Micro-displacement or bending measurement using a long-period fibre grating in a self-referenced fibre optic intensity sensor

The measurement of micro-displacement or bending using a long-period fibre grating (LPG) in a self-referenced fibre optic intensity sensor is presented. The sensing head is based on a LPG whose attenuation peak changes as a function of its micro-displacement or bending and the fibre optic intensity sensor is referenced in frequency. Two other LPGs were used as rejection filters, located at the output of the optical source to shorten its spectral width. The implemented experimental set-up is described and, the results are presented being considered the measurement range and the intrinsic resolution.     

Temperature-stable polished fibre-optic coupler

One possible way to prepare a compact and temperature stable polished-type optical fibre coupler (OFC) from different kinds of single-mode fibres with different profiles is demonstrated. The proposed technology enables one to prepare an OFC with high reproducibility and stability of its parameters. The experimental characteristics of the glued OFC are presented and compared with theoretical ones.     

Erbium-doped twin-core fibre narrow-band filter for fibre lasers

Theoretical analysis of a recently experimentally demonstrated erbium-doped twin-core (ErTCF) fibre saturable-absorber-based narrow-band tracking filter is presented. Basic qualitative characteristics of the filter are deduced from an analogy with an ideally inhomogeneously broadened saturable absorber while the effect of wide band saturation of absorption due to spatial overlap of individual spectral components of the radiation is studied in detail using a numerical model based on coupled mode theory, resolved in space and frequency. The effect of the input power, twin-core fibre length and laser operating wavelength on the spectral characteristics of the filter is investigated.     

Theoretical study and optimization of a high power mid-infrared erbium-doped ZBLAN fibre laser

Based on the rate equations describing the erbium-doped fluoride glass(ZBLAN) fibre lasers with different pumping configurations being taken into account,this paper presents theoretical calculations related to the dynamic population density and the operation performance of a high power mid-infrared all-fibre erbium-doped ZBLAN fibre laser.It shows that the ground-state absorption,excited-state absorption and energy-transfer-upconversion processes co-exist and produce a population balance,causing the laser to operate stably at a continuous wave state.A good agreement between the theoretical results and recent experimental measurement is obtained.Furthermore,the laser structure parameters including fibre length,reflectance of output fibre Bragg grating and pumping configurations are quantitatively optimised to achieve the best performance.The results show,as expected,that the slope efficiency of the fibre laser can be improved significantly through optimisation,which then provides an important guide for the design of high-performance mid-infrared erbium-doped ZBLAN fibre lasers.     

Optical microfiber passive components

Optical microfiber waveguides with diameters close to the wavelength of light possess an intriguing combination of properties, such a tight modal confinement, tailorable dispersion, and high nonlinearity, which have been utilized in many passive applications. Here, the key fabrication techniques and optical properties of microfibers are introduced, followed by a discussion of the various passive microfiber devices and sensors. Applications exploiting their strong confinement are reviewed, including harmonic generation, supercontinuum sources, gratings, tips for optical trapping and intracellular sensing and subwavelength light sources, as well as devices based on large evanescent fields such as couplers, interferometers, optical manipulators, sensors, and resonators. Furthermore, the properties and practical intricacies of manufacturing various microfiber resonators are evaluated, with a focus on their applications in sensing ranging from temperature monitoring to current, pressure, refractive index and chemicals detection.     

Tm:Ho co-doped single mode optical fibre laser pumped by a 1600 nm Er fibre laser

An all-fibre Tm:Ho laser system is reported, using a 1600 nm Er fibre pump laser and 0.3 m length of the fibre through a two-stage optimization of both the pump source and laser configuration to achieve a low threshold operation. As a result a low threshold power of 33 mW and a slope efficiency of 0.6% have been achieved, in laser operation at a wavelength of 1870 nm and a cross-comparison with 785 nm laser diode pumping has been made.     

波长间隔可调的可开关双波长掺铒光纤激光器

对两种波长间隔可调的可开关双波长掺铒光纤激光器结构进行了实验研究。一种结构应用保偏光纤中布拉格光栅作为波长选择器件，另一种结构则利用侧向压力下的常规单模光纤光栅作为波长选择器件。两种结构均利用了光纤光栅的双折射特性。在室温下，通过调整偏振控制器的状态可使两激光器工作在稳定的双波长状态或在两单波长之间转换。通过改变加在光纤光栅上侧向应力的大小和方向，可有效控制双波长激射的波长间隔。     

10-GHz Optical Comb in L-Band Region With Brillouin/Erbium-Doped Fibre Laser

A multiwavelength Brillouin/erbium fibre laser (BEFL) which operates in the long wavelength (L-band) region is demonstrated for potential applications in an L-band wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) communication system. The laser configuration consists of a long erbium-doped fibre to enable L-band amplification where two 3-dB couplers take a portion of the generated BEFL signal and re-inject it into the single mode fibre to seed a cascaded BEFL line in the same direction as the first BEFL line. A stable and strong laser comb of up to five lines with 10-GHz spacing has been obtained with a Brillouin pump (BP) of 9.2 mW and a 980 nm pump of 92 mW. The BEFL has shown a broad tuning range with a tuning characteristic for line #1 which is flat over a range greater than 9.9 nm.     

金属包层单模光纤偏振器的分析

给出计算金属包层单模光纤偏振器中两种正交偏振模式的损耗系数，偏振器的消光比与插入损耗的微扰分析方法。本法计算较简便，且能分析光纤芯区被部分刻蚀的情况，此情况的分析尚未报道。其计算结果与实验结果符合。     

Numerical modelling and experimental investigation of double-cladding erbium–ytterbium-doped fibre amplifiers

A comprehensive model for characterising double-cladding erbium–ytterbium-doped fibre amplifiers (EYDFAs) is proposed and experimentally verified for the first time to our knowledge. The model is based on rate and propagation equations in a homogeneous two-level active medium and takes into account the modified pump absorption arising from the double-cladding structure and the presence of ytterbium ions. The influence of the cladding pumping scheme on the multimode pump absorption, radial population inversion and the amplified spontaneous emission are also modelled. The numerical mode is capable to predict amplifier gain, output spectra, gain saturation and amplifier noise. The model has been fully validated in a large number of operating conditions and a fairly good agreement is obtained between the experimental data and the numerical simulations over a wide range of input parameters.     

High power tandem pumping fibre amplifier

We demonstrate a high efficiency 1083 nm fibre amplifier tandem pumped by a 1030 nm fibre laser. The 1030 nm fibre laser is coupled into a 25 m long single clad ytterbium doped fibre via a high power wave division multiplexer to core pump the 1083 nm signal laser. An output power of 4.5 W and a power conversion efficiency of 76.6% are achieved without power-roll. The performance of the amplifier can be improved by optimizing the gain fibre length.     

Comprehensive research on self phase modulation based optical delay systems

This paper comprehensively investigates the properties of self phase modulation based optical delay systems consisting of dispersion compensation fibre and highly nonlinear fibres.It researches into the impacts of power level launched into highly nonlinear fibres,conversion wavelength,dispersion slope,modulation format and optical filter bandwidth on the overall performance of optical delay systems.The results reveal that,if the power launched into highly nonlinear fibres is fixed,the time delay generally varies linearly with the conversion wavelength,but jumps intermittently at some conversion wavelengths.However,the time delay varies semi-periodically with the power launched into highly nonlinear fibres.The dispersion slope of highly nonlinear fibres has significant influence on the time delay,especially for the negative dispersion slope.The time delay differs with modulation formats due to the different combined interaction of nonlinearity and dispersion in fibres.The bandwidth of the optical filters also greatly affects the time delay because it determines the bandwidth of the passed signal in the self phase modulation based time delay systems.The output signal quality of the overall time delay systems depends on the conversion wavelength and input power level.The optimisation of the power level and conversion wavelength to provide the best output signal quality is made at the end of this paper.     

Three-dimensional optical profilometry using a four-core optical fibre

This paper describes the use of a four-core optical fibre for measurements of three-dimensional rigid-body shapes. A fringe pattern, which is generated by interference of four wavefronts emitted from the four-core optical fibre, is projected on an object's surface. The deformed fringe pattern containing information of the object's surface topography is captured by a digital CCD camera and is analysed using a two-dimensional Fourier transform profilometry. It is demonstrated for the first time that the use of such a four-core optical fibre increases the compactness and the stability of the fringe projection system.     

Investigation of the long-term stability of arc-induced gratings heat treated at high temperatures

A long-period grating written in the SMF-28 fibre was heat treated at 1000 °C for 15 days. The spectrum of the grating shifted to longer wavelengths and the resonances depth decreased as a result of structural relaxation. The background loss increased considerably for times longer than 200 h, and this loss is caused by devitrification of the fibre.     

Operation of Tm3+ fiber laser at λ = 2.3 μm coupled to a silica fiber Bragg grating

A wavelength tunable all fibre laser which utilizes Tm³⁺-doped fluoride fibre as a gain mechanism emitting around a wavelength of = 2.3 m is reported. Tm³⁺-doped fluoride fibre was coupled to a fibre Bragg grating inscribed in silica. This laser was evaluated by employing it as a wavelength tunable source in a methane gas optical sensor. A minimum gas detectivity of 100 ppm m limited by the ability to prepare low concentrations of gases was achieved. Emission wavelength control was implemented by thermally tuning the grating, although this method may prove to be too slow and cumbersome for practical use. A model describing the coupling between the silica fibre Bragg grating and the Tm³⁺-doped fibre was developed and integrated with a fibre laser model. This theoretical framework was used to examine the optimum silica and fluoride fibre parameters to achieve the maximum coupling between the fibres, with the aim of further reducing the fibre laser threshold.     

Design and fabrication of Panda-type erbium-doped polarization-maintaining fibres

To obtain the stable operation of erbium-doped fibre laser, the simple and ideal technology is adopted by use of the erbium doped polarization maintaining fibre (EDPMF). The design criteria of the Panda-type EDPMF are presented, which take into account the cutoff wavelength, mode field diameter, modal birefringence and background loss. Four groups of optimum structural parameter combinations are determined in terms of the design criteria. Two kinds of the Panda-type EDPMFs are selected to be fabricated. The fabrication process and the parameter control of the Panda-type EDPMFs are presented in detail. Their refractive index profiles, birefringence and absorption spectra are experimentally investigated. The absorption coefficient of the EDPMF, whose core is co-doped with Bi, Ga, Al and Ge, is about 57.9dB/m at 1.53\mum. Co-doping Bi, Ga and Al can greatly increase the erbium concentration in the silica-based fibre. The high birefringence is obtained for the Panda-type EDPMF. The group birefringence of the EDPMF, whose outer cladding diameter is 125\mum, is about 4.8\ti10^-4.     

Mechanism and elimination of spectrum filtering in a high power mode-locked fibre laser witha free output coupler

The filtering mechanism of a free output coupler mode-locked laser based on large-mode-area photonic-crystal fibre is analysed. A filtering-soliton mode-locked laser with 495~fs pulse width and 21 nJ pulse energy is achieved. Another novel cavity configuration is established to eliminate the filtering effect. Pulses, each 457~fs in width and 16.5 nJ in energy, are obtained in a soliton-like regime. Pulses, each 387~fs in width and 15.8 nJ in energy, are also generated in a stretched pulse regime and could be dechirped to 119~fs externally to the cavity.     

A Coating Process For Multi-Point Luminescent Clad Fibre Optic Sensors

A fabrication process for distributed multi-point fibre optic sensors based on cladding luminescence is presented. Fibres which have had their cladding removed are coated using a rig which pneumatically dispenses an epoxy phosphor mixture whilst the syringe is being moved axially along the length of the rotating fibre. The new coatings have uniform thickness on the fibre both radially and axially as well as having the same dopant density throughout the coating. A cross-sectional micrograph of a coated fibre is shown as well as the thickness distribution along the fibre.     

通过外加应变于高双折射环镜实现掺铒光纤激光器的输出功率控制

本文提出一种基于外加应力于高双折射环镜的输出功率可调控的掺铒光纤激光器新颖结构。通过将高双折射光纤环镜中的部分双折射光纤粘贴于一个等强度梁的中性面上，在梁尾端作用不同的应力，由于双折射光纤的长度和双折射的改变可使环镜的反射率从0.8%变化到100%。以该环镜作为线形腔光纤激光器的输出腔镜，实现了动态范围达33dB的输出功率可调控的掺铒光纤激光器。该激光器不仅具有结构简单、成本低廉的优点，而且利用该机理可以很容易的找出最优腔镜反射率，从而使线形腔光纤激光器的输出性能实现最优化。     

Physico-chemical characterization of the fibre/matrix interaction in polyethylene fibre/epoxy matrix composites

The interphase in polyethylene fibre/epoxy matrix composites is studied with FT-IR microspectroscopy using a set-up to investigate the matrix as close to the fibre as a few μm or less. It is shown that moisture present on the fibre surface is able to influence the polymerization reaction of the epoxy/anhydride matrix in an irreversible manner. This effect is enhanced for composites from the more hydrophilic polyvinylalcohol fibre. The fibre/matrix interaction in these thermoplastic fibre composites is also studied with DSC through the characterization of the fibre melting. A decreased 'DSC interaction parameter' is found if the composition of the interphase is changed by moisture. For a composite with an epoxy/amine matrix, on the other hand, the DSC interaction parameter is unaffected by moisture from the fibre surface.