Challenges and Solutions in Fabrication of Silica-Based Photonic Crystal Fibers: An Experimental Study

Abstract

The fabrication process of photonic crystal fibers based on a stack-and-draw method is presented in full detail in this article. In addition, improved techniques of photonic crystal fiber preform preparation and fabrication are highlighted. A new method of connecting a handle to a preform using only a fiber drawing tower is demonstrated, which eliminates the need for a high-temperature glass working lathe. Also, a new technique of modifying the photonic crystal fiber structural pattern by sealing air holes of the photonic crystal fiber cane is presented. Using the proposed methods, several types of photonic crystal fibers are fabricated, which suggests potential for rapid photonic crystal fibers fabrication in laboratories equipped with and limited to only a fiber drawing tower.     

Doppler velocimetry on microparticles trapped and propelled by laser light in liquid-filled photonic crystal fiber

Laser Doppler velocimetry is used to measure very accurately the velocity and position of a microparticle propelled and guided by laser light in liquid-filled photonic crystal fiber. Periodic variations in particle velocity are observed that correlate closely with modal beating between the two lowest order guided fiber modes.     

Study of heat transfer characteristics in PCFG fabrication technology using heat method

The fiber gratings fabrication technology with the heating method in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based on structural change is examined. The principle of photonic crystal fiber gratings (PCFGs) is analyzed in theory. The heat transfer theory and finite element method are used to examine the thermal field distribution in the fiber and the influence of the air hole structure in the cladding, and the parameters of the laser beam in the process of grating fabrication are discussed. The results show that gratings can be formed by the periodic collapse of air holes in the cladding of PCFs. Under double-point heating condition, the energy is uniformly distributed in the radial direction and is approximate to Gaussian distribution in the axial direction. With the same size of the luminous spot, as the layers and radius of the air holes increase, the laser power needed to make the air holes collapse decreases. With the same laser power, as the luminous spot radius increases, the needed heating time increases. Moreover, the relationship between the laser power needed and the air filling rate is obtained as the number of layers of the air holes changes from 1 to 7. This kind of PCFG can overcome the long-term thermal instability of conventional gratings in substance and thus has great potential applications in the related field of optical fiber sensors.     

热激法光子晶体光纤光栅制备工艺中热传导特性研究

研究了基于结构性改变的光子晶体光纤光栅的热激法制备工艺,理论分析了此种工艺的成栅原理,采用热传导理论和有限元法研究了制备过程中光子晶体光纤中的温度场分布,以及包层空气孔结构和激光参数对成栅效果的影响.研究结果表明,利用光子晶体光纤包层空气孔周期性塌缩可以形成光栅;采用两点热激法时,能够实现能量在光纤径向均匀分布,轴向近似于高斯分布;包层气孔结构加速了成栅过程,相同光斑尺寸下,光纤塌缩所需激光功率随气孔层数和气孔半径的增大而减小;最后,对包层空气孔结构为1层到7层的光子晶体光纤热激过程进行仿真,得到了空气填 关键词： 光纤光栅 光子晶体光纤 热激法 有限元法     

非水溶性光致聚合物光子晶体的研制

报道了一种新型的利用激光全息技术制作光子晶体的记录材料,即自制的非水溶性光致聚合物.用绿光作为光源对材料性能参量做简单测试,经测试其衍射效率可达85%,在波长为514.5 nm处拥有较高的吸收率,且该材料的后处理过程简单,只需热烘.利用Matlab简单模拟全息法制作光子晶体的过程,经模拟得到干涉的光束越多,光子晶体的晶格结构越复杂.设计了制作二维、三维光子晶体的实验光路,分光元件分别为掩模板和去顶棱镜.实验结果表明,利用非水溶性光致聚合物可制作大面积、大体积、耐高温和高强度的二、三维光子晶体,且其晶体结构与Matlab模拟的结果基本一致|利用非水溶性光致聚合物作为记录材料时,光路的搭建是影响实验结果的重要因素.     

Design and fabrication of bismith-silicate photonic crystal fiber

The process of design and fabrication of bismuth-silicate photonic crystal fiber (Bi-PCF) is reported. The Bi-PCF was fabricated by stack and draw method. This is the first trial of the fabrication of photonic crystal fiber made of bismuth-based glass with stack and draw method. The Bi-PCF structure was designed to reduce group-velocity-dispersion (GVD) in a plausible process. Thermal properties of the glass are investigated to establish the fabrication process. The applying pressure and pumping in fiber preform preparation were effectively utilized to control the air-hole diameter and arrangement. The fabricated Bi-PCF shows the well reduced GVD as the numerical calculation predicted. Fusion splicing between Bi-PCF and SMF-28 was also demonstrated.     

激光全息光刻技术在微纳光子结构制备中的应用进展

微纳光子结构研究随着光子学、半导体物理学及微加工技术的发展而逐渐蓬勃开展,并在其结构、理论、制备技术等方面取得了系列进展。受限于目前的微加工技术水平,要成功制备大尺度、高质量的光子材料仍然存在着一定挑战。激光全息光刻技术作为一种简便快捷的微结构制作技术已经发展成为一种经济快速制作大面积微纳超材料及光子晶体模板的重要手段。介绍了激光全息光刻技术的原理,详细阐述了该技术在制作三维面心立方、木堆积结构、金刚石结构光子晶体以及光学周期类准晶、手性超材料、周期性缺陷结构等微纳光子结构中的应用研究进展。激光全息光刻技术成功制作微纳光子结构为光子材料在更多领域的广泛应用提供了基础和方法。     

高双折射光子晶体光纤中均匀布拉格光栅的特性

研究了具有高双折射的光子晶体光纤(HB PCF)中均匀布拉格光栅(FBG)的光谱特性。利用紧凑的超格子模型,对光子晶体光纤的传输特性进行分析,研究正向传输和反向传输的模式之间的耦合规律,从而研究写入光子晶体光纤中的均匀布拉格光栅的特性。首先给出具有C6v对称性的零双折射光子晶体光纤中光纤布拉格光栅的布拉格波长λB随光纤结构参量的变化规律;然后分析一种高双折射光子晶体光纤中的光纤布拉格光栅的光谱特性,高双折射使两个不同偏振态的反射峰分开较大;最后分析了一种常用的双模双折射光子晶体光纤中光纤布拉格光栅的光谱特性,LP01模和LPe11模的两个偏振态对应的反射谱都由于高双折射而分开。     

单模低损耗光子晶体光纤的设计及特性分析

设计了几种特殊结构的带隙光子晶体光纤,采用平面波展开法和频域有限差分方法研究了基于不同结构光子晶体光纤的带、模式、色散和色散斜率。由平面波展开法和频域有限差分方法求解麦克斯韦方程组导出本征值方程,可以得到带隙光子晶体光纤中可能存在的不同模式的传播常数、电场分布、本征频率和磁场分布。分别给出了第二圈填充率取三种不同值时带、模式、色散和色散斜率的变化。结果表明,当第二圈填充率改变时其特性有明显的变化。随着填充率从0．75减小到0．45,其二阶模分裂成两个类LP01模,可降低损耗。计算结果对单模和低损耗的光子晶体光纤的设计有参考价值。     

Low-loss all-solid photonic bandgap fiber

We report the fabrication and characterization of a new type all-solid photonic bandgap fiber. By introducing an index depressed layer around the high-index rod in the unit cell of photonic crystal cladding, transmission loss as low as 2 dB/km within the first bandgap is realized for the all-solid photonic bandgap fiber with a bandwidth of over 700 nm. The bend loss experiment shows that the photonic bandgap fiber is much less bend sensitive than single-mode fiber.     

The superprism effect using large area 2D-periodic photonic crystal slabs

The “superprism effect” is an effect observed in photonic crystal structures whereby the direction of light propagation is extremely sensitive to the wavelength and angle of incidence. To realize the superprism effect, new structures are presented which rely on the sensitivity of the phase velocity in a two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal slab to observe angular magnification outside the photonic crystal medium. Constant frequency contour calculations for a photonic crystal slab of finite thickness are used to predict the phase velocity superprism effect. Further analysis using 2D finite-difference time-domain simulations indicate that a large area photonic crystal and wide excitation beam are necessary for clear observation of the superprism effect. A fabrication technique is demonstrated to achieve the structure's required nanometer-sized features over centimeter-scale areas.     

Highly birefringent photonic crystal fibers

We report a strongly anisotropic photonic crystal fiber. Twofold rotational symmetry was introduced into a single-mode fiber structure by creation of a regular array of airholes of two sizes disposed about a pure-silica core. Based on spectral measurements of the polarization mode beating, we estimate that the fiber has a beat length of approximately 0.4 mm at a wavelength of 1540 nm, in good agreement with the results of modeling.     

All-fiber Yb:fiber frequency comb

We demonstrate an all-fiber Yb:fiber frequency comb with a nonlinear-amplifying-loop-mirror-based Yb:fiber laser oscillator. The fiber-spliced hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber was used as dispersion compensator, which was also directly spliced to a piece of tapered photonic crystal fiber for an octave-spanning spectrum. The spectrum of the compressed 107 fs laser pulses was broadened, covering 600 nm to 1300 nm in a high-nonlinearity tapered fiber for f to 2 f beating. The signal-to-noise ratio of offset frequency was measured to be 22 dB.     

光子晶体光纤和波导

文章简述了光子晶体光纤和光子晶体波导的类型,导光原理及制作方法等,展示了近年来它们的进展及重要的应用前景。     

双零色散光子晶体光纤结构参数的变化对其性能的影响

应用多极法,研究了正六边形结构光子晶体光纤的结构参数改变时,波长范围在0.8—1.8μm之间的双零色散光子晶体光纤的色散特性和非线系数随波长的变化规律.对具有相同结构参数的正六边形结构和正八边形结构进行比较,得到正六边形结构的双零色散光子晶体光纤的色散更加平坦,非线性系数有明显增大的结果.因此,正六边形结构更容易获得色散平坦的高非线性双零色散光子晶体光纤.最终设计了在800nm附近具有平坦色散和高非线性的正六边形双零色散光子晶体光纤.     

三种典型结构光子晶体光纤基本特性的比较和分析

应用多极法比较和分析了相同结构参数下的正六边形、正八边形和正十边形光子晶体光纤的色散系数、色散斜率、非线性系数和限制损耗.正六边形光子晶体光纤更适合用于色散补偿和高非线性的研究,在波长0.8 μm处的非线性系数达到了0.37 m^-1·W^-1;正十边形光子晶体光纤更适合用于色散平坦和低限制损耗的研究,在波长0.8 μm处的限制损耗相对正六边形光子晶体光纤减小了约3000个数量级,在1.4—1.65 μm波长范围内,正十边形光纤的色散系数介于-0.07—0.17 p     

高功率光纤激光器全内反射型大模场光子晶体光纤设计

在高功率密度下产生的非线性效应和材料损伤等问题限制了光纤激光器输出功率的进一步提高。利用大模场光纤降低光纤能量密度,提高非线性阈值是一种最为直接和有效的手段。以空气孔尺寸为光波长量级的全内反射型光子晶体光纤为对象,采用等效折射率模型分析了光子晶体光纤的单模特性,利用有限元法分析了结构参数对光子晶体光纤的模场面积和色散等光束质量参数的影响。设计了一种工作波长为0.40~1.55μm,模场面积为112.74~258.87μm2,且在1.27μm附近可补偿色散的大模场光子晶体光纤。该研究可为高功率光纤激光器大模场光纤的进一步参数优化设计及元件加工提供重要参考。     

基于光子晶体光纤中受激布里渊散射的光载波抑制

设计了一种基于光子晶体光纤中受激布里渊散射的载波滤波器.该滤波器利用两个环形器和一段光子晶体光纤构成了一个环形腔,这种腔结构有效地降低了光纤中受激布里渊散射的阈值.理论分析了光子晶体光纤载波滤波器对提高光调制深度和射频增益的影响.利用25 m的高非线性光子晶体光纤作为受激布里渊增益介质,当入射载波功率为70 mW时,微波光子信号的射频增益为5.38 dB,实验结果与理论计算相吻合.     

一种与标准单模光纤高适配的低弯曲损耗光子晶体光纤

设计并研制出一种与普通单模光纤高适配的低弯曲损耗光子晶体光纤. 结构采用光纤预制棒制作工艺上易于实现的掺锗芯六孔结构. 应用间接测量方法, 对其模式、弯曲及色散特性进行了系统的评估. 在波长1550 nm处研制光纤的模场面积为79.26 μm², 色散为21.7 ps·km^-1·nm^-1, 模场面积和色散特性与标准单模光纤具有高的适配性. 在光纤弯曲半径为5 mm时, 在波长1550 nm处的弯曲损耗为0.0365 dB/圈, 小于G.657B的弯曲损耗0.5 dB/圈. 研究成果为光纤到户用低弯曲损耗光纤的实用化奠定了良好的基础. 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 低弯曲损耗 光纤到户 高适配性