Mach-Zehnder interferometer formed in a photonic crystal fiber based on a pair of long-period fiber gratings

We demonstrate implementation of an all-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer formed in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF). We formed the all-PCF Mach-Zehnder interferometer by mechanically inducing two identical long-period fiber gratings (LPGs) in the PCF. The spectral properties of a LPG and a LPG pair were investigated. The interference fringe formed within the stop band of the LPG pair varied with the period and the strength of the gratings, and the fringe spacing was decreased with increasing grating separation. From the fringe spacing measurement the differential effective group index of the PCF was calculated to be deltam approximately equal to 2.8 x 10(-3).     

Wavelength-selective all-fiber filter based on a single long-period fiber grating and a misaligned splicing point

A novel wavelength-selective all-fiber filter using a single long-period fiber grating (LPG) interacting with a misaligned fusion splicing point has been demonstrated. The misaligned splicing point couples a part of the core mode power into the cladding modes, which is then recoupled into the core mode by the following LPG. As an optical path difference is introduced by the differential refractive index of the fiber, an in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer is therefore formed, which may function as a cost-efficient WDM filter with good isolation and low insertion loss.     

基于Michelson干涉仪的高灵敏度光纤高温探针传感器

提出了一种简单的高灵敏度的光纤高温探针传感器, 该传感器由一小段多模光纤和一端镀有银膜的单模光纤熔接而成. 由于单模光纤和多模光纤的纤芯直径不同, 当光波从多模光纤传输至多模光纤和单模光纤的熔接端面时, 一部分纤芯光耦合进包层, 因为单模光纤纤芯的折射率和包层的折射率不同, 不同模式的光经过银膜反射后在多模光纤内重新耦合进单模光纤, 最终形成干涉.随着外界温度的升高, 干涉谱峰值会向长波方向漂移. 实验结果证明这种传感器在470 ℃–600 ℃范围内具有很好的稳定性, 线性度达99.7%, 灵敏度为120 pm/℃, 可作为远距离反射型探针温度传感器, 在石油探测和油气田开发等领域有着广泛的应用前景. 关键词： 光纤传感 温度测量 Michelson干涉     

基于Mach-Zehnder干涉仪的光纤气体传感器理论

提出了一种基于马赫-曾德尔(Mach-Zehnder)干涉仪的光纤气体传感器。由于Mach-Zehnder干涉仪具有抑制光源噪声和模式噪声的特点,在高精度测量中越来越受到重视。在干涉仪的传感臂上涂有对待测气体敏感的薄膜,由于气体与敏感层的作用,导致光纤纤芯折射率发生变化,两臂的相位差发生变化,并引起干涉仪输出光强的变化和干涉条纹的平移,平移量与气体浓度对应。根据杨氏双缝干涉的理论,利用MATLAB对该研究进行计算机仿真,绘制出单色光的杨氏干涉图样和光强分布曲线,及气室中通入一定浓度的待测气体使干涉图样产生平移。     

Low electric power drived thermo-optic multimode interference switches with tapered heating electrodes

A novel thermo-optic multimode interference (MMI) switch with a tapered heating electrode was proposed and the performance of the switch was simulated. An analytical steady-state heat-conduction model is also presented. In the design, one tapered heating electrode is used to alter the refractive index in the multimode slab region to realize the switching function. The simulation results indicate that the MMI switch can provide high extinction ratio, and good polarization- and wavelength-independence. The electric power consumption for the MMI switch is half of that of a switch with a straight heating electrode and similar to that of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer switch.     

Fiber-optic sensor for liquid level measurement

A novel (to the best of our knowledge) liquid level sensor based on multimode interference (MMI) effects is proposed and demonstrated. By using a multimode fiber (MMF) without cladding, known as no-core fiber, liquids around the MMF modify the self-imaging properties of the MMI device and the liquid level can be detected. We show that the sensor exhibits a highly linear response with the sensing range and multiplexed operations easily controlled by just modifying the length of the no-core fiber. At the same time, we can measure the refractive index of the liquid based on the maximum peak wavelength shift. We can also use the sensor for continuous and discrete liquid level sensing applications, thus providing a liquid level sensor that is inexpensive with a very simple fabrication process.     

Wavelength switchable all-fiber comb filter using a dual-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer and its application in multiwavelength laser

A novel wavelength switchable all-fiber comb filter based on a dual-pass Mach-Zehnder (M-Z) interferometer is proposed and demonstrated. The proposed filter consists of a rotatable polarizer and a standard dual-pass M-Z interferometer composed of two 3-dB fiber couplers with a polarization controller (PC) in one arm. When the PC is properly set, the wavelength switchable operation is achieved by adjusting the polarization state of the input light. Theoretical calculation is verified by the experimental results. As applications, the proposed comb filter is incorporated into a fiber ring laser to generate wavelength switchable multiwavelength lasing.     

Fiber-optic beam shaper based on multimode interference

A new method of fiber-optic based beam shaping is investigated both numerically and experimentally. A cylindrically symmetric method of lines (MoLs) is developed to simulate the device. The device is fabricated by fusion splicing a predetermined length of multimode fiber (MMF) to a single-mode fiber. The multimode interference (MMI) effects create ring-shaped field profiles at certain positions inside the MMF. The shaped beam can be used in medical applications requiring particular irradiation patterns.     

基于光纤锥和纤芯失配的Mach-Zehnder干涉湿度传感器

介绍了一种简单且灵敏度较高的Mach-Zehnder干涉湿度传感器.将单模光纤和多模光纤渐变熔接光纤锥,色散补偿光纤被熔接在两个多模渐变光纤之间,形成了单模光纤-光纤锥-多模渐变光纤-色散补偿光纤-多模渐变光纤-光纤锥-单模光纤结构的传感器.光纤锥起到了增加包层模能量的作用,两个多模渐变光纤节点作为光耦合器,从而形成光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪.外界环境湿度的变化,将使得传感器透射谱能量发生变化,通过测量干涉谱波峰峰值能量实现对湿度的测量.实验结果表明干涉谱波峰峰值能量与环境湿度之间存在良好的线性关系.当环境湿度在35%RH—85%RH范围内变化,一段由20 mm色散补偿光纤组成的传感器,其灵敏度为-0.0668 dB/%RH,相关度为0.995.该传感器结构紧凑、尺寸小、制造工艺简单,这使其可以被广泛用于湿度测量.     

Wavelength-encoded fiber-optic temperature sensor with ultra-high sensitivity

We present in this paper a wavelength-encoded fiber-optic temperature sensor with ultra-high sensitivity. The sensor consists of a segment of multimode fiber (MMF) with a polymer cladding spliced between two single mode fibers, forming a multimode fiber interferometer. For a temperature sensor with a 55 mm long MMF and a 45 mm long polymer cladding, a temperature sensitivity of −3.195 nm/°C has been achieved over a temperature range of 10 °C which is mainly limited by the spectral range of the light source used in the experiments. It has been found that the high temperature sensitivity is mainly attributed to the high thermo-optic coefficient of the polymer cladding. Other advantages of the temperature sensor reported here include its extremely simple structure and fabrication process, and hence a very low cost.     

一个新型的基于全光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪BOTDR系统

报道了新型的分布式传感测量布里渊光时域反射(BOTDR)系统.布里渊散射频移和强度均依赖于温度和应变,因此,BOTDR利用光纤中的自发布里渊散射作为测量信号可以实现分布式温度和应变测量.在BOTDR中,光源采用窄谱半导体激光器,并由声光调制器调制成脉冲光,经掺铒光纤放大器放大后,注入测试光纤以产生自发布里渊散射.利用双通Mach-Zehnder干涉仪分离光纤背向散射中的自发布里渊散射与瑞利散射信号,实现了自发布里渊散射的直接检测.实验结果表明基于全光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪BOTDR方案是可行的.     

Biconical-taper-assisted fiber interferometer with modes coupling enhancement for high-sensitive curvature measurement

A modal interferometer based on multimode–singlemode–multimode fiber structure built with a biconical taper for fiber curvature measurement is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Due to the tapered singlemode fiber acting as a high-efficient mode power converter to enhance the modes coupling, curvature sensor with improved sensitivity is achieved by monitoring the defined fringe visibility of the interference spectrum. The measuring range can be tuned by changing the waist diameter of the fiber taper. Meanwhile, the sensor shows an intrinsic ability to overcome the influence of temperature cross-sensitivity and the power fluctuation of light source. The advantages of easy fabrication, high-quality spectrum with improved sensitivity, and small hysteresis will provide great potential for practical applications of the sensor.     

基于环结构的新型分布式光纤振动传感系统

提出并验证了一种新颖的基于环形马赫-泽德干涉仪结构的全分布式光纤振动传感系统.采用直流光实时动态定位技术，通过在干涉仪光路中引入环结构，将直线型干涉仪转化为环型回路，使得一个马赫-泽德干涉仪中相向传输两路光波，相当于构成双马赫-泽德干涉仪.当振动信号作用于传感光纤时，相向传输的两路直流光同时产生相同的相位信号并沿不同的路径传输至光接收单元，采用数字信号处理技术分析接收信号即可实时获得振动的空间位置和频率、幅度等特性参数.实验中成功实现了监测距离为1.01km的分布式振动传感，单点振动的空间分辨率小于40m.另外，从理论上分析并模拟了系统对多点同时振动进行检测和定位的可行性.     

Optical inclinometer based on a single long-period fiber grating combined with a fused taper

A new concept to measure rotation angles based on a fiber-optic modal Mach-Zehnder interferometer is demonstrated by using a nonadiabatic taper cascaded with a long-period fiber grating. Information about the magnitude of the rotation angle can be obtained from the measurement of the interference pattern visibility, and under certain conditions it is also possible to obtain the sign of the rotation angle from the induced phase variation in the fiber interferometer.     

Fourier-domain low-coherence interferometry for differential mode delay analysis of an optical fiber

We propose a novel mode analysis and differential mode delay measurement method for an optical fiber using Fourier-domain low-coherence interferometry. A spectral interferometer based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer setup was used with a broadband source and an optical spectrum analyzer to detect relative temporal delays between the guided modes of a few-mode optical fiber by analyzing spectral interference signals. We have shown that experimental results of the proposed method agree well with those results obtained by using a conventional time-domain measurement method. We have demonstrated that this new mode analysis technique has high sensitivity (<60 dB) and very good resolution (<1 ps/m).     

Four entangled photons generation using weak light and an all fiber optic scheme for multi-entangled photons generation

This paper proposes a simple scheme of four entangled photons generation using a pulse of weak light input into a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) incorporating a fiber optic ring resonator (FORR) without any optical pumping components included in the system. After a pair of entangled photon has been generated by a four-wave mixing of weak light pulse in the FORR [P.P. Yupapin, S. Suchat, Entangled photon generation using fiber optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer incorporating the nonlinear effect in a fiber ring resonator, Journal of Nanophotonics (JNP) 1 (2007) 013504], four and eight entangled photons can be performed. In application, the multi-entangled states can be formed using the appropriated coupling ratios into a fiber coupler. The effect of the entangled state walk-off along the optical fiber is discussed.     

Slow light Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer

A slow light structure Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer is theoretically demonstrated. The sensitivity of the interferometer is significantly enhanced by the dispersion of the slow light structure. The numerical results show that the sensitivity enhancement factor varies with the coupling coefficient and reaches its maximum under critical coupling conditions.     

分布式光纤布里渊散射温度传感实验系统

提出一种基于布里渊光时域反射计法的分布式光纤布里渊散射温度传感系统.光源采用窄谱半导体激光器.声光调制器将光源调制成窄脉冲,并由高增益光纤放大器放大,产生高功率光脉冲信号,提高了自发布里渊散射信号的强度.采用双通马赫-曾德干涉仪将布里渊散射从瑞利散射中分离出来,在一段4.25 km长的光纤上进行分布式温度传感的实验研究.双通马赫-曾德干涉仪对瑞利散射进行了很好的抑制,得到了比较纯净的随温度变化的布里渊散射信号.     

Simulations of refractive index variation in a multimode interference coupler: Application to gas sensing

An optical sensor based on multimode interference couplers structures has been studied. We have introduced the optical parameters of materials used in existing optical integrated circuits and a sensitive material characterised in previous studies. The variation of optical properties such as the refractive index of the covering sensitive material leads to a modification of waveguiding conditions in the multimode interference coupler. A gas sensor can be developed by measuring the variation of light intensity at the output of the multimode interference coupler structure under gas exposure. Simulations have been performed in order to optimise the output light intensity variations to increase sensitivity. We have shown that these structures are more sensitive than Mach-Zehnder interferometers, and that the relation between dimensions and sensitivity of the multimode interference coupler is not trivial.     

Ultrasonic sensitivity-improved fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer using a beam collimator and its application for ultrasonic imaging of seismic physical models

An ultrasonic sensitivity-improved fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer(FPI) is proposed and employed for ultrasonic imaging of seismic physical models(SPMs). The FPI comprises a flexible ultra-thin gold film and the end face of a graded-index multimode fiber(MMF), both of which are enclosed in a ceramic tube. The MMF in a specified length can collimate the diverged light beam and compensate for the light loss inside the air cavity, leading to an increased spectral fringe visibility and thus a steeper spectral slope. By using the spectral sideband filtering technique, the collimated FPI shows an improved ultrasonic response. Moreover, two-dimensional images of two SPMs are achieved in air by reconstructing the pulse-echo signals through using the time-of-flight approach. The proposed sensor with easy fabrication and compact size can be a good candidate for high-sensitivity and high-precision nondestructive testing of SPMs.