Photonic Band Gap Properties of Three-Dimensional SiO2 Photonic Crystals

Three-dimensional SiO2 photonic crystals （PhCs） are fabricated on quartz substrates by the vertical deposition method. Scanning electron microscopy measurement reveals that the samples exhibit an ordered close-packed arrangement of SiO2 spheres. It is found that the position of the [111] photonie band gap （PBG） shifts to a long wavelength （red shift） with increasing sphere size. Gap broadening effects are observed due to the presence of defects in the samples. Moreover, the optical properties of the PBG are very sensitive to the annealing temperature. Our results indicate that the optical properties of the PBG can be easily tuned in the visible region by appropriate experimental parameters, which will be useful for practical applications of PhC optical devices.     

Study on polarization spectrum and annealing properties of 45°-tilted fiber gratings

We have investigated the whole polarization-extinction-ratio(PER) spectrum and annealing properties of45°-tilted fiber gratings(45°-TFGs). Experimental results show the PER spectrum of 45°-TFGs is a Gaussianlike profile and covers a 540 nm bandwidth from 1260 to 1800 nm, in which the bandwidth with PER greater than 10 dB is over 250 nm. The output polarization distribution of 45°-TFGs was analyzed by employing a bulk linear polarizer, and the results show a perfect figure "8", which indicates that the 45°-TFG is a type of linear polarizer. Moreover, the annealing property of 45°-TFGs was measured up to 700°C, in which the PER of the grating started to decrease at 300°C and reached the minimum at 700°C. Based on these results, the 45°-TFGs can be used as an ultra-wide bandwidth in-fiber polarizing device.