The rotation of the polarization in low birefringence monomode optical fibres due to geometric effects

Monomode optical fibres of very low intrinsic linear and circular birefringence have been developed for use in polarimetric optical fibre sensors, most notably the fibre optic current sensor. The polarization of light travelling along such fibres is known to be modified by external stress applied to the fibre. In this paper it is shown that the polarization state may also be rotated if the path of the fibre is bent in a nonplanar curve. A theory is developed which enables the effect to be quantified and the results are shown to agree with some measurements on a fibre bent into a helix.     

Studies on short isora fibre-reinforced polyester composites

This paper reports the use of a natural fibre, isora, as reinforcement in unsaturated polyester resin. Isora is a bast fibre separated from the bark of Helicteres isora plant by retting process. Properties like tensile strength, flexural strength etc. have been studied as a function of fibre length and fibre loading using treated and untreated fibre. The mechanical properties were found to be optimum at a fibre length of 30 mm and a fibre loading of 30% by volume. The effects of alkali treatment on the fibre properties were investigated by SEM, IR and TGA. The mechanical performance of the treated isora fibre-reinforced polyester composites has also been investigated. SEM studies were carried out to investigate the fibre surface morphology, fibre pull-out and fibre–polyester interface bonding. SEM gave evidence for the changes that had occurred on the fibre surface during chemical treatment. The properties were found to be superior for the composite reinforced with treated fibre compared to the untreated fibre.     

The preparation of optical fibre nanoprobe and its application in spectral detection

As an important component of scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM), optical fibre nanoprobe has been applied to many fields extensively. A melt-stretched etching method is proposed to produce optical fibre nanoprobe with low cost. Firstly, optical fibre tip with micrometer-sized diameter is created by the melt-stretched measure. Next, it is dipped into hydrofluoric acid (HF), and a fine optical fibre nanoprobe will be made after a short-time etching. Owing to the taper structure of tip, it can be etched again in acid if a nanoprobe is not constructed when the first etching is completed. In addition, optical fibre nanoprobe is applied to spectral investigation, and the fluorescence spectroscopy of rhodamine B (Rh B) solution is collected by an optical investigation system with a bifurcated fibre.     

Studies on interfacial adhesion in unidirectional isora fibre reinforced polyester composites

Unidirectional isora fibre reinforced polyester composites were prepared by compression moulding. Isora is a natural bast fibre separated from the Helicteres isora plant by a retting process. The effect of alkali treatment on the thermal properties of the fibre was studied using TGA, DTA and DSC in oxygen and nitrogen atmosphere. Mechanical properties like tensile strength, Young's modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus and impact strength of the composites containing untreated and alkali-treated fibres have been studied as a function of fibre loading. The optimum loading for tensile properties of the composite containing untreated fibre was found to be 45% by volume and on alkalization of the fibre, the optimum loading increased to 66%. For flexural properties the loading was optimized at about 56% and 66%, for the composites containing untreated and alkali treated fibres, respectively. From DMA studies it was observed that the alkali-treated fibre composites have higher E′ and E″ values compared to untreated fibre composites. From swelling studies in styrene it was observed that the mole percent uptake of the solvent by the treated fibre composites is less than by the untreated fibre composites. From these results it can be concluded that in composites containing alkalized fibres there is enhanced interfacial adhesion between the fibre and the matrix leading to better properties, compared to untreated fibre composites.     

A cutback method for measuring low linear fibre birefringence using an electro-optic modulator

A new cutback method based on the use of phase discrimination is proposed for low-linear-fibre-birefringence measurement. In this destructive method, a detection scheme for determining the phase difference between two readily obtained signals is used to give the phase retardation of the test fibre directly. The detection scheme mainly consists of two wave plates, two sections of fibre and an electro-optic modulator. The features of this measurement scheme are two-fold. First, the aforementioned phase difference between two detected signals, and, accordingly, linear fibre birefringence, can be determined in a simple manner, compared with the conventional cutback method. Second, the test fibre can be short in length despite the existence of fibre cladding modes. Experiments show that the proposed method can give a reliable measurement of linear fibre birefringence.     

Optical path automatic compensation low-coherence interferometric fibre-optic temperature sensor

An interferometric fibre-optic temperature sensing system employing a light emitting diode (LED) as the broadband optical source and a single mode fibre coil which was fabricated in a definite length as the sensor head is described. A reference fibre line transmitting back and forth along the same path as the sensing transmitting fibre is used, so the change caused by the environmental temperature fluctuation of the fibre path can automatically be compensated. The sensitivity of the sensing system can be easily improved by using the long length of the sensing fibre. The experiment results of the sensing gauge length versus the sensitivity are given. Two typical wavelengths (1300 and 1550 nm). LED sources are used, it is shown that the sensitivity of the system between the two wavelengths is different. The experimental curve of the resolution characteristic of the system related to the length of sensing fibre coil is also discussed.     

Output dynamics and stabilisation of a multi-mode double-clad Yb-doped silica fibre laser

The intensity dynamics of the double-clad Yb fibre laser have been characterised. Stabilisation of the fibre laser intensity by using uniform bi-directional pumping is demonstrated. For the single-end-pumped Yb fibre laser, the output becomes more stable for the shorter fibre length due to the higher threshold of stimulated Brillouin scattering, SBS, and Kerr effects and the reduction of saturated absorber effects caused by any unpumped fibre section. By additional pumping in a double-end-pumped configuration, the output power can be scaled higher before detecting high intensity pulses initiated by SBS in the Yb fibre laser due to the reduction of saturable absorption effect. It is confirmed that uniform pumping enhances the stability of the laser output.     

Numerical study of the single fibre push-out test: Part III. Singularity of interface stresses

The singular behaviour at the free edges of the fibre-matrix interface is analysed for the fibre push-out test geometry based on the boundary element method. The fibre push-out test has been extensively used to measure the fibre-matrix interfacial properties in polymer, ceramic and metal matrix composites. There are two free edges in the fibre push-out specimen: one is at the loaded fibre end and the other at the supported fibre end. The singular stresses can be expressed as a function of singular exponent and singular stress intensity. It is shown that the singular exponents obtained at both fibre ends are characteristic of composite constituent properties, such as Young's moduli of fibre and matrix, and does not vary with specimen dimensions. The singular exponents are real and identical for the shear and radial stress components at fibre ends where the wedge angles are the same. The singular stress intensities are also implicit in material properties, and vary with specimen dimensions, such as fibre to matrix radius ratio, fibre aspect ratio and support hole size. An interfacial failure criterion is proposed here based on the average stress concept to determine the critical singular stress intensities in mode I and mode II loads.     

Orientation-dependent electromagnetic properties of basalt fibre/nickel core--shell heterostructures

The influence of orientation on electromagnetic properties of basalt fibre/nickel core--shell heterostructures prepared by a simple electroless plating method is investigated. For comparison, the same investigation is also performed on naked basalt fibres. For electromagnetic measurement, the directions of basalt fibre/nickel and naked basalt fibres are parallel, random and perpendicular to the direction of external electric field, termed E_\vert\vert sample, random sample and E_⊥ sample, respectively. Electromagnetic anisotropy can be clearly observed in the basalt fibre/nickel core--shell heterostructures, while electromagnetic properties of naked basalt fibres are unrelated to the orientation. The E_⊥ basalt fibre/nickel shows the highest dielectric loss but the lowest magnetic loss, and E_|| basalt fibre/nickel exhibits the highest magnetic loss but the lowest dielectric loss. The dielectric loss of E_⊥ basalt fibre/nickel is several times as large as that of E_|| basalt fibre/nickel, which could be attributed to the increase of polarization relaxation time as a consequence of the nanosize-confinement effect. The magnetic loss of E_|| basalt fibre/nickel is even one order of magnitude higher than that of E_⊥ basalt fibre/nickel, which originates mainly from the natural magnetic resonance of basalt fibre/nickel core--shell heterostructures.     

Predicting ‘lifetime’ of fibre optics exposed to radiation

Fibre optics communications systems are rapidly replacing ‘wired’ links in a variety of applications. The fibre links have proven to be smaller and lighter than either simple wire or coaxial lines. In addition, the fibre systems are immune to all forms of electrical interference (RFI; EMI; static electricity, etc.). Because of the very nature of the passive fibre lines, electrical disturbances may be considered as part of a benign environment, as contrasted with a hostile counterpart, such as high-energy particle fields which are prevalent in a nuclear reactor or other radiation-producing machine. It is known that nuclear radiation may damage the optical transmission properties of fibre optics waveguides. Described herein is the relationship between radiation flux and subsequent damage to the fibre waveguides. Some data, curves and calculations and supporting references are presented. And, finally, a procedure is given as an aid to predicting the ‘lifetime’ of a fibre optics link when it is exposed to the damaging effects of radiation.     

Phase-Locked Fibre Array for Coherent Combination and Atmosphere Aberration Compensation

We report a fibre amplifier array that not only achieves coherent beam combination by compensation of phase noises of fibre amplifier, but also accomplishes correction of atmosphere aberration. It is of master-oscillatormultiple-amplifier （MOPA） configuration, which can be phase-locked by the multidither principle or heterodyne detection principle. First laboratory experiments of atmosphere aberration compensation of a three-element fibre amplifier array are reported. The atmosphere aberration is created by a phase screen in the experiment. The phase changes of the beam, which are introduced by the fibre amplifier and the phase screen, are both detected by the heterodyne detection method. Phase modulators are controlled to compensate for the phase in the three paths. No matter whether there is a phase screen producing atmosphere aberration or not, the dim dynamic interference fringes in the far field turn to a clear and stable pattern, and the peak intensity is maximized. It is indicated that the fibre amplifier array is phase-locked, and coherent combination of the three beams is achieved. It can be used not only to obtain high power fibre laser array but also in laser space communication.     

Mapping fibre orientation in complex-shaped biological systems with micrometre resolution by scanning X-ray microdiffraction

A fully automated procedure to extract and to image local fibre orientation in biological tissues from scanning X-ray diffraction is presented. The preferred chitin fibre orientation in the flow sensing system of crickets is determined with high spatial resolution by applying synchrotron radiation based X-ray microbeam diffraction in conjunction with advanced sample sectioning using a UV micro-laser. The data analysis is based on an automated detection of azimuthal diffraction maxima after 2D convolution filtering (smoothing) of the 2D diffraction patterns. Under the assumption of crystallographic fibre symmetry around the morphological fibre axis, the evaluation method allows mapping the three-dimensional orientation of the fibre axes in space. The resulting two-dimensional maps of the local fibre orientations - together with the complex shape of the flow sensing system - may be useful for a better understanding of the mechanical optimization of such tissues.     

Millimetre-wave fibre–wireless transmission systems with reduced effects of fibre chromatic dispersion

This paper describes two techniques for the implementation of millimetre-wave (mm-wave) wireless communication systems incorporating optical fibre distribution networks. Fibre chromatic dispersion can exhibit severe effects on the transportation of mm-wave frequencies over fibre, resulting in greatly reduced post-detection rf powers. Each mm-wave fibre–wireless system demonstrated here incorporates a method for the generation and modulation of an optical mm-wave carrier, which enables the effect of fibre dispersion to be significantly reduced. One set-up is a direct-detection scheme where optical single-sideband (SSB) with carrier modulation is used to overcome fibre dispersion effects. The other system employs a self-heterodyne arrangement in which a dual-frequency optical source generates a low phase-noise mm-wave beat signal. Data transmission is achieved by externally modulating the dual-mode signal and reduced effects of fibre dispersion are observed.     

Suppression of the interactions between fibre gratings used as dispersion compensators in dense wavelength-division multiplexing systems

Chirped fibre Bragg gratings (CFBGs) are required to be concatenated to compensate the fibre dispersion in the dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) systems. When the channel spacing is small, the performance of CFBGs is degraded, which restricts the usage of fibre gratings. The origin of the interactions between the gratings is analysed and methods of suppressing the interactions are also proposed.     

Spatial coherence of laser light propagating in an optical fibre

The modulus of the complex degree of spatial coherence at the exit face of an optical fibre is determined for a quasi-monochromatic, spatially coherent source. It is found that the contribution of the cross-terms between many modes to the formulus of pointwise correlation is negligible for a highly multimode fibre in which even and odd modes are equally excited, although care must be taken when even or odd modes only are selectively excited in the waveguide. Experimental results obtained by using a Koesters prism in the wavefront reversing interferometer are also presented for a graded-index multimode fibre and a quasi-single mode fibre. Modal contents of the propagating field in the optical fibre can be successfully determined, provided that the coherence time of a quasi-monochromatic source and the path difference of the wavefront reversing system are knowna priori.     

Helical signature motif in the fibre diffraction patterns of random-walk chains

Helical geometry is one of the most dominant structural features in polypeptides, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and long-chain polymers in general. Structures of a large number of helical biomolecules and important non-biological polymers have been determined by fibre diffraction and helical diffraction theory. This paper reports on a study of fibre diffraction patterns calculated for two different on-lattice random-walk models of polymers, with no built-in helical features. It is noted that such on-lattice random walks are natural models for polymers with fixed monomer geometries and inter-monomer angles. The presence of layer-line intensities is observed, characteristic of fibre diffraction patterns from helices with an integral number of units per turn. It is shown that under certain circumstances, fibre diffraction patterns of helical objects may be difficult to distinguish from cylindrically-averaged fibre diffraction patterns of random walks on lattices with fixed angles. A simple correspondence is demonstrated between the parameters of a helix and a random-walk chain with equivalent fibre diffraction patterns. These results call for a critical examination of the way the helical diffraction theory is typically used: certain structures that have been modelled as helical might, under some circumstances, be more naturally described as random-walk chains with no preferred conformation even on the shortest length-scale and in the context of a fibre.     

On the feasibility of optical fibre sensors for strain monitoring in thermoplastic composites under fatigue loading conditions

This study investigates the possibility of using optical fibres with Bragg gratings for measurements in thermoplastic composites under fatigue loading conditions. Two setups are considered: (i) the fibre is embedded in the composite and (ii) the grating is bonded externally. Detailed information is given on the principle of optical fibre measurements and the data acquisition for both setups. To verify the strain derived from the optical fibre, the strain is compared with extensometer measurements. A special design of the blades of the extensometer is presented, since the standard blades suffer from a loss of grip on the surface of the specimen. The material used for this study was a carbon fibre-reinforced polyphenylene sulphide.It can be concluded for both setups that the optical fibre survives over half a million loading cycles, without de-bonding of the fibre. The advantage of the external fibre over the embedded one is that it can be mounted after manufacturing of the plate, but it has a higher risk of being damaged during working conditions of the component.     

Numerical simulation of a gradient-index fibre probe and its properties of light propagation

In order to verify the properties of the light propagating through a gradient-index (GRIN) fibre probe for optical coherence tomography (OCT), numerical simulation using the optical software GLAD is carried out. Firstly, the model of the GRIN fibre probe is presented, which is consisted of a single mode fibre (SMF), a no-core fibre (NCF), a GRIN fibre lens and an air path. Then, the software GLAD is adopted to numerically investigate how the lengths of the NCF and the GRIN fibre lens influence the performance of the Gaussian beam focusing through the GRIN fibre probe. The simulation results are well consistent with the experimental ones, showing that the GLAD based numerical simulation technique is an intuitive and effective tool for the verification of the properties of the light propagation. In this paper, we find that on the conditions of a constant GRIN fibre lens length of 0.1 mm and an NCF length of 0.36 mm, the working distance of the probe will be 0.75 mm and the focus spot size is 32 μm.     

Fibre optic target reflectivity sensor

This paper reports the principle of operation, the design aspects, experimentation and performance of a fibre optic target reflectivity sensor to examine the correlation between the detector output, variation in material type and the reflectivity properties of the materials tested. The device consists of a fibre optic transmitter, a fibre optic probe, target and a photodiode detector. The fibre optic probe consists of two well-polished PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) fibres cemented together along some distance over the length. The principle of fibre optic lever displacement sensors is applied. Material effects are examined by preparing a variety of samples namely gold coated mirror, copper, brass, aluminium, steel and galvanized iron using the same polishing techniques. It is found that the response of the sensor changes with change of target surface. The results show that the fibre optic probe is capable of discriminating between materials. With the use of commercially available fibre, source and detector, the set-up proves to be simple, highly sensitive, low cost and versatile one, which can be adopted for on-line measurement or inspection of test components.     

A novel probe for an evanescent wave fibre-optic absorption sensor

A novel, highly sensitive probe consisting of a uniform region sandwiched between two linear tapers for an evanescent wave fibre-optic absorption sensor is proposed. The diameter of the uniform region is chosen to be equal to the minimum allowed diameter of the taper's output end. The first taper is used to bring the angles of the rays in the input fibre close to the critical angle of the sensing region while the second taper reconverts the angles into their initial values so that they can propagate in the output fibre. It has been shown that the sensitivity of the sensor depends on the length of the uniform region of the probe, the refractive index of the fluid and the numerical aperture of the fibre. The sensitivity increases with increase in the length of the uniform region and also with decrease in the numerical aperture of the fibre. In addition, the sensitivity of the proposed probe can be further increased by launching the selected rays into the input fibre.