Picosecond flat-top pulse generation using dual-mode fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometers

We report on an optical fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer made by offset splicing a dual-mode fiber with two single-mode fibers. The extinction ratio can be tuned from less than 1 dB to greater than 28 dB by rotating the dual-mode fiber along its axial direction. The interferometer is utilized as a pulse shaper to convert a 2.5 ps Gaussian pulse to a 5.2 ps flat-top pulse.     

Enhancing the sensitivity of fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometers using slow and fast light

We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the sensitivity of a fiber Mach-Zehnder (M-Z) interferometer can be enhanced by coupling fiber ring resonators with it. The experimental results agree well with theoretical predications that combining slow light with fast light will further increase the sensitivity of a fiber M-Z interferometer.     

Mach-Zehnder interferometers assembled with optical microfibers or nanofibers

We demonstrate Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI) assembled using optical microfibers or nanofibers (MNFs) drawn from silica fibers and tellurite glasses. As-assembled MZIs, with dimensions of tens to hundreds of micrometers, show good interference fringes with extinction ratios of approximately 10 dB. The path-length difference of the MZI can be tuned by micromanipulation under an optical microscope. The MNF-assembled MZIs demonstrated here show advantages of easy fabrication, in situ tunability, and compact size.     

Fringe contrast in three grating Mach-Zehnder atomic interferometers

Several three-grating Mach-Zehnder atomic interferometers have been built and operated in recent years but no general theory of the contrast of the fringes produced by these apparatus is available. The purpose of this paper is to develop this theory, based on the Fresnel-Kirchoff approximate treatment of diffraction. Such a theory has been developed by Turchette et al. [JOSA B 9, 1601 (1992)] but because the necessary multiple integrals were evaluated in a purely numerical way, this treatment was not fully general. We show here how to reduce the computation by analytic means and we are thus able to calculate the contrast with a modest numerical effort. Moreover, we get a simple insight of the contrast reduction related to several defects of a real apparatus. We apply our calculations to existing interferometers as well as to an apparatus working with lithium which is under construction in our laboratory. Received: 24 April 1998 / Revised: 25 October 1998 / Accepted: 11 December 1998     

An accurate analysis for two-mode interferometer based Mach-Zehnder interferometers interleaver

By using a more accurate analysis, we investigate the effect of the mode coupling and radiation loss of a two-mode interferometer (TMI) which is employed in the design of Mach-Zehnder interferometer interleaver by considering different branching angles and index contrasts. Based on our study, we find that the transmission characteristics of a TMI in the interleaver design cannot always be treated as a simple zero gap directional coupler (DC), called pure model. Under certain conditions, its characteristics should be treated as a zero gap DC combined with two variable gap DCs, and correspondently called integrated model. The conditions under which a TMI is treated as pure model or integrated model are defined in terms of branching angle and index contrast. Our findings are confirmed with the experimental results.     

Theoretical analysis of aliasing noises in cold atom Mach-Zehnder interferometers

We present a theoretical analysis of aliasing noises that might appear in cold atom Mach-Zehnder interferometers used for the measurement of various physical quantities. We focus more specifically on single cold atom gyroscopes. To evaluate the level of aliasing noises, we have developed a model based on the power spectral densities of the different identified noise sources as input parameters and which makes use of a servo-loop to realize a precise measurement of the rotation rate. The model allows one to take into account different modes of operation, like a continuous as well as a pulsed or even a multi-ball operation. For monokinetic atoms, we show that the intermodulation noise can be completely filtered out with a continuous mode of operation and an optimum modulation scheme for any modulation frequency but also with a pulsed operation however only for specific launching frequencies. In the case of a real continuous atomic beam having a velocity distribution, it comes out that a high attenuation can be reached which indicates clearly the potential stability improvement that can be expected from a continuous operation.     

Ultra-compact directional couplers and Mach-Zehnder interferometers employing surface plasmon polaritons

Optical directional couplers and Mach-Zehnder interferometers employing surface plasmon polaritons are proposed and their characteristics are analyzed numerically using a finite-difference time-domain method. It is shown that these devices can have transverse size smaller than the incident wavelength and can then be regarded as true subwavelength photonic elements. The ultra-compact characteristic of these devices can be utilized as a basis of next generation of integrated photonic circuits. Furthermore, calculations also show that these devices behave differently from their traditional all-dielectric counterparts. For the proposed optical directional coupler, the phase difference between the two output ports will no longer be 90° even when the two ports have the same power outputs.     

Calculation of the crosstalk between Mach-Zehnder interferometers with traveling-wave electrodes

The crosstalk of electrodes on lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) Mach-Zehnder interferometers was studied. Three specific electrode configurations—Z-cut twin-electrode, Y-cut twin-electrode, and Y-cut tri-electrode—were analyzed. The capacitive coupling coefficient between electrodes was calculated by the method of moment and measured by an impedance analyzer. A scaled-up experimental setup was used to measure this coupling coefficient. The experimental data show good agreement with the numerical results. From the results, it was found that the coupling coefficient on Z-cut substrate with symmetric twin-electrode is larger than that of Y-cut substrate using twin- and tri-electrodes. In the case of asymmetric electrodes, however, the crosstalk between electrodes becomes smaller as the electrode width is increased.     

In-Fiber Fabry-Perot and Mach-Zehnder interferometers based on hollow optical fiber fabricated by arc fusion splicing with small lateral offsets

Two kinds of in-line all-fiber interferometers, including tip Fabry-Perot interferometer and compact Mach-Zehnder interferometer, are proposed and demonstrated by fusion splicing a short section of hollow optical fiber (HOF) to the end of single-mode fiber (SMF) and sandwiching a section of HOF in between two sections of SMF, respectively. In both interferometers, a small lateral offset is introduced to induce the optical path difference required to form the interferometer. Temperature responses of both types of interferometers are studied experimentally. It is anticipated that such easy making, compact and low-cost fiber-optic interferometers could find important applications in practice.     

Slow light Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer

A slow light structure Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer is theoretically demonstrated. The sensitivity of the interferometer is significantly enhanced by the dispersion of the slow light structure. The numerical results show that the sensitivity enhancement factor varies with the coupling coefficient and reaches its maximum under critical coupling conditions.     

光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪系统

介绍了光纤Mach-Zehnder(MZ)干涉仪系统的结构.给出了光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪系统中信号光与参考光的干涉原理以及影响干涉光强的因素.同时也分析了光纤耦合器的交叉耦合,另外也给出了PZT的作用.阐述了光纤偏振控制器的结构、工作原理及其对光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪系统传感臂偏振态的控制,最后给出了光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪系统的应用.     

Demonstration of displacement- and frequency-noise-free laser interferometry using bidirectional Mach-Zehnder interferometers

We have demonstrated displacement- and frequency-noise-free laser interferometry (DFI) by partially implementing a recently proposed optical configuration using bidirectional Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs). This partial implementation, the minimum necessary to be called DFI, has confirmed the essential feature of DFI: the combination of two MZI signals can be carried out in a way that cancels displacement noise of the mirrors while maintaining gravitational-wave signals. The attained maximum displacement-noise suppression was 45 dB.     

Silicon-on-insulator eight-channel optical multiplexer based on a cascade of asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers

A monolithically integrated eight-channel optical multiplexer (Mux) with a 400 GHz channel spacing ~1550 nm is presented based on a silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide and an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer. All channels were optimized independently with integrated heaters. The fully tuned Mux shows an adjacent channel isolation of ~13 dB, an excess loss of ~2.6 dB, and a channel uniformity of ~1.5 dB over a 25 nm wavelength span. In addition, the phase tuning efficiency for different interlevel dielectric layer thicknesses and thermal crosstalk were investigated.     

Impulse sensing with optical fiber interferometers

A method is proposed for using optical fiber interferometers to detect single energy impulses of very short time duration. The interferometer is used to measure the periodic strains induced in a mass that is shock-excited into mechanical oscillation by an energy impulse. This technique is demonstrated using an optical fiber ring resonator to measure the energy content of current pulses with durations in the microsecond range.     

Impulse sensing with optical fiber interferometers

A method is proposed for using optical fiber interferometers to detect single energy impulses of very short time duration. The interferometer is used to measure the periodic strains induced in a mass that is shock-excited into mechanical oscillation by an energy impulse. This technique is demonstrated using an optical fiber ring resonator to measure the energy content of current pulses with durations in the microsecond range.     

Fano resonance-based electrically reconfigurable add-drop filters in silicon microring resonator-coupled Mach-Zehnder interferometers

We report a Fano resonance-based electrically reconfigurable add-drop filter using a microring resonator-coupled Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) on a silicon substrate. Our experiments reveal a pair of complementary Fano resonance line shapes that can be electrically tuned and output coupled from the MZI output ports. A near symmetrical resonance peak can be flipped to a near symmetrical resonance dip by applying a forward-bias voltage of less than 1V across a laterally integrated p-i-n diode in the MZI non-resonator-coupled arm. Our scattering-matrix-based modeling shows good agreement with the experiments and indicates ways to enhance the resonance routing functionality. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of an integrated reconfigurable add-drop filter with actively interchangeable throughput and drop ports.     

Method of the balancing of Mach-Zehnder fiber-optic interferometers in single-pass quantum cryptography

A distributed balancing method for single-pass quantum cryptographic systems with phase encoding has been proposed. This method allows completely automated balancing, is quite universal, and can be used in other optical experiments.     

A flattop PLC polymer waveguide interleaver based on folded two-stage-cascaded Y-junction Mach-Zehnder interferometers

We demonstrate realization of a flattop Y-Junction Planar Optical Waveguide Interleaver (YJPOWI) with a channel spacing of 100 GHz through a novel scheme of folded cascaded two-stage unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI) fabricated on a polymer Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC) platform. The characteristic 0.5 dB passbands of the interleaver centered at ITU wavelength grids at its two output ports were 50 and 45 GHz, respectively. The operating bandwidth of the device spanned the entire C band of a fiber amplifier and it is compact in size (1.3 × 1.4 cm²). In addition, the device is easy to fabricate and do not require any individual heater to trim its performance.     

Optical bistability in tunable fiber laser using fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

In this letter, a novel mechanism of hybrid optical bistability is proposed by using nonlinear mechanism in the frequency domain. This device is based on electro-optical feedback through the fiber Bragg grating on piezoelectric transducer (PZT) to tune continuous wave (CW) fiber laser. The optical bistable characteristics for two manners of separately alternating input power and bias voltage are discussed. The smallest wavelength shift of the order of 0.001 nm needed to realize a switching process in this optical bistability device is estimated. The potential applications of this device in the optical fiber sensor technique are also discussed.     

The integrated prism interpretation of multileg Mach-Zehnder interferometers based on multimode interference couplers

To simplify the driving conditions as well as to improve the wavelength response of multileg Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI) based on multimode interference (MMI) couplers we develop a new interpretation of these devices. Used for optical switching and for wavelength filtering, they are shown to work as active or passive integrated prisms. This analogy greatly facilitates the design of such components and simplifies the understanding of their functionality. The driving conditions of optical switches based on such multileg MZI are easility studied and will be reduced to basic active phase shifts. For wavelength filtering applications using such elements, a new design of the phased waveguide array is proposed which improves the characteristics of the filters.