Polarisation splitter/combiner based on an antiresonant directional coupler

The theoretical performance of a new polarisation splitter/combiner based on a directional coupler is studied using vectorial mode analysis. The device includes an efficient antiresonant mirror transparent to TM polarisation and opaque to TE polarisation. Simulations indicate a high level of TM light can be transferred from the input waveguide into the non-excited guide for coupling lengths shorter than 1 mm. In addition, coupling efficiency of 80% and extinction ratios close to 30 dB have been obtained in a not optimised device.     

Simple design of optical fiber displacement sensor using a multimode fiber coupler

A simple design sensor is demonstrated using a fabricated multimode plastic fiber coupler in conjunction with reflective intensity modulation technique. The performances of this sensor are investigated for different light sources. This sensor uses only one fiber for sending and receiving the light and therefore only the back slope exists. The sensor shows the highest performance with the use of yellow light source, which has the highest intensity and the smallest beam divergence. The sensitivity, linear range, resolution and dynamic range of the sensor are obtained at 0.0001 mV/μm, 1500 μm, 70 μm, and 5.0 mm, respectively. The simplicity of the design, high degree of sensitivity, dynamic range and the low cost of the fabrication make it suitable for real field applications.     

Beam cleanup in a self-aligned gradient-index Brillouin cavity for high-power multimode fiber amplifiers

We propose a beam cleanup setup to convert a multimode beam into a single-mode beam by use of the Brillouin effect in a multimode gradient-index (GI) fiber. Phase conjugation and beam cleanup regimes in highly multimode fibers are discussed, and the self-aligned GI fiber Brillouin cavity is presented. We report a preliminary conversion from an M2=6.5 beam into an M2=1.3 beam with 31% efficiency.     

Integrated thin film InGaAsP laser and 1 x 4 polymer multimode interference splitter on silicon

We report on a thin film InGaAsP laser integrated with a 1 x 4 polymer multimode interference (MMI) splitter on a silicon substrate for planar optical signal distribution. The thin film laser had a threshold current of 40 mA and was endfire coupled to the integrated passive polymer MMI splitter, and the optical signal from the laser was distributed to the four output waveguides of the MMI coupler. The measured loss of the MMI splitter was 0.79 dB. The normalized powers of the four MMI output ports in the integrated system were measured to be 0.823, 0.978, 0.852, and 1.     

Ruggedized multimode star coupler for military applications

The development of a high-performance, ruggedized multimode star coupler intended for use in fiber optic data transmission networks aboard naval surface ships is reported. The coupler was designed to exhibit superior optical performance in terms of both low loss and highly uniform coupling. It was also designed to survive a range of severe environmental and mechanical tests, including impact from a 400-lb hammer dropped from a 5 foot height, and a temperature range of - 62°C to 125°C. The coupler sizes produced ranged from 8 × 8 to 64 × 64 port devices. Essential features of the design along with sample performance data are presented.     

A method for designing a variable-channel high-power cavity combiner

Cavity combiners have been put forward for high power combining due to their advantages of larger combining ability,variable input channels and less power loss.For a high power cavity combiner,it is better to keep the power loss ratio in a reasonable range,because large power loss would lead to strict requirements on the cooling system.A combiner with variable input channels is convenient for outputting different power levels according to practical demands.In this paper,a method for designing a variable-channel high-power cavity combiner is proposed,based on the relation between input and output coupling coefficients obtained by analyzing the equivalent circuit of the cavity combiner.This method can put the designed cavity combiner in a matching state and keep its power loss rate in a reasonable range as the number of input channels changes.As an example,a cavity combiner with 500 MHz and variable input channels from 16 to 64 is designed,and the simulation results show that our proposed method is feasible.     

Characteristics of pulse fiber amplifier with China-made LMA fiber and (6+1)×1 multimode combiner

A pulse master-oscillator fiber power amplifier system with china-made large-mode-area fiber and a (6+1)×1 multimode combiner is demonstrated. The system generates up to 4.8 W of amplified radiation (100 kHz) at a wavelength of 1064 nm with a near-diffraction-limited beam quality (M²=1.2), and the overall slope efficiency with respect to the launched pump power is 50%. Some basic characteristics of this system, including the pulse-amplification characteristics, the gain characteristics, as well as the emission spectrum characteristics are investigated in detail.     

Performance comparison between plastic-based fiber bundle and multimode fused coupler as probes in displacement sensors

Fiber optic displacement sensors with bundled and fused coupler fiber probes are being investigated. The effects of axial displacements on the detected output voltages are also investigated for fiber bundle probe sensor. The resolutions obtained are 0.9 and 4.0 μm, for the front and back slopes, respectively. A comparison is made with a commercial plastic based multimode fused coupler which gives a better range of 2.0 mm. This is longer than that achieved by the fiber bundle probe which is only 0.4 mm and has a lower resolution of 34 μm for the case of 50:50 coupling ratio.     

Optimization of holey fiber for dispersion compensation

Hermite-Gaussian functions were used to calculate the dispersion of holey fibers, when pitch was more than 0.6 μm, there was dispersion inflexion at 1.55 μm (wavelength), and the relation of the dispersion inflexion versus fiber structure was given. Calculations show that the dispersion of holey fiber could reach -2300 ps/(nm·km), or they could compensate (to within ±4%) the dispersion of 120 times of their length of standard single mode fiber over a 100-nm range.     

Micro-displacement sensor with multimode fused coupler and concave mirror

Fiber optic displacement sensor is demonstrated using a multimode fused coupler probe and a concave mirror target. It is observed that a focal length of the concave mirror make a significant influence to the displacement response, which illustrates three linear slopes with the second slope peaks at the position that is in vicinity of two times of the focal length. The highest sensitivity of 0.56 mV/mm is obtained with an infinity focal length and it is decreased as the focal length of the concave mirror decreases. The widest linear range of approximately 3.3 mm is observed in the third slope region with focal length of 6.0 mm. The highest linear range obtained with the use of 50:50 coupler.     

Planar multimode couplers for fiber optics

Ion exchange in a melt of lithium and potassium sulfates is utilized to form couplers for multimode fiber optics. The results of coupling measurements on asymetric Y-branch couplers are given.     

Multiple fiber connectors for multimode fibers

We report on a multiple fiber connector for multimode fibers with a low insertion loss of ? 0.22 dB. The simple, standard photolithographic fabrication process involved can yield reproducibly the tight tolerances that are required for low loss connectors.     

Optical irradiation method for fiber coupler fabrications

An optical irradiation method for high-speed fiber coupler fabrications without contamination is proposed. In optical fiber taper fabrications we found an interesting effect that fiber elongation is self-arrested although laser irradiation is continued. This is a typical effect in the optical irradiation method, but is not seen in the flame method or the thermal heating method. The “self-controlled fiber taper shape effect” is theoretically explained by considering thermal energy flows, and optical fiber couplers are fabricated using this effect. From our experiments, we show that optical fiber coupler fabrications at high-speed without contamination are possible using the optical irradiation method.     

Nonlinear-optical modulator for high-power fiber lasers

We propose a novel nonlinear-optical fiber modulator for high-power (>1-W) single-mode fiber lasers. The device is based on transferring the amplitude modulation from a low-power signal at the Stokes frequency onto a high-power beam through stimulated Raman scattering. The efficiency and limitations of the Raman modulator when highly Ge-doped fiber is used is considered. An insertion loss of less than 0.4 dB and an extinction ratio of 20 dB are predicted for modulation of a 10-W single-mode Nd-doped fiber laser.     

A non-fused fiber coupler for side-pumping of double-clad fiber lasers

A non-fused fiber coupler is demonstrated for side-pumping of the double-clad fiber (DCF) lasers by adhesive techniques. The fiber coupler is fabricated by adhering an angularly polished single-clad fiber (SCF) to the inner cladding of the DCF. The pumping light is launched from the SCF by total inner reflection. Coupling coefficient as a function of coupling angle, bend distance, and backward scattering is investigated. The field distribution in DCF is also discussed.     

6.5-ns actively Q-switched Nd：YVO4 laser operating at 1.34 μm

A novel design of multimode light power splitter is proposed and fabricated by using secondary asymmetric Y branches.An almost equally divided output among output terminals is obtained experimentally.Maskless laser direct writing technique is applied in the fabrication process to facilitate the formation of power splitters by ultraviolet curable polymer.The analysis of the performances of both four-port and eight-port devices shows that these two dividers obtain a power splitting uniformity of more than 95%.     

Novel composite beam splitter with directional coupler and Y-junction using photonic crystal

We propose and analyze a novel multiway high efficiency composite beam splitter based on propagation properties of the light waves in directional coupler and Y-junction. The splitting properties of the beam splitter have been numerically simulated and analyzed using the PWE and FDTD methods. Then in order to obtain equal distribution of power, we place and adjust some additional rods in the output waveguides to optimize the devices. It was shown that a large separating angle, a high beam rate, high flexibility, has been extended to have more light output channels in the beam splitter.     

Transmitting spectra-temperature characteristic of single-mode fiber coupler for fiber gyro application

The relationship between the transmitting spectra characteristic of a fused single mode fiber coupler (SMFC) and the performance of interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope (IFOG) is analyzed in theory firstly. Then the transmitting spectra-temperature characteristic of SMFC is experimented, and the influence of the spectrum-stability of the SMFC on IFOG is simulated and experimented. Through the theory analysis and experiment research, it is confirmed that the spectrum output from the SMFC's throughput port is more stable than that output from the coupled port, and the bias instability of the rotation errors induced by the variation of spectrum output from the SMFC's coupled port is 10 times of that output from the throughput port. Therefore, to choose the SMFC's throughput port as the input port for navigation-grade gyroscope is an effective method to improve the IFOG's performance.     

Extending the bandwidth-distance product for multimode fiber systems

A scheme is investigated by which the bandwidth-distance product of a multimode fiber can be easily extended to support nearly the same transmission rate as the single-mode system. The scheme is based on launching a limited number of modes into the multimode fiber, and extracting a limited number of modes at the receiving end. The power penalty imposed by the scheme and the dispersion performance are investigated. In particular, it is shown that the scheme carries about 6.5-dB penalty, and doubling of the bandwidth × distance value is demonstrated. The proposed scheme facilitates upgrading the existing networks wired with multimode fiber (e.g., FDDI) from hundreds of Mbps to Gbps transmission rates.     

Compensation for multimode fiber dispersion by adaptive optics

Adaptive optics is used to compensate for modal dispersion in digital transmission through multimode fiber (MMF). At the transmitter, a spatial light modulator (SLM) controls the launched field pattern. An estimate of intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by modal dispersion is formed at the receiver and fed back to the transmitter, where the SLM is adjusted to minimize ISI. Error-free transmission of 10 Gbit/s non-return-to-zero signals through standard 50 microm graded-index MMFs up to 11.1 km long is demonstrated. It is shown that a single SLM can compensate for modal dispersion across a 600 GHz bandwidth.