Cascadability and reshaping properties of a saturable absorber inserted inside a RZ transmission line for future 160-Gbit/s all-optical 2R-regenerators

In this prospective work, we analyze the behavior of a quantum-well microcavity saturable absorber component cascaded into a 100-km SMF RZ transmission line in order to annihilate the ghost-pulse phenomenon in the following simplified “…010101…” 160-Gbit/s 2-bit pattern at 1555 nm. Recirculating-loop experiments show a maximal ghost-pulse extinction up to 11.6 dB as well as an intensity extinction ratio enhancement higher than 6 dB over at least 800 km of propagation.     

Generation of a high-temporal contrast ultrafast laser pulse near 1,053 nm through stimulated Raman frequency shift

A high-temporal contrast femtosecond Stokes pulse near 1,053 nm is obtained simply without polarizer extinction ratio limitation based on the stimulated Raman frequency shift process in ethanol with an 800-nm femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser as a pump source. By optimizing the incident pump pulse chirp and the ethanol Raman cell length, a clean Stokes pulse near 1,053 nm with a maximum energy of 0.24 mJ is obtained with ~7.5 % conversion efficiency and 0.8 % (rms) energy fluctuation. Compared with the incident pump pulse, the temporal contrast of the Stokes pulse is improved by at least approximately three orders of magnitude.     

A stable and tunable linear polarization single longitudinal mode fiber ring laser

A stable and tunable linear polarization single longitudinal mode fiber ring laser is proposed and demonstrated. A high extinction ratio spatial mode interference filter utilizing two-mode graded-index fiber supresses irregular side modes effectively, the combination of fiber polarizer and polarization maintaining fiber act as a polarization dependent comb filter, and tunable bandpass filter is adopted to select proper lasing wavelength. The power fluctuation and wavelength fluctuation at 1549.88 nm are less than 0.05 dB and 0.02 nm in 1 h, respectively. Only one longitudinal mode appears within a free spectral range of 7.5 GHz, and the degree of polarization in percentage is approximately as high as 99.07%.     

Optical detection of DNA translocation through silicon nanopore by ultraviolet light

In this paper, we propose a new optical detection scheme for nanopore-based DNA sequencing with high resolution towards eventual base identification. We use ultraviolet light for excitation of a fluorescent probe attached to DNA and a nanopore in the silicon membrane that has a significantly large refractive index and an extinction coefficient at ultraviolet wavelengths. In this study, numerical electromagnetic simulation revealed that the z-polarization component (perpendicular to the membrane plane) of the electric field was dominant near the nanopore and generated a large electric field gradient at the nanopore exit, typically with a decay length of 2 nm for a nanopore with diameter of 7 nm. The large extinction coefficient contributed to reduction in background noise coming from fluorophore-labeled DNA strands that remain behind the membrane (the cis side of the membrane). We observed a high signal-to-noise ratio of single DNA translocation events under the application of an electric field.     

Plasmon resonance properties of silver-patterned glass substrates fabricated by anodic alumina oxide templates

Ultra-thin anodic aluminum oxide membranes were prepared and served as deposition masks for fabrication of uniformly sized Ag nanodots with different aspect ratios on glass substrates. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties of the supported Ag nanodots were investigated and compared with the predictions of the generalized Maxwell–Garnett theory. By modeling the nanodots as spheroids without adjusting their real geometrical parameters input to the calculation, the resulting theoretical SPR wavelengths are in good agreement with measured extinction peaks. The discrepancy between the theoretical and experimental plasmon resonance peak maxima is within 10 nm for the nanodots with an aspect ratio of less than 1.5. Although this wavelength discrepancy becomes large as the aspect ratio is increased, it is kept at approximately 35 nm for the nanodots with an aspect ratio of 2.44.     

Single-frequency polarized eye-safe all-fiber laser with peak power over kilowatt

An all-fiber, single-frequency, linearly polarized, high peak-power, pulsed laser at 1,540 nm for Doppler wind lidar is presented. This laser is composed of a single-frequency, narrow-linewidth external cavity diode laser, and multistage fiber amplifiers. A peak power of 1.08 kW and a pulse width of 500 ns at 10 kHz repetition rate are achieved, which is the highest peak power with a linewidth of 800 kHz in erbium-doped silica fiber to our knowledge. The beam quality of M ² < 1.3 and a polarization extinction ratio over 16 dB are obtained. This laser will be employed in a compact long-range coherent Doppler wind lidar.     

Leaky-mode resonant gratings on a fibre facet

Numerical investigation shows that an optimised leaky-mode resonant diffraction gratings fabricated in \({\mathrm{{Ta}}}_2{\mathrm{{O}}}_5\) layer deposited on the facet of an optical fibre can have a modal reflectance peak of more than 95%, 3 dB spectral bandwidth of about 50 nm and polarization extinction ratio of almost 18 dB. The grating is intended to be employed as a high-reflectance, wavelength- and polarization-dependent mirror in a fibre laser. We compare results of 2D and 3D modelling, investigate influence of grating parameters on spectral shape of modal reflectance and discuss fabrication tolerances.     

Design of a polarization splitter for an ultra-broadband dual-core photonic crystal fiber

A novel ultra-broadband polarization splitter based on a dual-core photonic crystal fiber (DC-PCF) is designed. The full-vector finite element method and coupled-mode theory are employed to investigate the characteristics of the polarization splitter. According to the numerical results, a graphene-filled layer not only broadens the working bandwidth but also reduces the size of the polarization splitter. Furthermore, the fluorine-doped region and the germanium-doped region can broaden the bandwidth. Also, the 4.78 mm long polarization splitter can achieve an extinction ratio of -98.6 dB at a wavelength of 1550 nm. When extinction ratio is less than -20 dB, the range of the wavelength is 1027 nm-1723 nm with a bandwidth of 696 nm. Overall, the polarization splitter can be applied to all-optical network communication systems in the infrared and near-infrared wavelength range.     

Fabrication of a mid-IR wire-grid polarizer by direct imprinting on chalcogenide glass

A mid-IR wire-grid polarizer with a 500 nm pitch was fabricated on a low toxic chalcogenide glass (Sb-Ge-Sn-S system) by the thermal imprinting of periodic grating followed by the thermal evaporation of Al metal. After imprinting, deposition of Al on the grating at an oblique angle produced a wire-grid polarizer. The fabricated polarizer showed polarization with TM transmittance greater than 60% at 5-9 μm wavelengths and an extinction ratio greater than 20 dB at 3.5-11 μm wavelengths. This polarizer with a high extinction ratio can be fabricated more simply and less expensively than conventional IR polarizers.     

Mach-Zehnder interferometer switch with a high extinction ratio over a wide wavelength range

We have realized a novel Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) thermo-optic switch that can operate over a much wider wavelength range than a conventional MZI switch. We constructed the novel MZI switch by incorporating a phase-generating coupler (PGC) as an optical coupler. The PGC generates a nonlinear wavelength-dependent phase, which functions as a virtual wavelength-dependent delay part that cancels out the wavelength dependence of a MZI. We fabricated the novel MZI switch on a silica-based planar light-wave circuit and achieved a low insertion loss of less than 1.6 dB and a high extinction ratio of 30 dB over a wide wavelength range of 160 nm.     

Experimental characterization of dielectric-loaded plasmonic waveguide-racetrack resonators at near-infrared wavelengths

Dielectric-loaded plasmonic waveguide-racetrack resonators (WRTRs) were designed and fabricated for operating at near-infrared wavelengths (750–850 nm) and characterized using leakage radiation microscopy. The transmission spectra of the WRTRs are found experimentally and compared to the calculated analytical expression. The wavelength-dependent parameters of the analytical expression, i.e. the propagation length and effective-index dispersion, were also estimated experimentally by leakage radiation imaging of direct and Fourier space, respectively. The fabricated structures exhibited high extinction ratio (～20 dB) and good agreement between calculated and measured transmission values.     

An efficient directional coupling from dielectric waveguide to hybrid long-range plasmonic waveguide on a silicon platform

The silicon-based three-dimensional hybrid long-range plasmonic waveguide not only supports long-range propagation distance (~mm) but also has an ultra-small modal area (~10^?2 μm²) at 1.55 μm. Here, we propose a directional coupler for effective coupling from a dielectric slab-waveguide to the hybrid plasmonic waveguide on a silicon platform. Our simulation results show that the coupler is able to excite hybrid long-range plasmonic mode with short coupling length, low insertion loss, and high extinction ratio. With the arm separation of 0.3 μm, the coupling length can be made 5.2 % of the propagation length of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide, while the insertion loss and extinction ratio are ?0.12 and 22.4 dB, respectively. This coupler offers the potential applications in signal routing between the hybrid long-range plasmonic waveguide and dielectric waveguide in the photonic integrated circuits.     

Ultra-broadband polarization splitter based on graphene layer-filled dual-core photonic crystal fiber

An ultra-broadband polarization splitter based on graphene layer-filled dual-core photonic crystal fiber(GDC-PCF)that can work in a wavelength range from 1120 nm to 1730 nm is proposed in this paper. Through optimizing fiber configuration, the polarization splitter has an extinction ratio of-56.3 dB at 1.55 μm with a fiber length of 4.8 mm.Compared with the photonic crystal fiber reported splitters, to our knowledge, the GDC-PCF splitter with the extinction ratio below-20 dB has a super wide bandwidth of 610 nm. Due to the excellent splitting characteristics, the GDC-PCF will be used in coherent optical communication systems in a wavelength range from infrared to mid-infraed.     

Experimental Study of a Fourier Transform Spectrometer Based on Scanning Micro-Electromechanical Mirrors

This paper presents a non-scanning Fourier transform spectrometer based on a micro-electronic mechanical system micro-mirrors and a single detector. The fundamental principle and key parameters of this Fourier transform spectrometer were analyzed in detail. Theoretical analysis showed that, when the dip angle of the slantwise mirror is 0.38713°, the resolution of the system is 9.7 nm (at 1350 nm). Experiments demonstrated that, the spectra resolution is less than 10 nm, the wavelength deviation is ～1.5 nm, the signal-to-noise ratio is higher than 30 dB and the intensity deviation at peak wavelength is less than 0.4%.     

Photochemical Properties of a Novel Cyanobacteriochrome from Anabaena sp. PCC7120

Cyanobacteriochromes are phytochrome homologues in cyanobacteria that act as photoreceptor sensors. We report the photochemistry of All4261 GAF2, a novel cyanobacteriochrome from the heterocyst-forming cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120. All4261 contains four tandemly arranged GAF domains. The respective chromophore domains were co-expressed in Escherichia coli with the genes for phycocyanobilin biosynthesis enzymes, HO1, and PcyA. The resulting proteins were analyzed by zinc-induced fluorescence, UV-Vis absorption and emission fluorescence spectra. Only All4261 GAF2 binded chromophore covalently, having zinc-induced fluorescence band in SDS-PAGE gel with the zinc acetate solution existed. Absorption spectra analysis showed that All4261 GAF2 had absorption peaks at 340 nm and 590 nm, failing to show photoreversibility. Fluorescence spectra revealed that All4261 GAF2 had a fluorescence emission peak at 645 nm, with high fluorescence quantum yield and molar extinction coefficient.     

Asymmetric Fano resonance and bistability in a two-ring resonator optical switch with high extinction ratio and low switching threshold

We propose a two-ring resonator configuration that can provide optical switching with both high extinction ratio (ER) and low switching threshold. The achievable input threshold is n ₂I_IN ~ 10^?5 or smaller, which is one order lower than that of the conventional one-ring configuration, while maintaining an ER of at least 10dB over a 10-GHz (0.1 nm) optical bandwidth. This performance is enabled by using an asymmetric Fano resonance as opposed to the usual symmetric resonance. The low switching threshold and the high ER are related to the sharpness and the asymmetricity of the Fano resonance, respectively.     

Polarization beam splitter using a binary blazed grating coupler

A novel polarization beam splitter using a two-layer grating coupler is proposed and demonstrated. It can directly couple the normally incident light from fiber into two separate waveguides according to their polarization states while splitting them. It realizes high coupling efficiency and a good extinction ratio by using binary blazed grating couplers. The coupling length is less than 14 microm. The extinction ratio is better than 20 dB for both polarizations over a 40 nm wavelength range, and the coupling efficiencies for the two layers are 58% and 50%.     

八边形晶格双芯光子晶体光纤偏振分束器

分别以碲玻璃和SF6玻璃作为基质材料,设计制作了一种基于双折射效应的新型八边形晶格双芯光子晶体光纤偏振分束器。应用全矢量有限元法（FEM）分析了碲玻璃和SF6两种双芯光子晶体光纤中结构参数对双折射和相对耦合长度特性的影响,数值模拟了碲玻璃和SF6两种偏振分束器的性能。结果表明：在碲玻璃和SF6两种双芯光子晶体光纤中,增大椭圆率可同时增加结构的双折射和相对耦合长度,与SF6玻璃偏振分束器相比较,碲玻璃偏振分束器具有更高的消光比和更大的带宽,即在工作波长为1.55 μm处,消光比达到最小值-53.46 dB,且消光比小于-20 dB的带宽为120 nm。     

Fabrication of tapered fiber based ring resonator

Tapered fiber based ring resonators are fabricated and its optical characteristic is investigated in detail. The ring resonator is fabricated by coiling the tapered fiber, which is firstly made by heating and stretching a piece of optical fiber, after the polymer protective cladding has been removed The comb filter with a constant free spectral range (FSR) and the maximum extinction ratio of 4.2 dB is achieved by a single-mode fiber based ring resonator. The FSR of ring resonator can be adjusted by controlling the diameter of the ring. The extinction ratio is improved in the polarization maintaining fiber based ring resonator where the maximum extinction ratio of 14 dB is achieved at 1531 nm region.     

All-fiber single polarized Yb-doped fiber laser with a high extinction ratio

We present an all-fiber design for a single polarization Yb-doped fiber laser with all-fiber connections spliced. Single polarization with a high extinction ratio was achieved by the design of a laser cavity consisting of a fiber Bragg grating inscribed on a single-polarization fiber as a high reflective mirror and a piece of end-cleaved single-polarization fiber as an output coupler. The fiber laser operates at 1063.25 nm with an output power of 1.7 W, an optical signal- to-noise ratio of 70 dB and a narrow bandwidth of 54 pm. The laser output has a polarization extinction ratio of 700:1 or 28 dB, and a very stable power output.