Bending dual-core photonic crystal fiber coupler

In this paper, we systematically study a designed structure of a bending dual-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF). We propose the controllable wavelength-selective coupling PCF. This coupler allows highly accurate control of the filtering wavelength. The different wavelengths can be selected by controlling the bending radius of the fiber. Coupling characteristics of novel bending wavelength-selective coupling PCF are evaluated by using a vector finite element method and their application to a multiplexer demultiplexer (MUX–DEMUX) based on the novel coupler is investigated. When the fiber length is 4168 μm, the bending radius of PCF couplers for 1.48/1.55 μm, 1.3/1.55 μm, 0.98/1.55 μm, and 0.85/1.55 μm is calculated, respectively, and the beam propagation analysis is performed. Different from the traditional wavelength-selective coupling PCF, the dual-core PCF is bent and it can realize the separation of multiple wavelengths.     

光子晶体光纤及其应用

光子晶体作为一种新兴的材料 ,将会对整个光子学和光子产业领域产生深远的影响 ,而其最重要的应用之一———光子晶体光纤已经在很多科研技术领域得到了应用 .文章综述了光子晶体光纤的研究进展 ,给出其分类 ,并重点介绍了光子晶体光纤在超短脉冲、光频测量、光纤通信等科研领域的重要应用以及未来的发展前景     

Multiplexer–Demultiplexer based on nematic liquid crystal photonic crystal fiber coupler

A novel design of Multiplexer–Demultiplexer (MUX–DEMUX) based on index guiding soft glass nematic liquid crystal (NLC) based photonic crystal fiber coupler is proposed and analyzed. The simulation results are obtained using the full vectorial finite difference method as well as the full vectorial finite difference beam propagation method. The numerical results reveal that the proposed MUX–DEMUX of length 3.265 mm can provide low crosstalk better than −20dB with great bandwidths of 40 and 24 nm around the wavelengths of 1.3 and 1.55 μm, respectively. In addition, the reported MUX–DEMUX has a tolerance of ±3% in its length which makes the design more robust to the perturbation introduced during the fabrication process.     

Photonic crystal fiber design for broadband directional coupling

A novel design for a broadband directional coupler based on a photonic crystal fiber is investigated numerically. It is shown that suitable index-depressing doping of the core regions in an index-guiding twin-core photonic crystal fiber can stabilize the coupling coefficient between the cores over an extremely broad (octave-spanning) frequency range.     

Tunable photonic crystal fiber coupler based on a side-polishing technique

A tunable photonic crystal fiber (PCF) coupler, which couples part of the optical power in one PCF with that in another PCF, has been made by side polishing. We fabricated the PCF coupler by mating two side-polished PCFs. We achieved evanescent field coupling between the core modes of the two PCFs by using side polishing to bring the cores close to each other. By adjusting the mating angle between the two side-polished PCFs we obtained as much as 90% tunability in the coupling ratio. The spectrum of the coupling ratio was almost flat, with small ripples, over a 400-nm wavelength range.     

Design of a single-polarization single-mode photonic crystal fiber double-core coupler

A simple single-polarization single-mode (SPSM) photonic crystal fiber (PCF) coupler with two cores is introduced. The full-vector finite-element method (FEM) is applied to analyze the modal interference phenomenon of the even and odd modes of two orthogonal polarizations and the power propagation within the two cores. Meanwhile, the SPSM coupling wavelength range and its corresponding coupling length for different structure parameters are numerically analyzed. The numerical results show that SPSM coupling can be realized with a broad range of wavelength, and the coupling length can be of millimeter magnitude. Moreover, the SPSM coupling wavelength range and the coupling length can be optimized by designing proper mirco-structure parameters of the coupler.     

Photonic crystal fiber tip interferometer for refractive index sensing

In this paper we present an interferometer based on photonic crystal fiber (PCF) tip ended with a solid silica-sphere for refractive index sensing. The sensor is fabricated by splicing one end of the holey PCF to a single mode fiber (SMF) and applying arc at the other end to form a solid sphere. The sensor has been experimentally tested for refractive index and temperature sensing by monitoring its wavelength shift. Measurement results show that the sensor has the resolution of the order of 8.7×10(-4) over the refractive index range of 1.33-1.40, and temperature sensitivity of the order of 10 pm/°C in the range of 20-100 °C.     

Photonic crystal fiber with a flattened fundamental mode for the fiber lasers

The 1-hole-missing and 7-hole-missing photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with flattened fundamental modes (FMs) are proposed by introducing a layer of up-doped silica into the core of the PCFs. The transverse mode competitions are compared between the 7-hole-missing PCF lasers with and without flattened-FMs. The numerical results show that the flattened-FM PCF lasers can support the single transverse mode operation, even for a large value of the ratio of air hole diameter to the spacing between holes (up to 0.53).     

Design and analysis of thermally tunable liquid crystal filled hybrid photonic crystal fiber coupler

We propose a novel tunable photonic crystal fiber (PCF) coupler scheme, that the light is coupled between a total internal reflection (TIR) guiding core and a photonic bandgap (PBG) guiding core. By introducing the thermo-optic responsive nematic liquid crystals (NLC) into the air holes around the PBG core, the hybrid PCF based coupler exhibits enhanced thermal tunability. The thermo-optical characteristics of the proposed coupler are numerically studied using finite element method (FEM) and beam propagation method (BPM). The proposed design can find promising applications in filtering and sensing devices.     

Double-clad photonic crystal fiber coupler for compact nonlinear optical microscopy imaging

A 1 x 2 double-clad photonic crystal fiber coupler is fabricated by the fused tapered method, showing a low excess loss of 1.1 dB and a splitting ratio of 97/3 over the entire visible and near-infrared wavelength range. In addition to the property of splitting the laser power, the double-clad feature of the coupler facilitates the separation of a near-infrared single-mode beam from a visible multimode beam, which is ideal for nonlinear optical microscopy imaging. In conjunction with a gradient-index lens, this coupler is used to construct a miniaturized microscope based on two-photon fluorescence and second-harmonic generation. Three-dimensional nonlinear optical images demonstrate potential applications of the coupler to compact all-fiber and nonlinear optical microscopy and endoscopy.     

Photonic crystal fiber for fundamental mode operation of multicore fiber lasers and amplifiers

A mode-selection method based on a single-mode photonic crystal fiber (PCF) in the multicore fiber (MCF) lasers is presented. The designed PCF has a central core region formed by a missing air-hole, and three air-hole rings. With an appropriate choice of the design parameters of the PCF, the power coupling between the fundamental mode (FM) of the PCF and the fundamental MCF mode can be much higher than those between the FM and the other supermodes. As a result, the fundamental MCF mode has the maximum power reflection coefficient on the right-hand side of the MCF laser cavity, and dominates the output laser power. Since the maximum power of the fundamental MCF mode will lead to the desired laser beam profile, higher the fraction of the fundamental MCF mode power contained in the total output power contributes to higher beam quality. The numerical simulations show that the effectiveness of the fundamental MCF mode-selection is higher in the MCF lasers with the PCF as a mode-selection component than in the MCF lasers based on the free-space Talbot cavity method. Additionally, for the MCF amplifiers, an approach is presented to decrease the sensitivity of the amplifier performance to the variation of Gaussian beam waist utilizing the coupling between the Gaussian beam and the FM of the PCF. The numerical results show that this method can effectively increase the design flexibility for a broad range of the Gaussian beam waist.     

Photonic crystal fiber with high birefringence and low confinement loss

In this paper, a highly birefringent index-guiding photonic crystal fiber with low confinement loss is proposed by enlarging the central row of air holes in the structure. By employing the multipole method, properties of this structure, including the effective index, birefringence and confinement loss, are investigated. Simulation results indicate that high birefringence of 1.65 × 10⁻³ can be reached at the wavelength of 1.55 μm, and a low confinement loss on the order of 10⁻⁶ dB/km can be achieved at the same wavelength. Moreover, the impacts of air hole sizes on birefringence and confinement loss are also analyzed in detail.     

自由耦合输出的大模场面积光子晶体光纤锁模激光器

对一种基于高增益掺Yb³⁺大模场面积光子晶体光纤（PCF）的锁模激光器进行了简化线型腔结构的实验和理论研究.实验中直接使用塌陷打磨为0°角的光纤端面作为一端腔镜,利用其端面反馈获得了激光振荡,并进一步利用半导体可饱和吸收镜（SESAM）和光栅对的滤波作用实现了稳定的锁模运转.通过调节滤波程度,使激光器实现了从宽带滤波锁模到窄带滤波锁模的连续可调谐.在宽带滤波锁模的条件下,得到了最大平均输出功率2.2 W,单脉冲能量29.3 nJ,脉冲宽度367 fs的锁模脉冲输出;在窄带滤波锁模的条 关键词： 飞秒激光 光纤激光器 光子晶体光纤 大模场面积光纤     

基于超连续谱的光子晶体光纤表面等离子体效应

 提出了利用光子晶体光纤空气孔塌缩技术制作光子晶体光纤表面等离子体共振传感器,构建了空气孔完全塌缩的光子晶体光纤表面等离子体共振传感器模型,并模拟计算了其中的表面等离子体共振效应。制作了全光纤化的波长检测型的光子晶体光纤表面等离子体共振传感器,利用超连续谱光源进行了相关实验。实验结果表明:以空气为待测环境介质时,对应的共振波长为465 nm,与理论计算相符合。     

Photonic crystal cavity on optical fiber facet for refractive index sensing

Using a micromanipulation technique, a planar photonic crystal nanocavity made from a thin semiconductor membrane is released from the host semiconductor and attached to the end facet of a standard single-mode optical fiber. The cavity spectrum can be read out through the fiber by detecting the photoluminescence of embedded quantum dots. The modified fiber end serves as a fiber-optic refractive index sensor.     

基于超连续谱的光子晶体光纤表面等离子体效应

提出了利用光子晶体光纤空气孔塌缩技术制作光子晶体光纤表面等离子体共振传感器,构建了空气孔完全塌缩的光子晶体光纤表面等离子体共振传感器模型,并模拟计算了其中的表面等离子体共振效应。制作了全光纤化的波长检测型的光子晶体光纤表面等离子体共振传感器,利用超连续谱光源进行了相关实验。实验结果表明:以空气为待测环境介质时,对应的共振波长为465 nm,与理论计算相符合。     

Optimization of polishing parameters for optical coupler based on side-polished photonic crystal fiber

The rapid development in areas such as fiber-optic communication, fiber lasers, and high power transmission has generated an increasing demand for photonic crystal fiber (PCF). However, there is no well-proven approach for PCF coupler fabrication because most approaches proposed introduce defects that are non-negligible in practice. Previously, we have made an attempt by applying side-adhering technique to PCF coupler fabrication. This paper presents our recent effort in establishing a model of side-polished PCF (SPPCF) coupler and tuning various fabrication parameters in search for its desirable characteristics. It is found that the optimal coupling effect is achieved when the residual radius is set 5.7 μm and the polishing angle is set 0°. The optimizations presented in this paper may serve as a foundation for further research and development of SPPCF coupler.     

Photonic crystal devices

We developed photochemically controlled photonic crystals which may be useful in novel recordable and erasable memories and/or display devices. These materials can operate in the UV, visible or near IR spectral regions. Information is recorded and erased by exciting the photonic crystal with ∼ 360 nm UV light or ∼ 480 nm visible light. The recorded information is read out by measuring the photonic crystal diffraction wavelength. The active element of the device is an azobenzene functionalized hydrogel which contains an embedded crystalline colloidal array. UV excitation forms cis-azobenzene while visible excitation forms trans-azobenzene. Larger dipole moment of the cis-form results in decrease of the free energy of mixing which causes the hydrogel to swell and to red-shift the photonic crystal diffraction with a 36 s time constant. We also observed fast ms and sub-ms transient dynamics associated with convection due to heating of the medium by UV excitation. Convective motion of the medium stretches the PCCA for about 6 μs within which the convection decays and the elastic restoring force of the PCCA brings back the stretched PCCA to its equilibrium state with 33 μs time constant. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Ionic Devices, Anna University, Chennai, India, Nov. 28–30, 2003.     

Photonic crystal fiber polarization filter with two large apertures coated with gold layers

A novel photonic crystal fiber(PCF) polarization filter is designed and fabricated; it consists of two large apertures coated with gold. The asymmetric structure separates the resonance position in the vertical direction well. Due to the metal layer covering, loss is greatly improved. Finite element method is applied for numerical simulation. The influences of varying gold thickness and varying the diameters and the center positions of the larger apertures on filtering performance are evaluated. Theory of coupling between surface plasma and core mode is introduced. By modulating the parameters, we realize a single polarization filter at 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm. The basal mode loss in the y direction can reach 1408.80 dB/cm at 1.31 μm and 1911.22 dB/cm at 1.55 μm respectively, but basal mode loss in the x direction is relatively small, 0.82 dB/cm and 1.87 dB/cm. In addition, two kinds of broadband polarization filters are proposed. If the fiber length is set to 200 μm,the extinction ratio is greater than 20 dB with width of 570 nm and 490 nm. The filter has simple structure and excellent performance.     

Photonic crystal fiber based evanescent-wave sensor for detection of biomolecules in aqueous solutions

We demonstrate highly efficient evanescent-wave detection of fluorophore-labeled biomolecules in aqueous solutions positioned in the air holes of the microstructured part of a photonic crystal fiber. The air-suspended silica structures located between three neighboring air holes in the cladding crystal guide light with a large fraction of the optical field penetrating into the sample even at wavelengths in the visible range. An effective interaction length of several centimeters is obtained when a sample volume of less than 1 microL is used.