Fabrication and characteristics of character-1 shaped reduced diameter polarization-maintaining optical fiber

A novel structure reducing diameter polarization maintaining optical fiber with high birefringence and strength is introduced. The fiber is fabricated through using modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) method, which is able to produce the optimum predicted character-1 shaped fiber structure. As a result, a low-loss fiber with beat length close to 2.0 mm at 1310 nm wavelength and extinction ratio approximately -25 dB has been produced. The process is both simple and reproducible.     

Temperature-insensitive strain measurement using a birefringent interferometer based on a polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber

We propose a novel and simple scheme for a temperature-insensitive strain measurement by using a birefringent interferometer configured by a polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PM-PCF). The wavelength-dependent periodic transmission in a birefringent interferometer can be achieved by using a PM-PCF between two linear polarizers. Since the PM-PCF is composed of a single material, such as silica, the peak wavelength shift with temperature variation can be negligible because of the small amount of the birefringence change of the PM-PCF with temperature change. The measured temperature sensitivity is −0.3 pm/°C. However, the peak wavelength can be changed by strain because the peak wavelength shift is directly proportion to strain change. The strain sensitivity is measured to be 1.3 pm/με in a strain range from 0 to 1600 με. The measurement resolution of the strain is estimated to be 2.1 με. The proposed scheme has advantages of simple structure and low loss without a Sagnac loop, temperature insensitivity, ease installation, and short length of a sensing probe compared with a conventional PMF-based Sagnac loop interferometer.     

Fabrication and characteristics of character1 shaped reduced diameter polarization-maintaining optical fiber

A novel structure reducing diameter polarization maintaining optical fiber with high birefringence and strength is introduced.The fiber is fabricated through using modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) method,which is able to produce the optimum predicted character-1 shaped fiber structure.As a result,a low-loss fiber with beat length close to 2.0 mm at 1310 nm wavelength and extinction ratio approximately-25 dB has been produced.The process is both simple and reproducible.     

Distributed strain sensor based on dynamic grating in polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber

A novel distributed fiber-optic strain sensor based on dynamic grating in polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber (PM-EDF) is demonstrated experimentally. The dynamic grating is written with light beams polarized along one primary polarization axis of the PM-EDF, and read with a light beam polarized along the other primary polarization axis. When a strain is applied to the fiber, the detected Bragg reflection frequency of the dynamic grating shifts in proportion to the birefringence change, which is proportional to the strain. By employing the technique of synthesis of optical coherence function, the dynamic grating is localized in a region that can be shifted to sweep along the fiber to determine the location of the strain. In the experiment, a spatial resolution of 20 cm is demonstrated.     

Discrimination of strain and temperature based on a polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber incorporating an erbium-doped fiber

A simple sensing method for simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain is investigated by using a Sagnac fiber loop mirror composed of a polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PM-PCF) incorporating an erbium-doped fiber (EDF). Amplified spontaneous emission created by a pumped EDF is transmitted to a Sagnac fiber loop mirror. The interference between two counter-propagating signals in a Sagnac fiber loop mirror generates a periodic transmission spectrum with respect to wavelength. When external temperature is increased, the transmission peak power reduces because the amplified spontaneous emission of the EDF is decreased by the applied temperature change (0.04 dB/°C). The peak wavelength is shifted into the shorter wavelength because of the negative temperature dependence of the birefringence of the PM-PCF (0.3 pm/°C). As the applied strain increases, the peak wavelength of the transmission spectrum of the Sagnac loop mirror incorporating the EDF shifts into a longer wavelength (1.3 pm/με) because the phase change of the proposed sensing probe is directly proportional to the applied strain. The transmission peak power, however, is not changed by the applied strain. Since the source and the sensing probe are integrated, the overall system configuration is significantly simplified without requiring any additional broadband light source. Therefore, it is possible to simultaneously measure temperature and strain by monitoring the variation of transmission peak power and peak wavelength, respectively.     

Curvature measurement by using low-birefringence photonic crystal fiber based Sagnac loop

An optical fiber curvature sensor with low-birefringence photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based Sagnac loop is demonstrated experimentally. The low-birefringence PCF of about 40 cm long is inserted into Sagnac loop, and a section of it about 155 mm is used as the sensing element. The Sagnac output spectra under different curvatures are measured and analyzed. The results show that the wavelength shift of the transmission dip has a linear relationship with the curvature. The sensitivity of the curvature measurement of − 0.337 nm is achieved in the range of 0-9.92 m^− 1. And the temperature effect of the proposed sensor is also analyzed.     

Tunable multi-wavelength fiber laser based on a polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber and a polarization controller

A stable and tunable multi-wavelength fiber laser with a polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber (PM-EDF) and a polarization controller (PC) is proposed and demonstrated. A homemade PM-EDF incorporated in the ring cavity is used as the gain medium. Simultaneous multi-wavelength oscillation is achieved at room temperature. The theory of the PM-EDF and PC to suppress the wavelength competition is described in detail. The 3 dB bandwidth is less than 0.01 nm. The power fluctuation and wavelength shift are measured to be less than 0.5 dB and 0.05 nm over 32 min. The wavelength tuning between single-, double-, triple-, and four-wavelength is realized.     

High stable single-polarization tunable fiber laser based on Opto-DMD processor and polarization-maintaining fiber devices

A high stable wavelength-tunable fiber laser is experimentally demonstrated by using a digital-micromirror-device (DMD) processor and a polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA).The electronic-addressed DMD processor is able to select and couple a waveband from of the polarization-maintaining EDFA back into the fiber ring to generate a narrow line-width laser output. The tunable fiber laser shows a line-width of 0.02 nm, a tuning step of 0.08 nm over the c-band and a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) greater than 50 dB. The output power uniformity of 0.01 mW is achieved by using the automatic power control (APC) system under room temperature. The center wavelength fluctuation during 1 h is below 0.01 nm.     

Temperature and strain discrimination using a single tilted fibre Bragg grating

A fibre optic sensor capable of discriminating between temperature and strain, using a single fibre Bragg grating, is presented. The technique exploits the core-cladding mode coupling of a tilted fibre Bragg grating (TFBG). The core and cladding modes exhibit different thermal sensivities, while the strain sensivities are approximately equal. Monitoring the core-core mode coupling resonance and the core-cladding mode coupling resonance of the TFBG spectrum allows the separation of the temperature and strain induced wavelength shifts.     

Stable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on dispersion-shifted fiber and Sagnac loop filter

A multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (MEDFL) with simple line structure is experimentally demonstrated by using a Sagnac interferometer as a comb filter. It is shown that the multi-wavelength lasing is quite stable at room temperature due to the four-wave mixing (FWM) effect among different laser channels in the dispersion-shifted fiber cooperated in the laser cavity.     

Theory and experiment of flat-top all-fiber comb filter based on two high birefringence fiber Sagnac loop filters

A simple flat-top all-fiber comb filter based on two high birefringence fiber (HBF) Sagnac loop filters is presented. The proposed flat-top comb filter consists of two HBF Sagnac loop filters with two polarization controllers (PCs) and a fiber circulator. According to the theoretical analysis, with proper settings of the polarization state of the PCs, the comb filter can realize flat-top passband and the channel spacing also can be switched when the comb filter is convex spectrum. The 0.3 dB bandwidth of the flat-top passband is 0.49 nm with a free spectral range of 1.4 nm. The maximum extinction ratio is nearly 20 dB. The comb filter with switchable channel spacing can be obtained from 0.7 nm to 1.4 nm.     

Cost-effective tunable fiber laser based on self-seeded Fabry-Perot laser diode using a Sagnac loop reflector

We propose and demonstrate a simple configuration of wavelength-tunable fiber laser made up of a tunable band-pass filter, a Sagnac loop refiector, and a Fabry-Perot laser diode. Based on the self-seeded operation, the proposed fiber laser can obtain a single-longitudinal-mode output in the wavelength tuning range of 1544.69–1563.39 nm with tuning step of 1.34 nm. The performances of output power （-9 dBm）, optical side-mode suppression ratio （ 65.5 dB）, and power and wavelength stabilities are well exhibited.     

All-optical dynamic grating generation based on Brillouin scattering in polarization-maintaining fiber

We report a novel kind of all-optical dynamic grating based on Brillouin scattering in a polarization maintaining fiber (PMF). A moving acoustic grating is generated by stimulated Brillouin scattering between writing beams in one polarization and used to reflect an orthogonally polarized reading beam at different wavelengths. The center wavelength of the grating is controllable by detuning the writing beams, and the 3 dB bandwidth of approximately 80 MHz is observed with the tunable reflectance of up to 4% in a 30 m PMF.     

Tunable dual-wavelength fiber laser based on a polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating and a Hi-Bi fiber optical loop mirror

We demonstrate experimentally the operation of a linear cavity dual-wavelength fiber laser using a polarization maintaining fiber Bragg grating (PM-FBG) as an end mirror that defines two closely spaced laser emission lines. The PM-FBG is also used to tune the laser wavelengths. The total tuning range is ∼8 nm. The laser operates in a stable dual-wavelength mode for an appropriate adjustment of the cavity losses for the generated wavelengths. The high birefringence (Hi-Bi) fiber optical loop mirror (FOLM) is used as a tunable spectral filter to adjust the losses. The FOLM adjustment was performed by the temperature control of the Hi-Bi fiber.     

Optical fiber strain sensor using fiber resonator based on frequency comb Vernier spectroscopy

A novel (to our best knowledge) optical fiber strain sensor using a fiber ring resonator based on frequency comb Vernier spectroscopy is proposed and demonstrated. A passively mode-locked optical fiber laser is employed to generate a phased-locked frequency comb. Strain applied to the optical fiber of the fiber ring resonator can be measured with the transmission spectrum. A good linearity is obtained between displacement and the inverse of wavelength spacing with an R(2) of 0.9989, and high sensitivities better than 40 pm/με within the range of 0 to 10 με are achieved. The sensitivity can be proportionally improved by increasing the length of the optical fiber ring resonator.     

Optical rotation conveyor belt based on a polarization-maintaining hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Optical Review - Hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HCPCFs), a form of optical conveyer belts, have been used to guide particles for many years. However, only the translational motions of a...     

超低温度系数的光子晶体光纤Sagnac压力传感器

 提出了一种基于光子晶体光纤Sagnac干涉仪的横向压力传感器。使用的光子晶体光纤为低双折射光纤,首先预先在Saganc环中的光子晶体光纤上施加初始压力,使Sagnac干涉仪产生正弦干涉光谱,然后再将被测物体放在光子晶体光纤上,由于被测物体重力的作用,Saganc干涉仪输出的光谱产生移动,实现横向压力传感测量。传感器具有高灵敏度0.529 nm/(N·mm)及超低的温度系数-0.4 pm/℃,其环境温度的影响可以忽略。     

Add/drop channel filter based on two parallel long-period fiber gratings coupler

A wavelength-selective coupler constructed with two parallel long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) was investigated thoroughly. Both the numerical and experimental results verified that the filter response could be improved by adjusting the UV refractive modulation of the gratings and by controlling the external surrounding. And an add/drop channel filter with high efficiency and good spectral characteristic was achieved even though the claddings of the two gratings were not processed. This feature is very favorable to simplify the fabrication process.     

Temperature-insensitive Mach-Zehnder interferometric strain sensor based on concatenating two waist-enlarged fiber tapers

A novel temperature-insensitive strain sensor,based on an in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer,is fabricated by concatenating two waist-enlarged fiber tapers separated by a short piece of photonic crystal fiber. The interference spectrum of the proposed sensor is analyzed in detail.Experimental results demonstrate that this sensor has a strain sensitivity of.3.02 pm/μεand maintains the temperature insensitivity feature. The proposed sensor has great potential in diverse sensing applications due to its advantages,such as its compact size,low cost,and simple fabrication process.     

Switchable single-longitudinal-mode dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on one polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating incorporating saturable absorber and feedback fiber loop

Switchable single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on one polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating (PMFBG) is demonstrated. Due to the enhancement of the polarization hole burning (PHB) by the PMFBG, the laser can be designed to operate in stable dual-wavelength or wavelength-switching modes with a wavelength spacing of 0.336 nm at room temperature by adjusting a polarization controller (PC). The stable SLM operation is guaranteed by a compound-ring cavity and a saturable absorber (SA). The optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) is over 45 dB. The amplitude variation in nearly one and half an hour is less than 0.2 dB.