Design and analysis of a kind of large flattened mode optical fibre

In this paper, a refractive index profile design enabling us to obtain a flat modal field around the fibre centre is investigated. The theoretical approach for designing such multilayer large flattened mode (LFM) optical fibres is presented. A comparison is made between the properties of a three-layer LFM structure and a standard step-index profile with the same core size. The obtained results indicate that the effective area of the LFM fibre is about twice as large as that of the standard step-index fibre, but the LFM fibre has less effective ability to filter out the higher order modes than the standard step-index fibre with the same bending radius.     

Temperature or strain induced adjustable-chirp characteristics of uniform fibre grating with tapered metal coating

Temperature and strain characteristics of uniform fibre grating with tapered metal coatings have been analysed theoretically, by which adjustable chirp characteristics of such gratings are shown. Electroplating is adopted to fabricate such gratings, and the tapered metal coating is obtained by gradually drawing the fibre grating out of the solution during the process of electroplating. The gradually changing cross-sectional area of the metal coating is calculated by a newly suggested numerical method. By combining the theoretical and numerical simulation analyses, the gratings' characteristics are given at various temperatures and strains. The results obtained using such a method are also testified by experiments.     

Effects of Polarization-Maintaining Fibre Degrading on Precision of Fibre Optic Gyroscopes in Radiation Environment

In the space environment, the precision of fibre optic gyroscopes （FOGs） degrades because of space radiation. Photonic components of FOGs are affected by radiation, especially the polarization-maintaining （PM） fibre coil. In relation to the space radiation environment characteristic, we have carried out a series of radiation experiments on a PM fibre coil with 6OCo radiation source at different dose rates. Bazed on the experimental results, the formula between the PM-fibre loss and radiation dose rate is built, and the relation between the precision of FOG and radiation dose is obtained accordingly. The results strongly show that the precision of our FOG degrades owing to the attenuation of the polarization-maintaining fibre, which provides theoretical foundation for the radiation-resistant design of the FOG.     

An Ultra-Broadband Single-Polarization Single-Mode Photonic Crystal Fibre

An ultra broadband single-polarization single-mode （SPSM） photonic crystal fibre （PCF） is proposed and analysed by using the plane-wave expansion method and the beam propagation method. Numerical results demonstrate that the SPSM wavelength region nearly at 580 nm in width from 1. 461μm to 2.041μm is obtained in this PCF. The start wavelength of the SPSM region is close to the hole pitch, and the width of the SPSM region increases with the increasing hole pitch. Effects of dopant concentration on SPSM properties are investigated. The confinement loss decreases and the width of SPSM region widens slightly with the increasing dopant concentration. These results offer a new possibility of fabricating active doped SPSM PCFs with high performance that is crucial for improving the performance of linearly polarized fibre lasers.     

A Fully Vectorial Effective Index Method for Accurate Dispersion Calculation of Photonic Crystal Fibres

A fully vectorial effective index method is developed for accurate dispersion calculation of photonic crystal fibres （PCFs）. In order to improve the accuracy of the model, different values for the effective core radius are used when PCFs have different fibre parameters. The accuracy of our approach is demonstrated by comparing our results with other numerical and experimental results reported in literature. It is found that the accuracy of the fully vectorial effective index method is improved and our results agree well with accurate numerical results obtained by other methods as well as the previously reported experimental data.     

Improving performance of optical fibre chaotic communication by dispersion compensation techniques

This paper numerically investigates the effects of dispersion on optical fibre chaotic communication, and proposes a dispersion compensation scheme to improve the performance of optical fibre chaotic communication system. The obtained results show that the transmitter-receiver synchronization progressively degrades and the signal-to-noise ratio of the recovered message deteriorates as the fibre length increases due to the dispersion accumulation. Two segments of 2.5-km dispersion-compensating fibres are symmetrically placed at both ends of a segment of 245-km nonzero dispersionshifted fibre with low dispersion in one compensation period. The numerical results show that the signal-to-noise ratio of the extracted 1 GHz sinusoidal message is improved from -2.92 dB to 15.38 dB by this dispersion compensation for the transmission distance of 500 km.     

A simple model for approximate bandgap structure calculation of all-solid photonic bandgap fibre based on an array of rings

A simple model for approximate bandgap structure calculation of all-solid photonic bandgap fibre based on an array of rings is proposed. In this model calculated are only the potential modes of a unit cell, which is a high-index ring in the low-index background for this fibre, rather than the whole cladding periodic structure based on Bloch＇s theorem to find the bandgap. Its accuracy is proved by comparing its results with the results obtained by using the accurate full-vector plane-wave method. High speed in computation is its great advantage over the other exact methods, because it only needs to find the roots of one-dimensional analytical expressions. And the results of this model, mode plots, offer an ideal environment to explore the basic properties of photonie bandgap clearly.     

An Experimental Study of Ultrashort Pulsed Ytterbium-Doped Fibre Laser and Amplifier

We report the generation of ultrashort pulses in ytterbium-doped fibre oscillator emitting around 1.05μm at a repetition rate of 17.6 MHz. A diode laser with single silica fibre at 976nm pumps the ytterbium fibre laser, the all-fibre picosecond pulsed oscillator has excellent stability and compact size, and freedom from misalignment. After amplifying, pulse energy of 3.4 nJ and an average power of 60 m W are obtained. The compression is obtained with a grating pair out of the cavity. The compressor produces 307fs with the peak power 5.47kW. A practical fibre-based source with good performance is thus demonstrated.     

All-Fibre Ytterbium-Doped Photonic Crystal Fibre Laser with High Efficiency

A double-cladding ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fibre （PCF） with a 350-μm^2 effective area is fabricated. The measurement results show that the PCF has high absorption peak at 915 nm. Its fluorescence lifetime is 840μs. Laser experiments with all-fibre configurations are carried out with this fibre. A continuous-wave output power of 3.96 W is achieved with a 5.2 W launched pump power. The central wavelength of the output spectrum is 1080.22nm. The results show that the PCF laser has a high slope efficiency of 79.6% and light conversion efficiency of 76.2%.     

Theoretical study and optimization of a high power mid-infrared erbium-doped ZBLAN fibre laser

Based on the rate equations describing the erbium-doped fluoride glass(ZBLAN) fibre lasers with different pumping configurations being taken into account,this paper presents theoretical calculations related to the dynamic population density and the operation performance of a high power mid-infrared all-fibre erbium-doped ZBLAN fibre laser.It shows that the ground-state absorption,excited-state absorption and energy-transfer-upconversion processes co-exist and produce a population balance,causing the laser to operate stably at a continuous wave state.A good agreement between the theoretical results and recent experimental measurement is obtained.Furthermore,the laser structure parameters including fibre length,reflectance of output fibre Bragg grating and pumping configurations are quantitatively optimised to achieve the best performance.The results show,as expected,that the slope efficiency of the fibre laser can be improved significantly through optimisation,which then provides an important guide for the design of high-performance mid-infrared erbium-doped ZBLAN fibre lasers.     

Characterization of Amplified Spontaneous Emission from Er^3＋-Doped Tellurite Fibre

We present the characterization of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from newly fabricated Er^3 -doped tellurite fibres.When pumped at 98Ohm,a very broad erbium ASE in the range 1450-1650nm is observed.The changes of ASE with regard to fibre lengths and pumping power were measured.The output of 2mW from an Er^3 -doped tellurite fibre ASE source is obtained with the pump power of 540mW.     

Design and analysis of a novel single-mode single-polarization photonic crystal fibre based on polarization-dependent coupling and absorption effect

A novel single-mode single-polarization (SMSP) photonic crystal fibre has been proposed and analysed based on the polarization-dependent coupling and absorption effect via a full-vector finite element method with perfectly matched layers. The numerical results predict that very efficient SMSP operation can be achieved with both high bandwidth and high extinction ratio at low loss penalty. Effects of the fibre structural parameters on the SMSP bandwidth and extinction ratio have been explored, which will provide useful guide for the design and fabrication of the fibre. The results obtained will be instructive for the realization of new SMSP fibres with high performance.     

Propagation of Single-Mode Fibre Laser Beams through an Optical ABCD System with Circular Aperture at the Fibre Output End

Based on the expansion expression of the fundamental mode of a single-mode fibre in terms of Laguerr-Gauss modes, the propagation of a beam of a weakly guiding fibre laser through an opticM ABCD system with a circular aperture at the fibre end is studied. The results show that there is much difference between the propagation of the laser beam described by the expansion expression and by the Gaussian mode approximation. The depth of focus of the laser beam is longer than that of the Gaussian modes.     

Propagation properties of an index guiding high birefringence fibre

Based on a full-vector model, a theoretical study on a kind of high birefringence photonic crystal fibre is presented. Due to introducing air holes of two different sizes into the cladding, twofold rotational symmetry was obtained. We demonstrate the possibility of achieving high birefringence that is at least one order of magnitude higher than that of conventional polarization-maintaining fibres. The dependences of modal birefringence, modal field and differential group delay on the structure parameter of the fibres are discussed in detail. The numerical results are in very good agreement with the experimental results in the literature.     

Temperature dependence of birefringence in olarization-maintaining photonic crystal fibres

In this paper,the temperature dependence of birefringence in polarization maintaining photonic crystal fibres(PMPCFs) is investigated theoretically and experimentally.Utilizing the structural parameters of the PM-PCF samples in the experiment,two effects leading to the birefringence variation under different temperatures are analysed,which are the thermal expansion of silica material and the refractive index variation due to the temperature variation.The actual birefringence variation of the PM-PCF is the combination of the two effects,which is in the order of 10-9 K-1 for both fibre samples.Calculation results also show that the influence of refractive index variation is the dominant contribution,which determines the tendency of the fibre birefringence variation with varying temperature.Then,the birefringence beat lengths of the two fibre samples are measured under the temperature,which varies from -40℃ to 80℃.A traditional PANDA-type polarization maintaining fibre(PMF) is also measured in the same way for comparison.The experimental results indicate that the birefringence variation of the PM-PCF due to temperature variation is far smaller than that of the traditional PMF,which agrees with the theoretical analysis.The ultra-low temperature dependence of the birefringence in the PM-PCF has great potential applications in temperature-insensitive fibre interferometers,fibre sensors,and fibre gyroscopes.     

Laser self-mixing interference fibre sensor

Fibre sensors exhibit a number of advantages over other sensors such as high sensitivity, electric insulation, corrosion resistance, interference rejection and so on. And laser self-mixing interference can accurately detect the phase difference of feedback light. In this paper, a novel laser self-mixing interference fibre sensor that combines the advantages of fibre sensors with those of laser self-mixing interference is presented. Experimental configurations are set up to study the relationship between laser power output and phase of laser feedback light when the fibre trembles or when the fibre is stretched or pressed. The theoretical analysis of pressure sensors based on laser self-mixing interference is indicated to accord with the experimental results.     

Measuring Electrospun Nanofibre Diameter: a Novel Approach

A new method based on image analysis for electrospun nanofibre diameter measurement is presented. First, the SEM micrograph of the nanofibre web obtained by electrospinning process is converted to binary image using local thresholding method. In the next step, skeleton and distance transformed image are generated. Then, the intersection points which bring about untrue measurements are identified and removed from the skeleton. Finally, the resulting skeleton and distance transformed image are used to determine fibre diameter. The method is evaluated by a simulated image with known characteristics generated by ？-randomness procedure. The results indicate that this approach is successful in making fast, accurate automated measurements of electrospun fibre diameters.     

Flat Supercontinuum Generated in a Single-Mode Optical Fibre with a New Chromatic Dispersion Profile

A new chromatic dispersion profile of a single-mode optical fibre is proposed for generating a supercontinuum with a flatly broadened spectrum. The chromatic dispersion D(A, z) is a convex function of wavelengths and has no zero-dispersion wavelengths over the whole part of the fibre as D(A, z) is negative. It is shown that the flat supercontinuum spectrum is obtained when the pump wavelength is set in the vicinity of the wavelength at which the peak chromatic dispersion is near zero and the strong residual pump component is eliminated.     

A 980 nm Yb-doped single-mode fibre laser with 946 nm Nd:YAG laser as pump source

Based on rate equations,this paper gives expressions of the output power,the pump power threshold,the slope efficiency,the fibre optimal length and the laser gain of a quasi-three-level Yb-doped fibre laser.The gain relationship between quasi-three-level system and four-level system is also given,which provides a theoretical basis for suppressing the four-level transmissions.In the experiment,we adopt the backward pumping configuration and use a linear cavity.The Yb-doped fibre laser has an output power of 372 mW of single-mode laser emission at 980 nm with a slope efficiency of 21.2% when the fibre length is 29.5 cm close to an optimal fibre length in theory.The experimental results accord well with the theoretical analyses.     

Q-Switched Large-Mode-Area Yb-Doped Fibre Laser Using GaAs as Saturable Absorber

A passive Q-switched large-mode-area Yb-doped fibre laser is demonstrated using a GaAs wafer as the saturable absorber. A high Yb doping concentration double-clad fibre with a core diameter of 30μm and a numerical aperture of 0.07 is used to increase the laser gain volume, permitting greater energy storage and higher output power than conventional fibres. The maximum average output power is 7.2W at 1080nm wavelength, with the shortest pulse duration of 580ns and the highest peak power of 161W when the laser is pumped with a 25W diode laser operating at 976nm. The repetition rate increases with the pump power linearly and the highest repetition rate of 77kHz is obtained in the experiment.