Er-doped twin-core fibre coupler as a saturable-absorber-based narrow-band filter for fibre lasers

We have proposed and demonstrated experimentally that an Er-doped twin-core fibre (ErTCF) can be employed as a tracking narrow-band filter in fibre ring lasers for line narrowing and enhancement of the spectral stability. The device mimics a saturable absorber with inhomogeneous broadening. The slow erbium ion saturation dynamics in the ErTCF prevents wavelength hopping whilst it enables the filter to track the operation wavelength on its tuning. We have improved the device operation by utilizing the inherent filtering effect of a twin-core fibre coupler. Presented at the 1st Czech-Chinesse Workshop “Advanced Materials for Optoelectronics”, Prague, Czech Republic, June 13–17, 1998 This research has been in part supported by the Commission of the European Union in the frame of Copernicus programme, Project # 7882 and by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic under Contract OC 241.10/1998.     

Spacing-adjustable and wavelength-tunable multiwavelength fibre laser with nonlinear Brillouin gain and birefringence fibre loop mirror

This paper demonstrates a room-temperature multiwavelength fibre laser with spacing-adjustability and wavelength-tunability. The nonlinear gain of self-excited stimulated Brillouin scattering can suppress mode competition induced by homogeneous broadening of Erbium-doped fibre. With the use of a birefringence fibre loop filter, the wavelength spacing can be adjusted by changing the length of the used birefringence fibre, and the lasing wavelengths can be finely tuned through modifying the filtering profile of the birefringence filter. Multiwavelength output with spectral spacing as small as 0.076~nm and a wavelength number of more than 80 has been successfully produced.     

All-normal-dispersion Yb-doped mode-locked fibre laser and its stability analysis

We experimentally demonstrate an all-normal-dispersion Yb-doped mode-locked fibre laser with no intentional spectral filter inserted.Pulses with 1.1 nJ pulse energy at a repetition rate of 20.4 MHz are achieved.A theoretical model of the fibre laser is derived,whose coefficients are explicitly dependent on the orientations of the wave plates and the polarizer.Based on the model,stability diagrams of both the mode-locking and the continuous wave regimes of the laser are presented.The influence of group-velocity dispersion (GVD) and cavity length on the stability of mode-locking is also discussed.     

Polymer optical fibre Bragg gratings based fibre laser

For the first time the fibre laser constructed from a polymer optical fibre Bragg grating is reported. The single frequency laser with the peak power of −5 dBm and signal to noise ratio greater than 45 dB has been achieved. Further examination demonstrates the excellent characteristics of the fibre laser. First, the fibre laser can be easily tuned over 35 nm by the simple axial tension method. Second, the fibre laser has the high strain sensitivity of 1.48 pm/με with the dynamic measurement range as large as 2.37%.     

Micro-displacement or bending measurement using a long-period fibre grating in a self-referenced fibre optic intensity sensor

The measurement of micro-displacement or bending using a long-period fibre grating (LPG) in a self-referenced fibre optic intensity sensor is presented. The sensing head is based on a LPG whose attenuation peak changes as a function of its micro-displacement or bending and the fibre optic intensity sensor is referenced in frequency. Two other LPGs were used as rejection filters, located at the output of the optical source to shorten its spectral width. The implemented experimental set-up is described and, the results are presented being considered the measurement range and the intrinsic resolution.     

Design and analysis of a kind of large flattened mode optical fibre

In this paper, a refractive index profile design enabling us to obtain a flat modal field around the fibre centre is investigated. The theoretical approach for designing such multilayer large flattened mode (LFM) optical fibres is presented. A comparison is made between the properties of a three-layer LFM structure and a standard step-index profile with the same core size. The obtained results indicate that the effective area of the LFM fibre is about twice as large as that of the standard step-index fibre, but the LFM fibre has less effective ability to filter out the higher order modes than the standard step-index fibre with the same bending radius.     

Characteristics of Er and Er-Yb-Cr doped phosphate microsphere fibre lasers

In this paper both Er and Er-Yb-Cr doped phosphate microspheres have been successfully created through precise melting of the ends of fibre tapers, drawn, respectively, from Er and Er-Yb-Cr doped phosphate glasses. When coupled with a fibre taper, a microsphere fibre laser cavity can thus be configured creating a system pumped by a 980 nm laser diode and using an optical spectrum analyzer to monitor the spectral characteristics of the laser output. The performance and characteristics of the Er and Er-Yb-Cr microsphere lasers thus created are discussed in detail and cross-compared in this paper. Both lasers have shown low-threshold in terms of the pump power and the laser output wavelengths and a close investigation of the system has shown that the output power and laser stability are closely related to the size of the microsphere, the pump power and the microsphere material composition.     

基于高双折射光子晶体光纤环镜的全光纤平顶梳状滤波器

A novel all-fibre flat-top comb filter based on a high birefringence photonic crystal fibre loop mirror is proposed and demonstrated. We simulate theoretically its output spectra and experimentally realize a flat-top output with a high extinction ratio. Compared to filters consisting of the conventional Panda polarization main- taining fibre, filters based on a high birefringence photonic crystal fibre loop mirror have better temperature stability. This kind of filter can be expected to be used widely in Wavelength-division-multiplexing（WDM） systems in the future.     

基于高双折射光子晶体光纤环镜的全光纤平顶梳状滤波器(英文)

A novel all-fibre flat-top comb filter based on a high birefringence photonic crystal fibre loop mirror is proposed and demonstrated. We simulate theoretically its output spectra and experimentally realize a flat-top output with a high extinction ratio. Compared to filters consisting of the conventional Panda polarization maintaining fibre, filters based on a high birefringence photonic crystal fibre loop mirror have better temperature stability. This kind of filter can be expected to be used widely in Wave...     

Characterisation of a Nd-doped fibre laser incorporating an etalon formed between the fibre facet and dielectric mirror

Lasing on up to 15 simultaneous wavelengths is demonstrated experimentally with the use of an air-spaced etalon formed between the dichroic mirror and the adjacent fibre facet. A maximum measured frequency shift of 25.4 GHz/μm was observed, and there was only an 11% decrease in the output power at the maximum mirror–fibre separation of 400 μm. A theoretical analysis of the etalon effect in relation to the performance of the fibre laser is also included. The simulation includes the dependence of the effective reflectivity of the mirror and spectral peak spacing on the mirror–fibre separation. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation.     

Physico-chemical characterization of the fibre/matrix interaction in polyethylene fibre/epoxy matrix composites

The interphase in polyethylene fibre/epoxy matrix composites is studied with FT-IR microspectroscopy using a set-up to investigate the matrix as close to the fibre as a few μm or less. It is shown that moisture present on the fibre surface is able to influence the polymerization reaction of the epoxy/anhydride matrix in an irreversible manner. This effect is enhanced for composites from the more hydrophilic polyvinylalcohol fibre. The fibre/matrix interaction in these thermoplastic fibre composites is also studied with DSC through the characterization of the fibre melting. A decreased 'DSC interaction parameter' is found if the composition of the interphase is changed by moisture. For a composite with an epoxy/amine matrix, on the other hand, the DSC interaction parameter is unaffected by moisture from the fibre surface.     

Tunable asymmetric fibre ring resonator

A fibre ring resonator with coupling via an asymmetric twin-core single-mode coupler with variable mismatch is analysed. It is found that by varying the mismatch in the coupler the resonance conditions of the ring are also changed. Suitable choices of device parameters allow the resonance to be tuned over a range of wavelenths by altering the coupler mismatch.     

通过外加应变于高双折射环镜实现掺铒光纤激光器的输出功率控制

本文提出一种基于外加应力于高双折射环镜的输出功率可调控的掺铒光纤激光器新颖结构。通过将高双折射光纤环镜中的部分双折射光纤粘贴于一个等强度梁的中性面上，在梁尾端作用不同的应力，由于双折射光纤的长度和双折射的改变可使环镜的反射率从0.8%变化到100%。以该环镜作为线形腔光纤激光器的输出腔镜，实现了动态范围达33dB的输出功率可调控的掺铒光纤激光器。该激光器不仅具有结构简单、成本低廉的优点，而且利用该机理可以很容易的找出最优腔镜反射率，从而使线形腔光纤激光器的输出性能实现最优化。     

Effect of interstitial air holes on Bragg gratings in photonic crystal fibre with a Ge-doped core

The effect of interstitial air holes on Bragg gratings in photonic crystal fibre (PCF) with a Ge-doped core is numerically investigated by using the beam propagation method (BPM). It is shown that the interstitial air holes (IAHs) can make Bragg resonance wavelength λ_B shift a little towards short wavelengths and increase λ_B-λ₁ (the wavelength spacing between the main peak with Bragg resonance wavelength λ_B and the first side peak with wavelength λ₁ and the coupling coefficient к of Bragg resonance. Moreover, when the ratio of air hole diameter (d) to pitch (Λ), d/Λ, is small, IAHs can suppress the cladding mode resonance. When d/Λ is large, IAHs increase the number of mode that could strongly interact with the fundamental mode. By comparing the transmission spectral characteristics of PCF-based fibre Bragg grating (FBG) with IAHs with those without IAHs at the same air-filling fraction, it is clarified that the change of transmission spectral characteristics of PCF-based FBG with IAHs is not due to a simple change in air-filling fraction. It is also closely related to the distribution of interstitial air holes.     

波长间隔可调的可开关双波长掺铒光纤激光器

对两种波长间隔可调的可开关双波长掺铒光纤激光器结构进行了实验研究。一种结构应用保偏光纤中布拉格光栅作为波长选择器件，另一种结构则利用侧向压力下的常规单模光纤光栅作为波长选择器件。两种结构均利用了光纤光栅的双折射特性。在室温下，通过调整偏振控制器的状态可使两激光器工作在稳定的双波长状态或在两单波长之间转换。通过改变加在光纤光栅上侧向应力的大小和方向，可有效控制双波长激射的波长间隔。     

Interferometric studies on the influence of temperature on the optical and dispersion parameters of GRIN optical fibre

Opto-thermal device attached to automate Fizeau interferometer is used to investigate the influence of temperature on opto-thermal properties of multimode graded-index (GRIN) optical fibre in the range from 27 to 54 °C. The effect of temperature on the refractive index profile of fibre is studied. The optical parameters and the opto-thermal coefficient of this fibre are determined. Also the variation of oscillation and dispersion energies, zero dispersion wavelengths, coupling efficiency, normalised frequency, number of propagation modes with the temperature and the material dispersion with the wavelength at different temperatures are calculated. Microinterferograms are given for illustration.     

Numerical simulation of a gradient-index fibre probe and its properties of light propagation

In order to verify the properties of the light propagating through a gradient-index (GRIN) fibre probe for optical coherence tomography (OCT), numerical simulation using the optical software GLAD is carried out. Firstly, the model of the GRIN fibre probe is presented, which is consisted of a single mode fibre (SMF), a no-core fibre (NCF), a GRIN fibre lens and an air path. Then, the software GLAD is adopted to numerically investigate how the lengths of the NCF and the GRIN fibre lens influence the performance of the Gaussian beam focusing through the GRIN fibre probe. The simulation results are well consistent with the experimental ones, showing that the GLAD based numerical simulation technique is an intuitive and effective tool for the verification of the properties of the light propagation. In this paper, we find that on the conditions of a constant GRIN fibre lens length of 0.1 mm and an NCF length of 0.36 mm, the working distance of the probe will be 0.75 mm and the focus spot size is 32 μm.     

Acoustic longitudinal mode coupling in w-shaped Al/Ge Co-doped fibre

This paper proposes a novel fibre structure aiming at distributed temperature and strain sensing. Utilizing Al₂O₃ and GeO₂ as dopants to form a w-shaped acoustic waveguide, it realizes modal coupling between longitudinal acoustic modes of its inner and outer core layers, leading to a dual-peak or multi-peak Brillouin gain spectrum. The relationship between the acoustic mode coupling properties and the fibre materials, doping concentrations and structural parameters are investigated, showing that the positions of mode coupling points in acoustic dispersion curves and the coupling intensities can be designed flexibly. A specific fibre design for the discriminative sensing of temperature and strain under a pump wavelength of 1.55 μm is given. The responses of its Brillouin gain properties on temperature and strain are analysed theoretically, demonstrating its potential for distributed fibre Brillouin sensing.     

The preparation of optical fibre nanoprobe and its application in spectral detection

As an important component of scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM), optical fibre nanoprobe has been applied to many fields extensively. A melt-stretched etching method is proposed to produce optical fibre nanoprobe with low cost. Firstly, optical fibre tip with micrometer-sized diameter is created by the melt-stretched measure. Next, it is dipped into hydrofluoric acid (HF), and a fine optical fibre nanoprobe will be made after a short-time etching. Owing to the taper structure of tip, it can be etched again in acid if a nanoprobe is not constructed when the first etching is completed. In addition, optical fibre nanoprobe is applied to spectral investigation, and the fluorescence spectroscopy of rhodamine B (Rh B) solution is collected by an optical investigation system with a bifurcated fibre.     

Chirped fibre Bragg grating based multiplexer and demultiplexer for DWDM applications

A multiplexer/demultiplexer for 100 GHz channel spacing based on chirped fibre Bragg gratings with different bandwidths and optical circulators is presented. The spectral characteristics, specifications and operation of these passive devices are described, showing its potential use in dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) applications.