Fabrication of long-period fiber gratings by focused irradiation of infrared femtosecond laser pulses

We have fabricated long-period fiber gratings by use of a novel technique using focused irradiation of infrared femtosecond laser pulses. We investigate the thermal stability of the fabricated fiber gratings. The values of the loss peak wavelength and the transmittance of the fiber gratings after heat treatment below 500 degrees C are the same as initial values before heat treatment. The fiber gratings that were fabricated by this technique have a high resistance to thermal decay. We propose that this technique will be useful for fabrication of fiber gratings with a superior aging characteristic.     

Rewritable densification gratings in boron-doped fibers

We show that the strength of long-period gratings recorded in boron-doped fibers by CO2 radiation can be significantly enhanced by a uniform pre-exposure by the same laser. The resultant gratings could be erased by a similar uniform exposure and then recorded again multiple times with no loss of fiber sensitivity. We suggest that such gratings are formed by reversible densification of the fiber core. These densification gratings have higher thermal stability than gratings written with ultraviolet light.     

Control of light transmission in laser-written phase-shifted Bragg grating couplers

We demonstrate the fabrication by direct laser writing and the operation of a directional coupler containing Bragg gratings in each waveguide. We achieve high-precision control over the longitudinal shift between the gratings, which feature first-order Bragg resonance at telecommunication wavelengths. We observe fundamental differences between light transmission characteristics in couplers with unshifted and shifted gratings in agreement with theoretical predictions.     

X-ray Bragg diffraction on periodic surface gratings

We report on the X-ray Bragg diffraction analysis of periodic surface gratings on (100) GaAs crystals. We show that the X-ray Bragg diffraction is a very powerful method to investigate ultrafine surface gratings and allow us to determine not only the grating period but, in particular, the width of the grooves and to characterize the quality of the sidewalls, which is not easily possible with optical methods. The X-ray diffraction on surface crystal gratings is analogue to the Fraunhofer diffraction of multiple slits or reflection gratings.     

Efficient iterative technique for designing Bragg gratings

We present a new iterative method for designing Bragg gratings based on the Levenberg-Marquardt method of minimizing a chi-squared merit function. It is effective for designing both weak and strong gratings and is particularly well suited for unchirped gratings.     

Electrical characteristics of the waveguide grating system

Electromagnetic wave propagation is conside-red through a waveguide system consisting of arbitrary number of short-period gratings (i.e. whose period is much shorter than the wave-length). We assume that gratings are formed by ideal conductors having arbitrary cross-section. In order to "stitch" together the fields on gratings, equivalent boundary conditions are used.We have analyzed and studied experimentally the electrical characteristics of an adjustable frequency filter. The filter consists of three short-period gratings formed by conductors with circular cross-section.Experimental results are in good agreement with theory.     

Observation of type I and type II gratings behavior in polymer optical fiber

We report the first observation of type I and type II fiber grating behaviors in making polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings. Our observation reveals that there are two distinctive stages in the fabrication of polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings. Notably the two stages of grating formation correspond to low and high-index modulation gratings, which match well with those in silica fiber grating fabrication. Thus we refer them as type I and type II polymer fiber gratings, following the same nomenclatures for different types of silica fiber gratings. In addition, the characteristics and formation mechanism for type I and type II polymer fiber gratings are also examined.     

Equalization of Erbium Gain Spectrum Using the Multiport Lattice Filter

We propose an accurate modeling technique of concatenated long-period fiber gratings. The proposed technique is then applied to the synthesis of long-period fiber gratings for the erbium gain equalization using the simulated annealing and the steepest descent minimization technique. We have obtained design parameters of the piecewise-uniform long-period fiber gratings that fit the inverted erbium gain spectrum of a commercially available erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) over the entire 1525 nm to 1570 nm range.     

Some studies on the behaviour of surface impedance in the vicinity of gratings

We use the rigorous electromagnetic theories of gratings we have previously developped to study the behaviour of the surface impedance when different parameters are varied. This behaviour is studied far and near anomalies, for perfectly conducting gratings as well as for gratings with finite conductivity. Conclusions are given concerning the validity of the surface impedance method.     

Bragg grating fabrication in germanosilicate fibers by use of near-UV light: a new pathway for refractive-index changes

Using 334-nm light, we demonstrate side writing of Bragg gratings with an index change of ~10(-4) in germanium-doped fibers. No hydrogen loading of the fibers was required. These gratings have the same temperature stability as gratings fabricated with 240-nm light. Our results suggest that photoionization is not needed for formation of gratings in Ge-doped glass. We observe an enhancement of the 334-nm photosensitivity in boron-codoped fibers and suggest that B facilitates a structural transformation of the glass.     

73-nm tuning of a double-clad Yb<Superscript>3+</Superscript>-doped fiber laser based on a hybrid array

We report on a wide wavelength tuning in a double-clad ytterbium-doped fiber laser. The laser cavity consists of an array of broadband high-reflection fiber Bragg gratings and a bulk grating as the output coupler and wavelength selection element. The proposed fiber laser configuration combines a low intracavity loss of the fiber Bragg grating mirrors with a wide wavelength tuning of the bulk gratings. We demonstrate a >70-nm wavelength tuning range, limited only by the available fiber Bragg gratings.     

Fiber Bragg gratings for dispersion compensation in optical communication systems

This paper presents an overview of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) fabrication principles and applications with emphasis on the chirped FBG used for dispersion compensation in high-speed optical communication systems. We discuss the range of FBG parameters enabled by current fabrication methods, as well as the relation between the accuracy of FBG parameters and the performance of FBG-based dispersion compensators. We describe the theory of the group delay ripple (GDR) generated by apodized chirped fiber gratings using the analogy between noisy gratings and superstructure Bragg gratings. This analysis predicts the fundamental cutoff of the high frequency spatial noise of grating parameters in excellent agreement with the experimental data. We review the iterative GDR correction technique, which further improves the FBG quality and potentially enables consistent fabrication of FBG-based dispersion compensators and tunable dispersion compensators with unprecedented performance.     

Angular Multiplexing Gratings Characterization in Dichromated Gelatin and Thoughts on Diffractive Optical Memory

We were mainly concerned here with multiple exposure gratings that allow interactions and coupling between gratings. We started the study of interactions and coupling with five gratings recorded in dichromated gelatin (DCG). Having determined experimentally the characteristic parameters of these five gratings, we used a method developed by Oxford University to synthesize the modulation profile. Entering these parameters of each grating into our computing programs (based on the alternative theory of diffraction in modulated media) and by varying the amplitude modulation, the latter was deduced by adjusting the numerical curve to the experimental one. We then extended the study to nine multiplexed gratings. This study allowed us to know the range of the amplitude modulation such that a certain number of angular multiplexing can be done in DCG. Several undesirable effects which we had experimentally observed appeared then during the reconstruction of any one of the multiplexed images, such as cross-talk effect. We noted the good concordance between experimental and theoretical results. We finally illustrated cross-talk effect in a diffractive memory where, if the amplitude modulation was first calculated, the number of multiplexing for an angular range could then be determined and the angular separation achieved to avoid cross-talk.     

Polarization conversion from highly conducting holographic gratings with asymmetric profile

We use a rigorous electromagnetic code to investigate the differences between the zeroth-order cross-polarization reflection coefficients in highly conducting metallic gratings with asymmetric profile. This study results of interest from a practical point of view due to its possible applications as a technique to detect gratings asymmetries. Numerical results in holographic gratings made of gold with asymmetric profiles are presented.     

Spectral polarization-dependent loss of cascaded long-period fiber gratings

We have measured the spectral polarization-dependent losses of cascaded long-period fiber gratings composed of single, double, and triple identical gratings and fabricated by exposure of a UV laser beam on one side of a fiber. The measurement was made by use of the Mueller matrix method for scanning the wavelength of the incident beam. The polarization-dependent loss was dramatically increased as the number of cascaded gratings was increased. The formation of the UV-induced geometric birefringence in the fiber grating and its relationship to the fine interference fringes formed by cascading gratings are discussed.     

Fabrication of planar gratings by direct ablation using an ultrashort pulse laser in a common optical path configuration

Planar gratings have wide applications and to date, many methods for the fabrication of gratings have been reported. Ultrashort pulse lasers have been used for the machining of gratings primarily because they allow direct ablation and the manufacturing of sub-wavelength structures. In this paper, we present a novel direct ablation technique for the fabrication of planar gratings which makes use of the interference of ultrashort pulses in a common optical path configuration. This technique of grating fabrication not only simplifies the optical setup, but also immunizes the system to extraneous and inherent vibrations, thus enabling the manufacturing of planar gratings of good edge acuity. We have successfully fabricated planar gratings on a copper substrate. Received: 6 November 2001 / Accepted: 4 March 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +65/77-904-674, E-mail: mvenkata@ntu.edu.sg     

Realization of quantum efficiency enhanced PIN photodetector by assembling resonant waveguide grating

We demonstrate an InP/InGaAs PIN photodetector with enhanced quantum efficiency by assembling silicon resonant waveguide gratings for the application of polarization sensitive systems. The measured results show that quantum efficiency of the photodetector with silicon resonant waveguide gratings can be increased by 31.6% compared with that without silicon resonant waveguide gratings at the wavelength range of 1500 to 1600 nm for TE-polarization.     

Temperature tunable optical gratings in nematic elastomer

We have investigated the behaviour of temperature dependent periodic-index gratings fabricated in a nematic elastomer. The gratings have been obtained by photopolymerisation under a microscopy apparatus. Contraction properties, as well as diffraction properties, have been studied as a function of temperature. Unidirectional contraction has been demonstrated by means of circular figure deformation and the polarisation dependency of the diffraction by the gratings has been determined.     

Ray picture of diffraction gratings

We elaborate on a geometrical picture of diffraction gratings. Exact paraxial propagation including coherence effects is obtained by allowing the geometrical rays to transport Wigner function instead of simply specific intensity. We apply this formalism to perfect and less than perfect gratings, illuminated by plane and Gaussian waves.