Design of highly nonlinear octagonal photonic crystal fiber with near-zero flattened dispersion at 1.31μm waveband

This paper presents a highly nonlinear octagonal photonic crystal fiber (HN-OPCF) with a Ge-doped core for dental optical coherence tomography (OCT) applications. The simulation results show that a nonlinear coefficient of 56.3W⁻¹ km⁻¹ and the flattened dispersion of less than −1:0 ps/(nm·km) are obtained in 75 nm waveband (1265–1340 nm). Owing to its high nonlinear coefficient and flattened dispersion, the HN-OPCF is expected to be suitable for supercontinuum generation, which is very important in OCT applications. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed HN-OPCF can generate wideband supercontinuum.     

Polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fibers with near-zero flattened dispersion in 1.06 μm waveband for medical applications

In this paper we present the design of a modified hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (PCF) having high birefringence and a near-zero flattened dispersion. Using the finite-difference method (FDM), it is shown that the proposed multiple Gedoped core hexagonal PCF exhibits a high birefringence of order 10⁻³ and a nearly zero flattened dispersion in the optical coherence tomography (OCT) waveband. In addition, the proposed PCF has a confinement loss of less than 10⁻⁸ dB/m at 1.06 μm. PCFs with such properties are considered suitable for both endoscopic OCT and other experimental setups employing 1.06 μm lasers.     

Dispersion flattened photonic crystal fiber with high nonlinearity for supercontinuum generation at 1.55 μm

A robust design for a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based on pure silica with small normal dispersion and high nonlinear coefficient for its dual concentric core structure is presented.This design is suitable for flat broadband supercontinuum (SC) generation in the 1.55-μm region.The numerical results show that the nonlinear coefficient of the proposed eight-ring PCF is 33.8 W -1 ·km -1 at 1550 nm.Ultraflat dispersion with a value between -1.65 and -0.335 ps/(nm·km) is obtained ranging from 1375 to 1625 nm.The 3-dB bandwidth of the SC is 125 nm (1496–1621 nm),with a fiber length of 80 m and a corresponding input peak power of 43.8 W.The amplitude noise is considered to be related to SC generation.For practical fabrication,the influence of the random imperfections of airhole diameters on dispersion and nonlinearity is discussed to verify the robustness of our design.     

Broadband dispersion compensating fiber using index-guiding photonic crystal fiber with defected core

We present a novel broadband dispersion compensating photonic crystal fiber with defected core in this paper.The small central defect of air hole can flexibly control the chromatic dispersion properties of this kind of photonic crystal fiber.This kind of fiber has broadband large negative chromatic dispersion,and the chromatic dispersion coefficient varies from-440 to-480 ps/(nm·km)in the measured wavelength range of 1500-1625 nm.The calculated chromatic dispersion curve is well matched to the measured chromatic dispersion coefficient in the range of 1500-1625 nm.The proposed photonic crystal fiber can be used to design the dispersion compensating fiber in the desired wavelength range by adjusting its structural parameters.     

Spectral beam combining of 2 μm Tm fiber laser systems

Output beams from three independently frequency-stabilized thulium master-oscillator power-amplifier fiber laser systems were spectrally combined using a plane-ruled metal diffraction grating. Two laser channels were frequency-stabilized with guided mode resonance filters and the third was stabilized using a plane-ruled metal diffraction grating. The systems had output wavelengths between 1984 and 2015 nm, each with a spectral width of 100-450 pm and output powers between 40-120 W. The combined beam had powers up to 49 W and was 32% efficient with respect to the launched pump power.     

Design, characterization and evaluation of high performance 2.8 μm pitch zero space microlens

Utilization of the zero space microlens technology can significantly improve the image quality of CMOS sensors. In this study, we present systematical data of design, simulation, characterization and silicon level testing during the initial stage of development of the zero space microlens based CMOS imaging technology. The optimal structure of zero space microlens was obtained based on the simulation results. Sample CMOS image sensors with a 2.8 μm pitch zero space microlens above each pixel have been successfully fabricated based on 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Using AFM (atomic force microscopy) and sensor test platform, the structural and optical properties of both space microlens and zero space microlens have been characterized, and their performances have been evaluated respectively. Both AFM results and silicon tests have demonstrated that the 2.8 μm pitch zero space microlens can remarkably improve the pixel sensitivity and pixel array non-uniformity, and reduce the optical crosstalk. Compared to the space 2.8 μm square microlens, the zero space microlens shows 78.83% (68.42% and 75.93%) enhancement of photosensitivity and increment of pixel non-uniformity up to 20% (45.6% and 30.77%) for R (G and B), and reduction of the optical crosstalk up to 44.49%, under 45 lux light and 30 ms exposure time. In addition, the zero space microlens has also shown a great potential in further reducing pixel size down to less than 2.8 μm and meanwhile improving imaging performance of CMOS image sensors.     

Graphene-based passively Q-switched 2 μm thulium-doped fiber laser

We demonstrated stable pulses generation at 2 μm in a passively Q-switched thulium-doped fiber laser using a few layer graphene thin film. The maximum output power was 4.5 mW and the single pulse energy was 85 nJ at 53 kHz repetition rate, and the pulse width was about 1.4 μs. The pulse width and the repetition rate of the Q-switched fiber laser can be changed along with the pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of graphene saturable absorber for passively Q-switched 2 μm fiber lasers.     

Supercontinuum generation at 1.55μm using highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber for telecommunication and medical applications

In this paper, we present a theoretical calculation of a highly nonlinear germanium (Ge) doped photonic crystal fiber with all-normal group velocity dispersion to design a supercontinuum (SC) light source at 1.55 μm. By doping 3% higher refractive index Ge inside the host silica, the nonlinear coefficient is increased to a value as large as 60.5 W^?1 km^?1 at 1.55 μm. A 10 dB bandwidth of a 120 nm SC spectrum for a 2.5 ps input optical pulse and a 10 dB bandwidth of a 190 nm SC spectrum for a 1.0 ps input optical pulse have been found using the same fiber length of 200m and input optical power of 18 W. The coherent lengths of the generated SC light sources are found to be 8.8 μm for a 2.5 ps input optical pulse and 5.6 μm for a 1.0 ps input optical pulse. Therefore, the highest longitudinal resolution at 1.55 μm is found to be about 4.0 μm for biological tissues.     

Tm–Ho codoped fiber based all fiber amplification of a gain-switched 2 μm fiber laser

A Tm–Ho codoped fiber amplifier system is built. And, amplification of a gain-switched Tm–Ho codoped fiber laser is investigated. Average output of 300 mW is obtained at repetition rate of tens of kHz with an amplification gain bigger than 11 dB. And, pulse amplification efficiency of resonantly pumped Tm–Ho codoped single clad fiber is comparable with 793 nm pumped Tm-doped double clad fiber. The maximal pulse energy generated is about 13.1 μJ, corresponding to a peak power of 282 W at 20 kHz. During the amplification process, gain-switching, partially modulated gain-switched mode-locking and 100% modulated gain-switched mode-locking are observed sequentially. At gain-switching mode, the laser output enjoys a narrow linewidth of 0.31 nm, while at gain-switched mode-locking mode, the spectral linewidth broadens to 0.6 nm.     

Hybrid photonic crystal 1.31/1.55 μm wavelength division multiplexer based on coupled line defect channels

The objective of this paper is to investigate the implementation of a hybrid photonic crystal (PhC) 1.31/1.55 μm wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) and wavelength channel interleaver with channel spacing of roughly 0.8 nm between the operating wavelengths of 1.54-1.56 μm. It is based on 1-D photonic crystal (PhC) structure connected with an output 2-D PhC structure. The power transfer efficiency of the hybrid PhC WDM at 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm were computed by eigen-mode expansion (EME) method to be about 88% at both the wavelengths. The extinction ratios obtained for the 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm wavelengths are − 25.8 dB and − 22.9 dB respectively.     

Numerical analysis of Raman amplification and optical signal-to-noise ratio in a photonic crystal fiber

A numerical design on the triangular photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based backward multi-pump Raman amplifier is presented. It is demonstrated that high flat Raman gain can be reached based on PCF. Influences of different geometric parameters and germanium doping concentrations on the Raman net gain, amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise and double Rayleigh backscattering (DRBS) of the signal have been analyzed. For optimizing crystal fiber Raman amplifier (FRA), there is tradeoff between the geometric parameter and germanium doping concentration of triangular PCF. The results show that PCF is an appropriate candidate for high gain Raman amplifiers.     

Amplification characteristics measurement of 1.55 μm multi-mode LD

The amplification characteristics of 1.55 μm multi-mode LD are presented experimentally. It demonstrates that nine wavelengths across 1547–1557 nm have a good amplification, the maximum gain of ∼43 dB at 1552.14 nm is obtained with pump power of 130 mW @980 nm, and noise figure of ∼5.6 dB at 1554.3 nm is achieved.     

Scaling of Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber to 200 μm core diameter for high beam quality laser output

The rare earth-doped active fibers not only have ten thousands of square-micron core-area but also deliver a laser with near-diffraction-limited beam quality. However, they have been studied little. In this paper, we design a 200-μm-corediameter Yb~(3+)-doped photonic crystal fiber with a large pitch in the air-hole cladding region. Simulations demonstrate that only fundamental mode(FM) with a mode field area(MFA) of ～ 28000 μm~2 can be amplified and propagated at the gain saturation, and the beam quality M~2 is about 1.5. It is predicted that almost 105 m J single-pulse energy is available from such a 1.5-meter-length fiber.     

1.55 μm distributed feedback (DFB) lasers subject to strong 1.4 μm optical injection

An experimental analysis of the influence of optical injection at 1.4 μm wavelength into two different commercial 1.55 μm DFB lasers is reported. The results demonstrate the strong dependence of the DFB behaviour on the injection parameters. Complete mode suppression or signal amplification can be obtained by varying the excitation wavelength and/or intensity, suggesting that these devices could be operated as logic ports or signal amplifiers, according to the injected signal.     

Highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber with low confinement loss at wavelength 1.55 μm

High birefringent and low confinement loss of photonic crystal fiber is reported at wavelength 1.55 μm via Full-Vectorial Finite Element Method (FV-FEM). By suitable designing of three ring hexagonal solid core fiber and also by introducing a pair of large holes along x-axis near the core region, high modal birefringence 3 × 10⁻³ and low confinement loss 0.019 dB/km are found at wavelength 1.55 μm.     

Passive polarization rotator based on silica photonic crystal fiber for 1.31-μm and 1.55-μm bands via adjusting the fiber length

A new polarization rotator based on the silica photonic crystal fiber is proposed. The proposed polarization rotator photonic crystal fiber （PR-PCF） possesses a triangle jigsaw-shape core region. The full-vector finite-element method is used to analyze the phenomenon of polarization conversion between the quasi-TE and quasi-TM modes. Numerical simulations show that the wavelengths of 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm are converted with a nearly 100% polarization conversion ratio with their matched coupling length and has a relatively strong realistic fabrication tolerance - 100 nm on the y axis and 50 nm on the x axis. The full vectorial finite difference beam propagation method is used to confirm the performance of the proposed PR-PCF.     

Design of a pressure sensor of 0–7 bar in fiber optic using MMI methodology

This research shows the possibility of measuring pressure in the range of 0–7 bar and the comparison against 2 commercial sensors. The technique used is based on the multimodal interference in a fiber optic singlemode–multimode–singlemode (SMS) to 1550 nm. The fiber optic is mounted on a plate of stainless steel AISI 316, where the bending of the plate will generate a curvature on the part of the multimodal fiber generating a decoupling of modes and this generates a low intensity to the output of the system.     

Design considerations to improve high temperature characteristics of 1.3 μm AlGaInAs-InP uncooled multiple quantum well lasers: Strain in barriers

Uncooled multiple quantum well lasers have great attraction because of their lower power dissipation and smaller size than traditional semiconductor lasers. In this study we will investigate the strain effect in barriers of 1.3 μm AlGaInAs-InP uncooled multiple quantum well lasers. We simulate a laser structure using a band-to-band transition approach. Single effective mass theory has been used for conduction band and Kohn-Luttinger Hamiltonian has been solved for valance band to obtain quantum states and envelope wave functions in the structure. In the case of unstrained barriers, the results have good agreement with a real device fabricated and presented in one of the references. Our main work is proposal of 0.2% compressive strain in the structure Barriers that cause 20% improvement in mode gain-current density characteristic. Significant reduction in leakage current density and Auger current density characteristics is also obtained at 85 °C. Optical gain-photon energy spectrum is increased more than 3% proportional to unstrained barriers.     

Temperature-dependent absorptance of painted aluminum, stainless steel 304, and titanium for 1.07 μm and 10.6 μm laser beams

We measured the temperature-dependent absorptance of metals (Al, Ti, SS304) for continuous beams from 1.07 μm fiber laser and 10.6 μm CO₂ laser using power sensors and infrared (IR) pyrometers. The absorptance measurements were repeated for metals with three different paint coatings. For measurements at elevated temperatures up to the melting point, integrating sphere is not practical since high temperature radiation from a heated target disturbs weak output from the sphere considerably. Our results provide how each metal, whether coated or uncoated, absorbs the infrared beams as temperature is elevated to a melting point. A polynomial approximation to the measured absorptance of each target is provided for modeling of the laser-metal interaction at elevated temperatures.