Fibonacci quasi-periodic superstructure fiber Bragg gratings

Superstructure fiber Bragg gratings constructed following the Fibonacci sequence are proposed and simulated by using the transfer matrix method. The reflection spectrum has a multi-fractal structure as a function of the wavelength and is symmetric to the center. The reflectivity has self-similarity and scaling with respect to the Fibonacci sequence order at the central wavelength. For the transmission spectrum, the interaction of the core-cladding mode is investigated and the particular wavelengths for which the resonance condition is satisfied are located by varying the grating parameters. The potential application of the quasi-periodic structure as fiber sensors is also proposed.     

A novel method for fabricating apodized fiber Bragg gratings

In this paper, a new implementation of the double exposure method for fabricating apodized fiber Bragg gratings by controlling the parameters of rotation stage and the number of UV-shots is presented. As a result, the average refractive index is kept nearly constant along the Bragg grating, and various apodized fiber Bragg grating with high reflectivity and high side lobe suppression ratio have been fabricated in single-mode hydrogen-loaded photosensitive fiber . The achieved side-lobe suppression ratio is larger than 25 dB.     

Dynamic strain monitoring by wavelength locking between two fiber Bragg gratings fiber sensing system

We demonstrated a fiber sensing system using the method of wavelength locking of two identical fibers Bragg gratings (FBG) to interrogate the wavelength shift by directly measuring the intensity of the reflection from the sensing Bragg grating. The light source of the fiber sensing system is an EDFA fiber ring laser pumped by a 980 nm laser diode and a narrow bandwidth fiber Bragg grating for the filter of the ring laser resonator. The wavelength shift is converted to the intensity deviation of the reflection from the sensing FBG under strain variation, and is able to achieve real-time sensing of the dynamic strain sensing in civil engineering. The characteristics and key factors to maintain stability of the dynamic strain sensing system are discussed.     

Switchable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber lasers by using cascaded fiber Bragg gratings written in high birefringence fiber

A novel and simple Erbium-doped fiber laser by using cascaded fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) written in high-birefringence fibers for switchable multi-wavelength operation is proposed. Due to two-peak reflection with orthogonal polarizations of the FBG, the polarization hole-burning effect in the cavity is greatly enhanced. Experimental results show that the stable dual- and three-wavelength lasing operation with very narrow wavelength separation (0.39 nm) can be generated at room temperature. The configuration is simple and flexible. Only by adjusting polarization controllers (PCs), the laser can be switched among the stable single-, dual- and three-wavelength lasing operations.     

Motion characteristics of Bragg grating solitons in rectangle-apodized fiber Bragg gratings

We introduce both concave and convex rectangular apodizations in the middle of fiber Bragg gratings to achieve slow light. Based on the nonlinear coupled mode equations (NLCMEs), the transmission characteristics of grating solitons in rectangle-apodized gratings are numerically simulated and analyzed. The rectangular apodization can change the grating coupling coefficient to give rise to slow and capture the solitons in gratings. The effects of the soliton energy parameters, the width of rectangular apodization and the variation of the coupling coefficient on the soliton transmission are presented. The results show that, the velocity of solitons can be slowed down, and the capability to capture a soliton depends on the energy of input solitons, coupling coefficient, and the rectangular width. Two kinds of soliton capture methods are proposed and compared with each other.     

Addressing fiber Bragg grating sensors with wavelength-swept pulse fiber laser and analog electrical switch

A pulse train with a wavelength dependent time sequence is generated in a fiber laser configuration, which contains a cascaded wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array and a tunable F-P filter. By distributing pulses to corresponding channels with a 1 × N analog electrical switch, a novel FBG sensors interrogation technique with advantages of high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and high interrogation speed is experimentally demonstrated. Then, a FBG sensing system based on this interrogation technique and the mature unbalanced scanning Michelson interferometer (USMI) demodulation technique is realized. The system has shown a sensitivity of 1.610°/με, for the 1555 nm FBG, which agrees well with the theoretical value of 1.674°/με.     

Fractional optical Hilbert transform using phase shifted fiber Bragg gratings

In this paper, we demonstrate that an arbitrary order (including both integer and fractional orders) Hilbert transform (HT) of an input optical waveform can be implemented by a simple and practical phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PSFBG) operated in reflection mode. The PSFBG consists of two concatenated identical uniform FBGs with a proper phase shift between them. It is proved that both the phase shift of the FBGs and the apodizing profile of the refractive index modulation determine the order of the transform. The simulation results show that the device can perform arbitrary fractional Hilbert transform (FHT) with excellent accuracy for input signals with up to hundreds of GHz bandwidth using feasible FBG structures.     

Incorporate, switchable dual-wavelength fiber laser with Bragg gratings written in a polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber

A stable, incorporate and switchable dual-wavelength fiber laser with two fiber Bragg gratings written in a photosensitive and polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber directly, that is, without splices in the laser cavity, is proposed and demonstrated. Simultaneous dual-wavelength oscillation is achieved at room temperature with a wavelength spacing of 0.343 nm. The power fluctuation and wavelength shift of single-wavelength oscillations are measured to be less than 0.24 dB and 0.013 nm over 2 h. The wavelength switchability between single- and dual-wavelength oscillations is realized by altering the voltage upon the electrostrictive ceramic actuator.     

Optimization of reflection spectra for phase-only sampled fiber Bragg gratings

In this paper, the reflection spectra of a phase-only sampled fiber Bragg grating is obtained by optimizing its phase profile. The standard simulated annealing method is improved for optimization, and superior phase profiles which contain as few segments as possible per sampling period are obtained for 8, 16 and 32 identical channels. As very well known, increased number of WDM channels results in higher grating length and refractive index modulation amplitude. It is observed that application of these phase profiles limits the increases in both of these parameters considerably.     

Effect of friction in ferrules on compression tuning characteristics of fiber Bragg gratings

The effect of friction in ferrules on compression tuning characteristics of fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) was observed and analyzed in this paper. It was demonstrated that the micro-bending of the fiber in the ferrule would cause friction between fiber and inner wall of the ferrule, and the friction would make a non-uniform strain in the FBG and degradations of its reflection spectrum. To avoid the effect, some measures have been applied including reducing the ferrule diameter to fit the fiber, and filling some lubrication in the ferrule, and so on. Near 10 nm tuning range can be obtained with good spectral performance.     

Sensing properties of fiber Bragg gratings in small-core Ge-doped photonic crystal fibers

We report about fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) inscribed in two different types of small-core Ge-doped photonic crystal fibers with a UV laser. Sensing properties of the FBGs were systematically investigated by means of demonstrating the responses of Bragg wavelengths to temperature, strain, bending, and transverse-loading. The Bragg wavelength of the FBGs shifts toward longer wavelengths with increasing temperature, tensile strain, and transverse-loading. Moreover, the bending and transverse-loading properties of the FBGs are sensitive to the fiber orientations. The reasonable analyses for these sensing properties also are presented.     

Changing photo-written Bragg wavelengths of fiber gratings via one phase mask and four mirrors

A phase mask interferometer is developed to photo-write long gratings with arbitrary Bragg wavelengths. In this system, the fiber Bragg grating is photo-written by UV interference stripes of 193 nm reflected from two rotatable mirrors and two fixed mirrors, where the phase mask is not only used as a beam splitter, but also initialized the reference quantity of Bragg wavelength; the fixed mirrors are used for reducing the incident angle; the rotatable mirrors are used for adjusting the corresponding photo-written Bragg wavelength. It is worth noting that the photo-written length is fourfold as high as the length in the Talbot interferometer with the same mirror size.     

Accurate analysis for reflection-peak bandwidths of sampled fiber Bragg gratings without chirp based on multiple-phase-shift technique

Dense comb-like reflective spectrum is available for a sampled fiber Bragg grating (SFBG) by using multiple-phase-shift (MPS) technique. The expressions for the reflection-peak bandwidths of a uniform SFBG based on MPS technique are derived through Fourier transform of the index modulation. The new expressions can be used to accurately calculate the reflection-peak bandwidths as taking the parameters into account, such as the duty cycle and the “AC” index change. The simulation spectrum based on the transfer matrix method agrees well with the theoretical analysis.     

Longitudinal coupling effect in microfiber Bragg gratings

We theoretically present longitudinal coupling effect (LCE) in air-cladding microfiber Bragg gratings (MFBGs). Distinct from conventional weakly-guiding optical fibers, large longitudinal electric field (E_z) exists in wavelength-scale microfibers. Due to LCE, MFBG reflectivity can be reduced by more than 30% within the band-gap and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) is obviously narrowed. This theoretical analytical work is instructive to precisely design and fabricate MFBGs that are promising in the areas of optical sensing and nanophotonics.     

Apodised fiber Bragg gratings fabricated with a uniform phase mask using Gaussian beam laser

A new exposure scheme for fabricating apodised fiber Bragg gratings by the use of a uniform phase mask and a Gaussian beam laser is demonstrated. Average refractive index is kept nearly constant along the grating to derive a side lobe suppression of 20 dB in the shorter wavelength. This scheme allows the writing of truly apodized fiber Bragg gratings.     

Analytical investigation of response of birefringent fiber Bragg grating sensors in distributed monitoring system based on optical frequency domain reflectometry

When Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are used as strain sensors, both longitudinal and lateral strain can be applied uniformly or non-uniformly over the length of the FBGs. In order for the demodulation of such FBG signal, this paper investigates the response of birefringent FBGs which are monitored by distributed measurement system based on optical frequency domain reflectometry. A numerical model of the distributed measurement system is built based on piece-wise uniform approach, which considers polarization states of propagating lights. The numerical model simulates analytical response of birefringent FBGs especially when birefringence induces power fluctuations in the distributed spectra, which can be noise or new opportunity for sensitive monitoring of birefringence. Simulation results show the relationships between the power fluctuations and the polarization states of the propagating lights. Consequently, appropriate methods of polarization control for sensitive distributed birefringent FBG monitoring are discussed.     

双体布拉格光栅光谱反馈特性的理论研究

基于Kogelnik理论模型,以平面波为入射光,分析了双体布拉格光栅（VBG）的反馈特性。理论分析表明,采用双VBG结构,通过控制两个VBG的中心波长差,可以使光栅反馈的效率提高,带宽加宽。对于由两块带宽100 pm、衍射效率20%的VBG组成的双VBG反馈系统,中心波长相同时,衍射效率最大（33.3%）;中心波长相差84 pm时,其带宽为单VBG带宽的1.8倍（180 pm）。由于VBG的中心波长存在温度漂移特性,因此通过改变双VBG结构中VBG的温度可以实现衍射效率和带宽的改变,为泵浦源的优化提供有效可行的方法。     

All-optical wavelength converter based on fiber cross-phase modulation and fiber Bragg grating

I present new method of phase modulation to amplitude modulation conversion (PM/AM conversion) that utilizes integrating capabilities of fiber Bragg grating (FBG). I found that the wavelength converter based on fiber cross-phase modulation (XPM) and new method of PM/AM conversion have an order of magnitude higher conversion efficiency then the wavelength converter based on sideband filtration method and up to 6 dB higher conversion efficiency then the converter based on the nonlinear optical loop mirror. Numerical analysis and experimental results are provided for bit rates up to 40 Gb/s.