New nonlinear and dispersion flattened photonic crystal fiber with low confinement loss

A new nonlinear dispersion flattened photonic crystal fiber with low confinement loss is proposed. This fiber has threefold symmetry core. The doped region in the core and the big air-holes in the 1st ring can make high nonlinearity in the PCF. And the small air-holes in the 1st ring and the radial increasing diameters air-holes rings in cladding can be used to achieve the dispersion properties of the PCF. We can achieve the optimized optical properties by carefully selecting the PCFs structure parameters. A PCF with flattened dispersion is obtained. The dispersion is less than 0.8 ps/(nm km) and is larger than −0.7 ps/(nm km) from 1.515 μm to 1.622 μm. The nonlinear coefficient is about 12.6456 W⁻¹ km⁻¹, the fundamental mode area is about 10.2579 μm². The confinement loss is 0.30641 dB/km. This work may be useful for effective design and fabrication of dispersion flattened photonic crystal fibers with high nonlinearities.     

Determination of nonlinear coefficient and group-velocity-dispersion of bismuth-based high nonlinear optical fiber by four-wave-mixing

Nonlinear coefficient and group-velocity-dispersion of bismuth-based nonlinear fibers were determined by four-wave-mixing measurements. The wavelength dependence of refractive index of bulk bismuth-based glasses was also measured to estimate the material dispersion and waveguide dispersion. A newly developed bi-directional four-wave-mixing configuration enabled us to determine all fiber parameters simultaneously. The obtained fiber nonlinearity γ ∼ 1000 W⁻¹ km⁻¹ of bismuth-based nonlinear fiber is the highest one in the step-index fiber made of oxide glasses as expected from a high refractive index at 1550 nm. Dispersion analysis reveals that the both material dispersion and waveguide dispersion affect to the large group-velocity-dispersion of bismuth-based nonlinear fiber.     

Design and analysis of novel highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers with ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion

The present article describes novel highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers (HN-PCFs) with flattened chromatic dispersion and low confinement losses. The proposed design has been simulated based on the finite-difference method with anisotropic perfectly matched layers absorbing boundary condition. It is proved that the design novel HN-PCFs is obtained a nonlinear coefficient greater than 45 W⁻¹ km⁻¹ and low dispersion slope −0.009 ps/(nm².km) at 1.55 μm wavelength. In addition, results from numerical simulation show that the ultra-flattened dispersion of 0 ± 0.65 ps/(nm.km) can be obtained in a 1.36-1.62 μm wavelength range with confinement losses lower than 10⁻⁷ dB/m in the same wavelength range. Another advantage of the proposed HN-PCFs is that it possessed modest number of design parameters.     

Highly birefrigent photonic crystal fiber with high negative dispersion for broadband dispersion compensation

In this paper, we proposed a dual-enhanced core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with high birefringence and ultra-high negative dispersion for dispersion compensation in a polarization maintained optical system. Using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, we presented dispersion compensating PCF (DC-PCF) with negative dispersion between −1650 ps nm⁻¹ km⁻¹ and −2305 ps nm⁻¹ km⁻¹ in C-band and particularly −2108 ps nm⁻¹ km⁻¹ in λ = 1.55 μm wavelength. By this method, we can compensate dispersion in 124 km long span of a conventional single mode fiber (SMF) by 1 km-long of the DC-PCF at λ = 1.55 μm wavelength. Moreover, fundamental mode of the proposed PCF can induce birefringence about 3.5 × 10⁻³ at 1.55 μm wavelength.     

The spectral sensitivity of long period gratings fabricated in elliptical core D-shaped optical fibre

Long period gratings (LPGs) were written into a D-shaped optical fibre that has an elliptical core with a W-shaped refractive index profile and the first detailed investigation of such LPGs is presented. The LPGs’ attenuation bands were found to be sensitive to the polarisation of the interrogating light with a spectral separation of about 15 nm between the two orthogonal polarisation states. A finite element method was successfully used to model many of the behavioural features of the LPGs. In addition, two spectrally overlapping attenuation bands corresponding to orthogonal polarisation states were observed; modelling successfully reproduced this spectral feature. The spectral sensitivity of both orthogonal states was experimentally measured with respect to temperature and bending. These LPG devices produced blue and red wavelength shifts depending upon the orientation of the bend with measured maximum sensitivities of −3.56 and +6.51 nm m, suggesting that this type of fibre LPG may be useful as a shape/bend orientation sensor with reduced errors associated with polarisation dependence. The use of neighbouring bands to discriminate between temperature and bending was also demonstrated, leading to an overall curvature error of ±0.14 m⁻¹ and an overall temperature error of ±0.3 °C with a maximum polarisation dependence error of ±8 × 10⁻² m⁻¹ for curvature and ±5 × 10⁻² °C for temperature.     

A novel dispersion-shifted single mode optical fiber design with ultra-high-bit-rate and very low loss for long-haul communications

In this paper, a novel dispersion-shifted multi-clad optical fiber with very small bending loss and ultra-high bit-rate applicable for large capacity information transmission systems is presented. To decrease dispersion and higher-order dispersion effects at λ = 1.55 μm, a weighted pulse broadening factor and genetic algorithm (GA) optimization technique is used. Compared to the works reported previously, this method can precisely set the zero-dispersion wavelength. This kind of dispersion-shifted fibers has dispersion, dispersion slope, mode field diameter (MFD), effective area and quality factor within −1.40 × 10⁻⁴ to −8.44 × 10⁻² ps/km nm, 3.06 × 10⁻² to −4.07 × 10⁻² ps/km nm², 5.56−5.85 μm, 119.25−176.42 μm² and 3.49-5.27 at λ = 1.55 μm, respectively. Besides, by applying dispersion at λ = 1.55 μm as the cost function, dispersion of about 1.31 × 10⁻⁸ ps/km nm is obtained. Thus, this novel optical fiber can be used in long-haul high information-transmission capacity communication systems.     

Design and analysis of a photonic crystal fiber with four-hole unit

A novel photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based on a four-hole unit is proposed in order to meet the requirements of high birefringence, negative dispersion and confinement loss in fiber-optic communication. The proposed design has been simulated based on the full vector finite element method (FVFEM) and anisotropic perfectly matched layers (APML). Analysis results show that the proposed PCF can achieve a high birefringence to the order of 10⁻² at the wavelength of 1.55 μm, a large negative dispersion over a wide wavelength range and confinement losses lower than 10⁻⁹ dB/m simultaneously, which has important applications in polarization-maintaining (PM) fibers, single-polarization single-mode (SPSM) fibers, dispersion compensation fibers and so on.     

Deep ultraviolet femtosecond laser tuning of fiber Bragg gratings

A deep ultraviolet femtosecond laser operating at wavelength 258 nm was demonstrated to be effective in trimming fiber Bragg gratings in telecommunication fibers. A smooth tunable resonance wavelength shift of up to 0.52 nm has been observed, corresponding to a refractive index change of ∼5 × 10⁻⁴ after an accumulated laser fluence of 63.3 kJ/cm² at a single pulse fluence of 124 mJ/cm². The ultrafast laser enhancement of ultraviolet photosensitivity response and modification of anisotropic index profile in silica fiber is a powerful technique to precise control of the performance of fiber Bragg grating devices for applications in optical filtering and polarization mode dispersion management.     

A broadband ultra flattened chromatic dispersion microstructured fiber for optical communications

A double-cladding microstructured fiber (MF) is proposed in this paper. The inner cladding of this optical fiber is composed of elliptical air holes and silica. The dependence of dispersion on the diameter of the air holes, the pitch, and the axes of the elliptical holes is investigated numerically. The proposed fiber possesses an ultra flattened dispersion curve over a wide wavelength range, and its dispersion value is small. The effective mode area is approaching to 60 μm², and the confinement loss is as low as <0.025 dB/km at 1550 nm. While choosing suitable structure parameters, an ultra dispersion-flattened MF within a broadband from1000 nm to 1900 nm can be achieved. The dispersion fluctuation is 0.6-1.0 ps/(nm·km) in all S, C and L band.     

Broadband Er-Yb co-doped superfluorescent fiber source

In this paper, extensive experimental results on broad-band double cladding Er³⁺-Yb³⁺ co-doped superfluorescent fiber sources (SFSs), characterizing their output power, mean wavelength, and bandwidth (BW) stability with variations of pump power, pump wavelength, and fiber temperature, have been reported. For a 55-cm fiber, SFS power from 3.7755 (maximum BW condition of more than 80 nm) to 9.1837 mW (maximum power condition, BW is about 34 nm) has been achieved. The SFS mean wavelength dependence on pump wavelength is highly pump temperature sensitive, and can be reduced to zero in a chosen pump temperature field. The intrinsic variation of the SFS mean wavelength λ_m with fiber temperature is also measured, and a linear variation from 15 to 45 °C with a slop of −0.053 nm/°C for L_f = 100 cm and −0.04 nm/°C for L_f = 55 cm is found.     

Long-period fiber-gratings produced by exposure with a low-pressure mercury lamp and their sensing characteristics

A new production method of long-period fiber-gratings using neither a laser nor a fine-positioning system was proposed. A low-pressure mercury lamp emitting 254 nm ultraviolet light was used as a light source. Hydrogen-loaded Ge-B co-doped fiber was exposed to the emission of the lamp through an amplitude mask. A coupling loss up to 23 dB was obtained for a grating period of 212 μm. The maximum coupling loss for a grating period of 460 μm was 18 dB. The growth rate of the refractive index change by mercury-lamp exposure was 1.3 × 10⁻⁴/h. The temperature and strain characteristics were measured and compared with those fabricated by excimer-laser exposure. The temperature and strain sensitivities of long-period gratings with a period of 212 μm were higher than those of 460 μm. The temperature and strain sensitivities of those by mercury-lamp exposure were almost equal to those by excimer-laser exposure of the same fiber. The sensitivities of those by excimer-laser exposure of non-loaded fiber were higher than those of hydrogen-loaded fiber by mercury-lamp or excimer-laser exposures except for the temperature sensitivity of a grating period of 460 μm.     

Design and analysis of novel octagonal photonic crystal fiber with F-doped elliptical hole core

A design of octagonal photonic crystal fiber (OPCF) with F-doped elliptical hole core is proposed. The proposed design is simulated through an full vector finite element method (FVFEM) and anisotropic perfectly matched layers (APML). Numerical results show that the designed OPCF has the ultra-flattened dispersion of 0 ± 0.4 ps/(nm km) from 1.34 μm to 1.72 μm (380 nm band) which covers S, C and L communication bands, a low confinement loss of less than 10⁻⁷ dB/m in the same wavelength range, and the corresponding birefringence and nonlinear coefficient are about 2.12 × 10⁻² and 50.67 W⁻¹ km⁻¹ at 1.55 μm, respectively. The proposed OPCF may have great potential applications in super-continuum (SC) generation, dispersion compensation, polarization maintaining and so on.     

Polarization maintaining large nonlinear coefficient photonic crystal fibers using rotational hybrid cladding

In this paper, we present and explore a new hybrid cladding design for improved birefringence and highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) in a broad range of wavelength bands. The birefringence of the fundamental mode in such a PCF is numerically analyzed using the finite element method (FEM). It is demonstrated that it is possible to design a simple highly nonlinear hybrid PCF (HyPCF) with a nonlinear coefficient of the about 46 W⁻¹ km⁻¹ at a 1.55 μm wavelength. According to simulation, the highest modal birefringence and lowest confinement loss of our proposed structure at the excitation wavelength of λ = 1.55 μm can be achieved at a magnitude of 1.77 × 10⁻² and of the order less than 10² dB/km with only five rings of air-holes in the fiber cladding.     

A new solution of reducing polymer optical fiber losses

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is one of the most commonly used optical materials. However, the application of it in the area of optical communication is strongly limited by the intrinsic absorption loss of carbon-hydrogen stretching vibration. In this paper, we present a method to solve the problem by adopting the hollow-core fibers with cobweb cladding structure. The fibers use a single dielectric material and may solve the problem of structural support. Thus the feasibility of the “OmniGuide” fibers is improved, while a series of advantages of the “OmniGuide” hollow-core fiber are retained. It is promising that a fiber with low transmission loss, high bandwidth, large-core, and low costs can be designed and fabricated using PMMA. At the same time, a very broad range of the wavelengths (from visible to near infrared region, for instance, wavelengths at 0.65-1.12 μm, and even 1.30 μm, 1.54 μm and their neighbors) may be adopted for signal wavelength.     

Dispersion-ultra-flattened square-lattice photonic crystal fiber with small effective mode area and low confinement loss

Proposed in this paper is a simple square-lattice photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with nearly zero flattened dispersion (NZFD) over a wide wavelength span. We make a trade-off between the coupling efficiency and the effective mode area in order to obtain relatively low confinement loss and high nonlinearity. Via full-vector finite element method with hybrid edge/node elements, over 1137–1710 nm, the dispersion coefficient is 0.3 ± 0.3 ps/(km nm), the confinement loss is relatively low, in level of 10⁻⁷–10⁻⁴ dB/km and the effective mode area remains 5.88–6.59 μm².     

Femtosecond laser embedded grating micromachining of flexible PDMS plates

We report on the femtosecond laser micromachining of photo-induced embedded diffraction grating in flexible Poly (Dimethly Siloxane) (PDMS) plates using a high-intensity femtosecond (130 fs) Ti: sapphire laser (λ_p = 800 nm). The refractive index modifications with diameters ranging from 2 μm to 5 μm were photo-induced after the irradiation with peak intensities of more than 1 × 10¹¹ W/cm². The graded refractive index profile was fabricated to be a symmetric around from the center of the point at which femtosecond laser was focused. The maximum refractive index change (Δn) was estimated to be 2 × 10⁻³. By the X-Y-Z scanning of sample, the embedded diffraction grating in PDMS plate was fabricated successfully using a femtosecond laser.     

Highly nonlinear birefringent photonic crystal fiber

We propose an index guiding highly nonlinear birefringent photonic crystal fiber (PCF). Using a full vectorial finite element method (FEM), we investigate the key propagation characteristics of the proposed design. We demonstrate that it is possible to design a simple PCF structure configuration with a birefringence in the order of 10⁻² and a nonlinear coefficient of 49 W⁻¹ km⁻¹ at the wavelength of 1.55 μm. It is demonstrated that two zero dispersion wavelengths can be achieved by the proposed design. Bending analysis and fabrication issues are also discussed thoroughly.     

Polarization mode dispersion in single mode optical fibers due to core-ellipticity

The variation of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) with V-parameter in single mode optical fibers due to core-ellipticity is studied by performing numerical simulations taking into account both geometrical and thermal-stress-induced birefringences as well as the variation of fiber refractive indices with wavelength. Simple empirical relations are given for calculating the mean PMD for any value of core-ellipticity and V-parameter of a standard single mode fiber. It is observed that the mean PMD saturates for V ? 1.8 leading to very small second order PMD.     

Designing of endlessly single mode polarization maintaining highly birefringent nonlinear micro-structure fiber at telecommunication window by FV-FEM

An endlessly single mode highly polarization maintaining nonlinear microstructure fiber at telecommunication window is reported via full-vector finite element method. By taking three ring hexagonal PCF with suitable fiber parameter such as air hole diameter in cladding region d = 0.8 μm, pitch 2.3 μm and introducing four symmetrical large air holes near core region d′ = 2 μm, single mode (V_eff ≤ π), small effective mode area 2.7 μm², nonlinear co-efficient 44.39 W⁻¹ km⁻¹, high phase birefringence of the order of 10⁻³ and group birefringence of the order of 10⁻⁴ with beat length 0.3 μm at wavelength 1.55 μm are achieved.     

Specialty Yb fiber amplifier for microchip Nd laser: Towards ∼1-mJ/1-ns output at kHz-range repetition rate

We demonstrate and optimize, for a mJ/ns release at the wavelength 1.064 μm, the operation of a compact laser system designed in the form of a hybrid, active-passive, Q-switched Nd³⁺:YAG/Cr⁴⁺:YAG microchip laser seeding an Yb-doped specialty multi-port fiber amplifier. As the result of the amplifier optimization, ∼1 mJ, ∼1 ns, almost single-mode pulses at a 1-10-kHz repetition rate are achieved, given by a gain factor of ∼19 dB for an 11-μJ input from the microchip laser. Meanwhile, a lower pulse energy, ∼120 μJ, but a much higher gain (∼25 dB) are eligible for the less powerful (0.35 μJ) input pulses.