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.     

Hydrophobic photonic crystal fibers

We propose and demonstrate hydrophobic photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). A chemical surface treatment for making PCFs hydrophobic is introduced. This repels water from the holes of PCFs, so that their optical properties remain unchanged even when they are immersed in water. The combination of a hollow core and a water-repellent inner surface of the hydrophobic PCF provides an ultracompact dissolved-gas sensor element, which is demonstrated for the sensing of dissolved ammonia gas.     

光子晶体光纤模场直径增加方法

通过加热光子晶体光纤,其包层中空气孔由于表面张力的作用而塌缩减小。理论和实验结果表明,空气孔的塌缩在满足波导的渐变条件下,引入的能量损耗非常小。空气孔的塌缩减小,可以有效地增加光子晶体光纤的模场直径,从而不仅可以提高光耦合的效率和光纤端面的损伤阈值,而且可以降低与其它模场直径不匹配的普通光纤的熔接损耗。     

用阶跃有效折射率模型研究光子晶体光纤色散特性

在采用阶跃有效折射率模型研究光子晶体光纤的可行性方面，提出了将普通单模光纤、色散位移光纤、色散平坦光纤作为一定极限条件下的折射率引导型光子晶体光纤特例的观点.通过编程计算，并与文献报道的实验数据对比，表明应用本模型可以揭示光子晶体光纤所具有的奇异的色散机理.特别是应用本模型具有更快的计算速度.还用本模型分析了空气孔直径、周期及芯径对色散特性的影响. 关键词： 折射率引导型光子晶体光纤 阶跃有效折射率模型 色散     

Single-body lensed photonic crystal fibers as side-viewing probes for optical imaging systems

We report the fabrication and performance of a lensed photonic crystal fiber (PCF) designed as a compact but effective side-viewing optical imaging probe. The lensed-PCF probe was implemented in a single body without using any other fibers or additional optics. The beam expansion region and a focusing ball lens, necessary for a focuser, were simultaneously formed along a small piece of PCF by applying arc discharges. The side-viewing ability was provided by polishing the ball lens with a femtosecond laser to form a total internal reflection surface. The working distance and the transverse resolution of the fabricated single-body lensed-PCF were experimentally measured to be 570 and 6.8 microm, respectively. With the proposed lensed-PCF probe, optical coherence tomography images of an in vitro biological sample were successfully obtained.     

Applications of Nonlinear Effects in Highly Nonlinear Photonic Crystal Fiber to Optical Communications

Unique dispersion characteristics and enhanced nonlinearity make the small-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) an ideal candidate for nonlinear optical devices to telecommunication applications. Some technical reasons behind great research interest of highly nonlinear PCFs in optical communication components are reviewed. Nonlinear effects in highly nonlinear PCFs and their research progress are presented. Several typical applications including WDM sources, optical amplification, optical switching, wavelength conversion, optical regeneration and all-optical demultiplexing etc are introduced, together with state-of-the art performances. Some new possible applications and future prospects are discussed.     

Bending insensitive large mode area photonic crystal fiber

A novel kind of large mode area photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are proposed in this paper. In order to achieve large effective mode area, a novel technique is applied to seven missing air hole PCF structures. The modal characteristics of PCF structures such as effective mode area, confinement loss, chromatic dispersion properties with doped cores, are investigated by employing the full vectorial finite element method (FEM). Simulation results demonstrate that effective mode area and confinement losses of fundamental mode simultaneously improved by applying our novel technique to proposed structures. The effects of bending on confinement losses of the proposed PCFs have been thoroughly investigated. Additionally, confinement losses of first higher order modes are presented and the possibility of stripping them in a simple way is discussed.     

Stimulated Brillouin scattering by the interaction between different-order optical and acoustical modes in an As_2Se_3 photonic crystal fiber

Brillouin gain spectra(BGS)in an As2Se3 photonic crystal fiber(PCF)are investigated numerically.The profiles of the BGS are simulated by calculating the characteristics of different-order optical and acoustic waves in the PCFs with different core diameters.For the small-core PCF,there are two peaks in BGS,but there is only one peak for the large-core PCF.We also reveal that in the small-core PCF,the difference of Brillouin frequency shift between the LP01 and LP11 modes is obvious,while it is not obvious in the large-core PCF.The Brillouin threshold increases with the core diameter increasing.     

一种阶梯结构的色散平坦光子晶体光纤的研究

以多极法理论为基础,提出了一种阶梯结构的光子晶体光纤.通过改变其内四层的三个结构参量(内两层孔孔径,外两层孔孔径和孔间距),实现色散绝对值在1.1～1.8μm的波段内变化仅为0.05～2 ps/(km·nm)的平坦甚至超平坦的特性.在此情况下对其有效模场面积进行数值模拟,充分展示了达到色散平坦和超平坦时,相对于传统光子晶体光纤,此种结构的光纤对芯区内光场的局域能力有很大程度的增强,其有效模场面积可仅为传统光子晶体光纤的1/30.最后,经过大量的数值计算和理论分析,归纳出若要此种阶梯结构的光纤在1.1～1.8μm的波段内达到色散平坦甚至超平坦特性的设计依据.     

Octave-spanning supercontinuum generation of vortices in an As2S3 ring photonic crystal fiber

We propose As(2)S(3) ring photonic crystal fiber (PCF) for supercontinuum generation of optical vortex modes. Due to the large material index contrast between As(2)S(3) and air holes in the designed ring PCF, there is a two-orders-of-magnitude improvement of the difference between the effective refractive indices of different vortex modes compared with regular ring fiber. The design freedom of PCFs enables a low dispersion (<60 ps/nm/km variation in total) over a 522 nm optical bandwidth. Moreover, the vortex mode has a large nonlinear coefficient of 11.7/W/m at 1550 nm with a small confinement loss of <0.03 dB/m up to 2000 nm. An octave-spanning supercontinuum spectrum of the vortex mode is generated from 1196 to 2418 nm at -20 dB by launching a 120 fs pulse with a 60 W peak power at 1710 nm into a 1 cm long As(2)S(3) ring PCF.     

Synthesis of dispersion-compensating triangular lattice index-guiding photonic crystal fibres using the directed tabu search method

In this paper, triangular lattice index-guiding photonic crystal fibres (PCFs) are synthesized to compensate the chromatic dispersion of a single mode fibre (SMF-28) for an 80 km optical link operating at 1.55 μm, by using a directed tabu search algorithm. Hole-to-hole distance, circular air-hole diameter, solid-core diameter, ring number and PCF length parameters are optimized for this purpose. Three synthesized PCFs with different physical parameters are compared in terms of their objective functions values, residual dispersions, compensation ratios and confinement losses.     

Photopolymer microtips for efficient light coupling between single-mode fibers and photonic crystal fibers

A novel method for light coupling between single-mode fibers (SMFs) and small-core photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) is demonstrated. The method is based on growing photopolymer microtips directly on the end faces of SMFs. The shape and size of the tips can be controlled by adjusting the laser power and the exposure time for polymerization to match the mode field to the small-core PCFs. A 5 dB improvement in coupling efficiency between a SMF and a commercial small-core, highly nonlinear PCF is experimentally demonstrated. This compact and efficient butt-coupling method is particularly suitable for PCF gas sensor applications.     

Raman-resonance-enhanced composite nonlinearity of air-guided modes in hollow photonic-crystal fibers

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) is used to measure relations between the resonant (Raman) and nonresonant (Kerr-type) optical nonlinearities of air-guided modes in a hollow-core photonic-crystal fiber (PCF). We demonstrate that, due to its interference nature, CARS provides a convenient tool for measuring the contribution of the fiber cladding to the total nonlinearity sensed by air-guided modes in hollow PCFs. On a Raman resonance with molecular vibrations in the gas that fills the fiber core, a two-color laser field is shown to induce optical nonlinearities that are several orders of magnitude higher than the nonresonant Kerr-type nonlinearities typical of air-guided PCF modes.     

Structural analysis of photonic crystal fibers by side scattering of laser light

A side-scattering technique for investigating the inner microstructure of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) is reported. Multiple scattering is reduced by filling the hollow PCF channels with index-matching fluid. The scattered signal is measured for fixed angles of incidence and detection while the fiber is rotated. A pattern of peaks, unique to each PCF, whether solid or hollow core, correlates closely with the symmetry planes of the PCF structure. As an example of the technique, the twist profile of a structural rocking filter is directly measured.     

Analytical evaluation of bending loss oscillations in photonic crystal fibers

In this paper we present an analytical formula for bending loss oscillations in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). We follow the approach originally adopted for conventional double-clad fibers and show that it can be applied to PCFs by substituting the structural parameters of the conventional fiber by their PCF counterparts. We then examine the spectral dependence of the critical bending radius and the position of the first order loss peak as a function of structural parameters of the PCF cladding such as the fill factor and the number of hole rings. Finally, we evaluate the precision of the analytical model by comparing the results to finite element calculations for a selection of PCF geometries.     

Soliton dynamics of megawatt ultrashort light pulses in a hollow photonic-crystal fiber: Effect of high-order dispersion and retarded nonlinearity

The properties of megawatt optical solitons in hollow photonic-crystal fibers (PCFs) are studied. We demonstrate regimes where high-power laser pulses can be compressed to a few cycles of light field and identify the main tendencies in the soliton dynamics of ultrashort laser pulses in hollow PCFs originating from dispersion properties and limited transmission band of such waveguides. The influence of retarded nonlinearity on the soliton dynamics of high-power laser pulses in a hollow PCF is analyzed. In a multisoliton regime, retarded nonlinearity and high-order dispersion are shown to result in the formation of high-power pulses displaying no oscillations of their temporal envelope, which would be typical of standard high-order solitons.     

Selective opening of airholes in photonic crystal fiber

We introduce a femtosecond-laser-based technique for selective opening of airholes in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). With this technique, selective filling and inflation of the airholes in the PCF cladding are demonstrated. The technique may find important applications in tailoring or altering PCF characteristics and make it possible to seamlessly integrate various components/functions into PCFs.     

Dispersion and nonlinear phase-shift compensation in high-peak-power short-pulse fiber laser sources using photonic-crystal fibers

Photonic-crystal fibers (PCFs) with a specifically designed dispersion profile and nonlinearity are shown to enable an accurate broadband compensation of the stretcher-compressor dispersion in fiber laser sources of high-peak-power ultrashort light pulses. We demonstrate that the nonlinear phase shift in such systems can partially compensate for the fourth-order dispersion, allowing the stretcher—compression group delay to be compensated up to the fourth-order dispersion terms by using a sequence of only two fibers—a standard optical fiber and a PCF.     

Soliton-induced supercontinuum generation in liquid-filled photonic crystal fibre

We aim to study the nonlinear optical phenomena with ultra-broadband radiation in photonic crystal fibre (PCF). While PCFs with cores made from different glasses are well studied in previous works, in this paper, it is planned to investigate the dynamics of nonlinear processes of supercontinuum generation (SCG) in liquid-filled PCF (LCPCF) to understand the physical phenomena of femtosecond pulse propagation, particularly, the temporal and spectral changes of the pulse propagating through specific PCFs. Since the CS₂-filled LCPCF has complex nonlinear phenomena, we intend to analyse the role of saturable nonlinear response and slow nonlinear response on SCG in detail. For the physical explanation, soliton fission and modulational instability techniques will be implemented to investigate the impact of slow nonlinear response and saturable nonlinear response respectively, in SCG process.     

Fusion splicing small-core photonic crystal fibers and single-mode fibers by repeated arc discharges

We demonstrate a novel method for low-loss splicing small-core photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) and single-mode fibers (SMFs) by repeated arc discharges using a conventional fusion splicer. An optimum mode field match at the interface of PCF-SMF and an adiabatic mode field variation in the longitudinal direction of the small-core PCF can be achieved by repeated arc discharges applied over the splicing joint to gradually collapse the air holes of the small-core PCF. This method is simple and offers a practical solution for light coupling between small-core PCFs and SMFs.