for navigation-grade gyroscope is an effective method to improve the IFOG's performance.     

光纤陀螺用小尺寸高温度稳定性保偏光纤耦合器的研制

在熔融拉锥法制备保偏光纤耦合器工艺基础上,对小尺寸、高温度稳定性保偏光纤耦合器的研制工艺进行了研究.采用小火焰设计有效缩短了耦合器的封装尺寸,保偏光纤耦合器几何尺寸达到Φ3 mm×30 mm.通过不同封装工艺的实验,实现了具有高温度稳定特性的保偏光纤耦合器,器件在全温变化范围(－40℃～60℃)内分光比变化量小于2%,串音变化量小于3 dB.     

All-fiber single polarized Yb-doped fiber laser with a high extinction ratio

We present an all-fiber design for a single polarization Yb-doped fiber laser with all-fiber connections spliced. Single polarization with a high extinction ratio was achieved by the design of a laser cavity consisting of a fiber Bragg grating inscribed on a single-polarization fiber as a high reflective mirror and a piece of end-cleaved single-polarization fiber as an output coupler. The fiber laser operates at 1063.25 nm with an output power of 1.7 W, an optical signal- to-noise ratio of 70 dB and a narrow bandwidth of 54 pm. The laser output has a polarization extinction ratio of 700:1 or 28 dB, and a very stable power output.     

Single-wavelength-pump bi-directional hybrid fiber amplifier for bi-directional local area network application

This paper proposes a novel bi-directional hybrid fiber amplifier using a single-wavelength pump laser diode (LD) at 1495 nm. The hybrid amplifier is theoretically applied in a 50 km bi-directional local area network (LAN) with 26 ch × 10 Gb/s for bi-directional transmission. Thirteen C-band channels serve as downlink signals while the other 13 L-band channels are employed as uplink signals. Without loss of generality, four channels (two from each band) are experimentally analyzed. Erbium doped fiber (EDF) provides amplification for the C-band channels and Raman amplification amplifies the L-band channels. The pump efficiency is improved by employing a double-pass scheme for both the Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and Raman fiber amplifier (RFA). The chromatic dispersion incurred by all the channels is precisely compensated for by inserting a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array in appropriate locations along the dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) segments. Moreover, gain equalization of all the channels is achieved by adjusting the FBG reflectivity. Both the simulation results and experimental measurements confirm the proposed device feasibility and potential application in a bi-directional LAN.     

Modeling of a step index segmented core single mode optical fiber as a dispersion compensator

A segmented core central step index dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) has been modeled by using spot size optimization technique. We have designed and optimized the DCF by suitably adjusting different fiber parameters, i.e. inner core radius (a), central relative refractive index difference (Δ), normalized outer core position (p), width (b) and height (h) at different values of given Petermann-II spot sizes . The studies on the propagation behavior as well as bendloss and other losses of the DCF have been presented here. The proposed design of the DCF can possess improved bend performances over single core DCFs. At the same time higher negative dispersion coefficient in the single mode region as well as considerably high value of figure of merit (FOM) for optimized fiber parameters can be achieved for smaller spot sizes of the DCF. Further, inclusion of length independent splice loss modified this conventional FOM to a slightly lesser value of modified FOM.