New plastic optical fiber using polycarbonate core and fluorescence-doped fiber for high temperature use

This article describes the development of a plastic optical fiber composed of a polycarbonate core with a glass transition temperature of 150°C, and a cladding of newly developed poly-4-methyl penten-1, which softens at 173°C. This cladding is suitable for use at temperatures up to 130°C. The minimum optical attenuation is 0.8 dB/m at 765 nm in the near-infrared region. The cause of the attenuation of the PC-core fiber was analyzed and the intrinsic loss limit was estimated to be 0.4 dB/m at 765 nm. The fiber has excellent characteristics, including thermal stability up to 125°C, high flexibility, high strength, and self-extinguishing properties.

The polycarbonate core fiber, doped organic fluorescing materials, has also been developed for automotive uses such as light guide and illuminator. Light can be transmitted through this fiber with incident optical beam perpendicular to the fiber as well as the beam parallel to the fiber.     

Polycarbonate hollow-core microstructured optical fiber

A hollow-core microstructured polymer optical fiber is fabricated from polycarbonate material and guidance by inhibited coupling in a two-layer structure is demonstrated in two strong transmission bands with minimum losses of 9.0 dB/m at 800 nm and 3.1 dB/m at 1550 nm. The latter corresponds to a loss well below the polycarbonate material loss at this wavelength, and to our knowledge it is the lowest loss hollow-core polymer fiber reported to date. The short-term operational temperature limit of the fiber is shown to be 135 degrees C, significantly higher than that of conventional polymer optical fibers made of other polymers.     

低损耗Ge-As-Se-Te硫系玻璃远红外光纤的性能分析

中、远红外光学领域的发展,离不开低损耗光波导材料的发展,因此近年来远红外低损耗光纤一直是光学领域的热点之一.本论文在国内首次报道了一种基于挤压法的低损耗远红外光纤制备技术,获得了具有完整结构的远红外光纤,其损耗为:0.46 d B/m@8.7μm,1.31 d B/m@10.6μm,整体低于1 dB/m@7.2—10.3μm.在实验过程中,首先采用传统的熔融淬冷法和蒸馏纯化工艺制备了Ge-As-Se-Te玻璃样品.利用X射线衍射仪和热膨胀仪等测试了玻璃的结构和物理性质,分析了Ge对玻璃热学性质的影响;利用分光光度计、红外光谱仪等研究了玻璃的光谱性质;综合比较了还原剂铝、镁的除氧效果.最后采用挤压法制备了芯包结构光纤.实验结果表明:镁的除氧效果佳,新型挤压制备工艺和有效提纯技术共同推进了硫系光纤损耗的降低,所获得的Ge-As-Se-Te光纤具有远红外广谱应用的潜能(其透光波长接近12μm).     

Reduction of fiber facet reflection by a curved core termination

A method to reduce end facet reflectivity of optical fibers by curving the fiber core is presented. The curved end core is obtained by first angle cleaving the fiber end and then balling up the fiber tip by a fusion process. The light escapes from the fiber core at the curve and follows his path through the cladding material up to the balled up fiber surface. Thus, the fiber termination acts as a beam expander and at the same time the facet reflectivity is reduced by >38 dB.     

Fiber-optic refractive-index sensors based on transmissive and reflective thin-core fiber modal interferometers

We present a new fiber-optic refractive-index sensor based on a fiber modal interferometer constituted by a thin-core optical fiber, whose cut-off wavelength is around three times shorter than normal single-mode fiber. In such a core diameter mismatching structure, the high-order cladding modes are efficiently excited and interfere with the core mode to form a high extinction-ratio filter (>30 dB). Both transmissive and reflective thin-core fiber modal interferometers are experimentally demonstrated, and show a high sensitivity to a small change of external refractive-index (>100 nm/R.I.U.), but a low sensitivity to the change of temperature (<0.015 nm/°C). Such a fiber device possesses an extremely simple structure, but excellent refractive-index sensing properties, and thus is an ideal candidate for fiber-optic biochemical sensing applications.     

复合纺丝法制备聚合物瓣状光纤的研究

瓣状光纤(SCF)由高折射率均匀芯层和高低折射率区域交替的皮层组成, 可有效地实现大纤芯单模运行。提出了采用复合纺丝法一步制备瓣状光纤。采用聚碳酸酯(PC)和聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯(PMMA)成功地制备截面符合设计要求的聚合物瓣状光纤。所制光纤的纤芯直径为40 μm。并用白光作为光源, 考察了所制光纤在500～1000 nm波段范围的出射光谱。从出射光谱可以看出, 所制光纤在730～830 nm波段范围内透射率比较高。通过截断法对所得光纤在500～1000 nm波段范围的传输损耗进行测试, 结果表明所制光纤的传输损耗比较大, 最大为30 dB/m。采用532 nm绿色激光作为光源, 通过CCD采集60 cm所得光纤的光斑。     

Experimental realization of a novel dispersion- compensating optical fiber amplifier for simultaneous compensation of positive dispersion and losses

Erbium-doped dispersion-compensating optical fiber (EDCF) has been theoretically simulated and experimentally fabricated using Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD) for optimum operation at 5.0km. It is optimized for both gain as well as negative dispersion. The erbium has been doped into the cladding region while the core of the optical fiber is chosen to be narrow so as to have a high negative dispersion. Measured gain of 3.1 dB at 200 m using 100 mW pumping power (980 nm wavelength) at 1550 nm has been obtained and the gain of 32 dB at 5.0 km using same pumping scheme has been predicted. The chromatic dispersion of this EDCF has been also measured to be –43.5 ps/km-nm at 1550 nm and thus, providing the dispersion of –217.5 ps/nm at 5 km. The bend-induced losses are found to be negligible. We are the first to report the experimental realization of EDCF.     

Optically controllable variable fiber optical attenuator integrated in conventional optical fiber

New type of optically controllable variable fiber optical attenuator based on thermo-optical effect in liquid cladding of optical fiber is described. The thermo-optical effect in liquid cladding optical fiber causes refractive index contrast changes in core–cladding interface, what enables to change the propagating optical signal power with temperature. The temperature change is achieved by fiber based heating element using laser radiation. Attenuation up to −12 dB was achieved in static dependence and dynamic response confirmed rise time up to 24 ms.     

128 W单频线偏振光纤放大器特性研究

高功率单频激光在激光雷达、光谱学、精密测量等领域具有广阔的应用前景.采用中心波长为1064 nm、光谱线宽为20 kHz、偏振消光比（PER）高于20 dB的单频线偏振分布式反馈光纤激光器做种子源（尾纤输出功率约为10 mW）,利用种子注入主振荡功率光纤放大技术,通过两级级联放大实现了128 W高功率单频、线偏振、近衍射极限单模连续激光输出.主放大器光-光效率达到83%,PER高于12 dB.采用分段温控技术有效地提高了光纤中的受激布里渊散射（SBS）阈值,实验中未观察到明显的放大自发辐射和SBS现象,进 关键词： 掺Yb光纤放大器 主振荡功率光纤放大 单频 线偏振     

Investigation of all-solid photonic bandgap fiber with low losses in low-order bandgaps

We report synoptically an investigation of design, fabrication and characterization of a new all-solid photonic bandgap fiber. By introducing an index depressed layer around a high index core in every unit cell of photonic crystal cladding, a novel all-solid bandgap fiber is predicted to obtain low confinement and bend losses within low-order bandgaps. After optimizing the structure parameters, we fabricate a batch of rods used for cladding cells, select a pure-silica rod for core cell and an inner-hexagonal jacket tube. We demonstrate an all-solid bandgap fiber with the transmission loss as low as 2 dB/km at 1,310 nm and a bandwidth of over 700 nm within the first bandgap. The guiding properties are also measured, respectively, such as transmission spectrum, attenuation spectrum, bend loss, mode field intensity profile, and chromatic dispersion.     

Dispersion compensation in optical transmission systems using high negative dispersion chalcogenide/silica hybrid microstructured optical fiber

In this paper, a new hybrid microstructured optical fiber (H-MOF) based upon photonic bandgap (PBG) light guiding mechanism which can be used for dispersion compensation in optical transmission systems is designed and simulated. The H-MOF core is made up of silica glass and the holes in the cladding network are filled with As₂Se₃ chalcogenide glass. By selecting an appropriate geometrical parameters for the structure, the dispersion and confinement losses of the proposed H-MOF at 1.55 µm are calculated to be ?6700 ps/nm/km and 6?×?10^?4 dB/m, respectively. Relative dispersion slope (RDS) of the H-MOF at 1.55 µm is about 0.00347 nm^?1. The proposed H-MOF is suitable for use in wavelength division multiplexing and dispersion compensating systems in optical fiber transmission networks.     

A novel ultrahigh birefringent hole-assistant microstructured optical fiber with low confinement loss

A novel hole-assistant microstructured optical fiber with a rectangle-like core and four elliptical holes as cladding is proposed. By employing a full-vector finite element method, the modal birefringence and confinement loss are numerically investigated, and the results show that in such a structure, an ultrahigh modal birefringence of 2.91×10⁻² and a low confinement loss (<1 dB/km) can be simultaneously obtained at excited wavelength of 1.55 μm. It is significant that such a microstructured optical fiber is easily fabricated with its simple structure and exhibits improved performance.     

Large negative dispersion in dual-concentric-core photonic crystal fiber with hybrid cladding structure based on complete leaky mode coupling

Considering the optical stability of solution, the sugar-solution is infused into the outer core ring of dual-concentric-core photonic crystal fiber (DCCPCF). The influences of structure parameters and solution concentration on the phase and loss matching are comprehensively analyzed. By choosing the appropriate outer core mode to completely couple with the inner core fundamental mode, the large negative dispersion PCF around 1.55 μm is designed, which has the dispersion value of − 39,500 ps/km/nm as well as bandwidth of 7.4 nm and effective mode area of 28.3 μm². The designed PCF with hybrid cladding structure can effectively compensate the positive dispersion of conventional single mode fiber, and suppress the system perturbation caused by a series of nonlinear effects. Considering the mode field mismatching between the DCCPCF and the tapered fiber, the calculated connection loss around 1.55 μm is below 3 dB. In addition, the equivalent propagation constants of two leaky modes are deduced from the coupled-mode theory, and the complete mode coupling case can be well predicted by comparing the real and imaginary parts of propagation constants.     

Wavelength and sensitivity tunable long period gratings fabricated in fluid-cladding microfibers

We report the fabrication of long period gratings in fluid-cladding microfibers by directly focusing a femtosecond laser beam on the microfibers surface to induce periodical modification a long one side of the microfibers.A long period grating is fabricated in a water-cladding microfiber with a diameter of~5μm,which demonstrates a resonant attenuation of 28.53 dB at wavelength of 1588.1 nm with 10 pitches.When water cladding is changed to be refractive index oil of n=1.33 and alcohol solution with concentration of 5%,the resonance wavelength shifts to 1575.1 nm with resonant attenuation of 24.91 dB and 1594.1 nm with resonant attenuation of 35.9 dB,respectively.The long period grating demonstrates different temperature sensitivities of-0.524 nm/℃,-0.767 nm/℃and-1.316 nm/℃for water,alcohol solution and refractive index oil cladding microfibers,respectively,which means the alterable liquid cladding allows the availability of tunable wavelength and sensitivity.The fluid-cladding protects the microfibers from external disturbance and contamination and allows more flexibility in controlling the transmission property and sensing characteristics of long period gratings,which can be used as fiber devices and sensors for chemical,biological,and environmental applications.     

Lasing in thulium-doped polarizing photonic crystal fiber

We describe lasing of a thulium-doped polarizing photonic crystal fiber. A 4 m long fiber with 50 μm diameter core, 250 μm diameter cladding, and d/Λ ratio of 0.18 was pumped with a 793 nm diode and produced a polarized output with a polarization extinction ratio (PER) of 15 dB and an M(2) of <1.15. An intracavity polarizer and half-wave plate minimally increased the PER to 16 dB. The output power had 35% slope efficiency relative to the absorbed pump power. The maximum cw output power was limited to 4 W due to the quantum defect heating of the fiber.     

Optical fiber coupling to single-mode silica-based planar lightwave circuits with fiber-guiding grooves

To enable alignmentfree optical fiber coupling to single-mode silica-based waveguides, fiber-guiding grooves are fabricated in the same substrate as waveguide circuits.These grooves are used successfully to couple optical fiber to Waveguides. An average, fiber-to-waveguide coupling loss of 0.6 dB per interface is obtained with eight arrayedguiding grooves, and it is expected that this will further be reduced to 0.2 dB per interface. The coupling loss varies by ±0.3 dB during thermal cycling between -10°C and +60°C.     

All-optical clock extraction from 10-Gbit/s NRZ-DPSK data using modal interference in a two-mode fiber

All-optical clock extraction from a 10-Gbit/s NRZ-DPSK input signal is demonstrated using modal interference in a two-mode fiber (TMF) and a mode-locked fiber ring laser. The TMF has a Mach-Zehnder configuration with two arms along the core and cladding regions. Using the difference in propagation delay between two arms, the non-return-to-zero differential phase shift keying (NRZ-DPSK) signal is converted to the return-to-zero on-off keying (RZ-OOK) signal. To obtain repetitive pulses as a clock signal from the RZ-OOK signal, a ring laser with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is used. Subsequently, the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the RZ-OOK and clock signals are enhanced up to 30 dB and 40 dB, respectively, compared to that of the original NRZ-DPSK signal. Also, the clock signal centered at 10 GHz has a low timing jitter of <1.6 ps. It is expected that this method can be applied to high speed fiber-optic systems of >10 Gbit/s due to its small time delay between the core and cladding regions.     

A liquid lens-based broadband variable fiber optical attenuator

To the best of our knowledge, proposed is the first variable fiber optical attenuator (VFOA) using an electronically controlled variable focus liquid lens. The approach uses the changes in the radius of curvature of the liquid lens edge to enable an electronically controlled optical wedge that produces a varying beam tilt angle. In effect, changing beam tilt within a single mode fiber (SMF) lens free space coupling assembly leads to a polarization independent broadband VFOA design. The demonstrated VFOA experiment shows broadband operation over the 1530-1560 nm C-Band with a 40 dB dynamic range, <0.5 dB resolution, 0.3 dB polarization dependant loss, 4.3 dB fiber-to-fiber optical loss, 3 dB optical bandwidth from 1510 nm to 1700 nm, and switching time of <100 ms. Applications for this VFOA include use in hand held test and measurement equipment.     

Gamma-ray-radiation-induced damage to silicon single-mode fiber

The gamma-ray-radiation -induced damage to silicon single -mode fiber is reported. The immediate radiation-induced attenuation of the 10 m fiber under total dose 10⁴ rad is 8.98 dB/km, which was tolerable. Some disastrous attenuation was found a half-hour later, which rapidly increased to 642.53 dB/km. No obvious spectral variation after radiation was found, except for the decreases of the spectrum power. The optical recovery phenomenon was noticed 2 days after radiation and the output spectrum power has increased from 145.5 to 185.6 μW during 9 days. The experimental results have shown that the composition and its absorptivity of optical fibers play a more important role than total dose in determining the radiation-induced attenuation.     

1 550 nm单模锥形光纤模场的演化特性

根据光纤模式传输理论,结合单模锥形光纤的结构,使用有限差分光束传播法(FD-BPM)仿真了1 550 nm波长下光纤模式的传输,分析包层内模场和纤芯内模场之间的相互影响。仿真结果表明:因为包层模的存在,随着包层内模式数的减少和纤芯对模场约束状态的变化,锥形光纤纤芯内不同区域模场分布变化明显,模场的均方根宽度在不同区域有不同程度的起伏。通过数值计算得到了光纤内模场能量的分布,发现因为包层模的存在,纤芯内模场能量减小速度比没有包层模时的速度要慢。