Sensitivity improvement of broadband electro-optic polymer-based optical phase modulator using 1D and 2D photonic crystal structures

This Letter introduces the design and simulation of a microstrip-line-based electro-optic(EO) polymer optical phase modulator(PM) that is further enhanced by the addition of photonic crystal(PhC) structures that are in close proximity to the optical core. The slow-wave PhC structure is designed for two different material configurations and placed in the modulator as a superstrate to the optical core; simulation results are depicted for both1 D and 2D PhC structures. The PM characteristics are modeled using a combination of the finite element method and the optical beam propagation method in both the RF and optical domains, respectively.The phase-shift simulation results show a factor of 1.7 increase in an effective EO coefficient(120 pm/V) while maintaining a broadband bandwidth of 40 GHz.     

Transmission performance of optical OFDM signals with low peak-to-average power ratio by a phase modulator

We have experimentally generated optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OOFDM) signals by a phase modulator (PM). The generated OOFDM signal can tolerant higher nonlinear effects in fiber than that generated by an intensity modulator because of its lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). It is shown that, by using a PM, the PAPR of the OOFDM signal has a 2-3 dB reduction and the input power in fiber can be improved over 3 dB.     

一种具有高二阶非线性椭圆芯中空光纤

提出并制造一种新颖的椭圆芯中空光纤,采用热极化方法使其具有高二阶非线性,可用作相位调制器。该光纤在300℃温度、大于1×108 V/m强电场和9cm有效电极长度条件下热极化30min后,产生大的线性电光相移。基于双椭圆芯中空光纤构建一种纤内马赫-曾德尔干涉仪,通过观察干涉条纹的移动来评估相移,最终得到1.16pm/V的高二阶非线性系数和0.52pm/V的线性电光系数。该技术具有简单、灵活的特点,可以用来制作高电光系数器件,降低制作成本,并能进一步提高全光纤器件的集成度。     

Electro‐optic polymer/titanium dioxide hybrid core ring resonator modulators

Compact electro‐optic (EO) modulators are desirable for a number of applications. In this study, a ring modulator has been fabricated in the titanium dioxide (TiO₂) core and EO polymer cladding waveguide structure. A 250‐nm thick TiO₂ core was utilized to minimize the ring radius down to 100 μm, to avoid using the top cladding between the EO polymer and the electrode, and to improve the poling efficiency. The resonance obtained by the ring modulator was observed to shift by 0.02 nm/V due to the enhanced in‐device EO coefficient of 105 pm/V. A modulation depth of 3 dB was observed at the frequency response function at 20 kHz using 2‐V V_p–p clock signal.     

Integration of electro-optic polymer modulators with low-loss fluorinated polymer waveguides

We have demonstrated a hybrid Mach-Zehnder optical modulator consisting of a large-core, low-loss fluorinated passive polymer waveguide and an electro-optic (EO) polymer waveguide. The combination exhibits low fiber coupling loss to the passive waveguide and reduced transmission loss because the EO polymer waveguide is used only in the active region. The two waveguides are connected by vertical tapers that permit low-loss adiabatic coupling between the two modes. The half-wave voltage and the insertion loss of the fabricated modulator are 3.6 V and 6 dB, respectively, at a wavelength of 1.55 microm . The estimated coupling loss with the standard single-mode fiber is ~0.5 dB.     

一种基于电光调制光频梳光谱干涉的绝对测距方法

提出了一种基于电光调制光学频率梳的光谱干涉测距方法.理论分析了电光调制光学频率梳的数学模型和光谱扩展原理,并分析得出了光谱干涉测距方法的非模糊范围和分辨力的影响因素.在实验中,使用三只级联的电光相位调制器调制单频连续波激光生成了40多阶高功率梳齿状边带,并通过单模光纤和高非线性光纤对电光调制器输出的激光进行光谱扩展,得到重复频率为10 GHz,光谱宽度达30 nm的光学频率梳.将该光频梳作为光谱干涉测距装置的光源,可以实现无"死区"的绝对距离测量.另外,使用等频率间隔重采样和二次方程脉冲峰值拟合算法对测量结果进行数据处理,可以修正系统误差,提升测距精度.实验结果表明,在1 m的测量范围内,使用该装置可以在任意位置达到±15μm以内的绝对测距精度.     

热极化保偏光纤构成的全光纤电光强度调制器

利用热极化熊猫保偏光纤器件和保偏光纤耦合器,构成Mach-Zehnder干涉仪结构,实验验证了一种新型的全光纤电光强度调制器.由于该光纤电光强度调制器是用全保偏光纤构成,解决了偏振衰减问题,因此获得了稳定的光强调制响应输出.     

Widely tunable asymmetric long-period fiber grating with high sensitivity using optical polymer on laser-ablated cladding

We demonstrate high-efficiency, wideband-tunable, laser-ablated long-period fiber gratings that use an optical polymer overlay. Portions of the fiber cladding are periodically removed by CO(2) laser pulses to induce periodic index changes for coupling the core mode into cladding modes. An optical polymer with a high thermo-optic coefficient with a dispersion distinct from that of silica is used on a deep-ablated cladding structure so that the effective indices of cladding modes become dispersive and the resonant wavelengths can be efficiently tuned. The tuning efficiency can be as high as 15.8 nm/ degrees C, and the tuning range can be wider than 105 nm (1545-1650 nm).     

Multiplication of optical frequency shift by cascaded electro-optic traveling phase gratings operating above 10 GHz

We propose and demonstrate an electro-optic (EO) multiplication of a frequency shift using 10 GHz order electrical signal. The principle is based on a successive Bragg diffraction from cascaded EO traveling phase gratings in a traveling wave EO phase modulator. We fabricate a shift frequency doubler using simple domain engineering processes in a LiTaO? crystal. Frequency shifting of ±32.5 GHz with an efficiency of 60% is demonstrated using a 16.25 GHz modulation signal.     

Reconfigurable generation of high-repetition-rate optical pulse sequences based on time-domain phase-only filtering

We propose and demonstrate a fiber-based phase-only filtering technique for programmable optical pulse shaping, in which the filtering operation is implemented in the time domain by means of an electro-optical (EO) phase modulator. The technique has been applied for generating customized ultrahigh-repetition-rate optical pulse sequences (>40 GHz) from single input pulses by driving the EO phase modulator with a periodic electronic waveform (RF tone). The generated output pulses are replicas of the input pulse and both the repetition rate and the envelope profile of the generated sequences can be controlled and tuned electronically using this approach.     

Terahertz-wave generation in a conventional optical fiber

We theoretically propose surface-emitted and collinear phase-matched terahertz (THz)-wave generation in a conventional optical fiber. The third-order nonlinear effect, four-wave mixing (FWM), is used to generate THz waves in an optical fiber. Surface-emitted THz-wave generation via FWM is realized using a single-mode fiber. Perfect phase matching is obtained at ~800 nm and 1.5 microm pumping, and it follows that third-order polarization in an optical fiber has the same phase at any point. In this situation, the optical fiber acts like a phased array antenna of the THz wave. Collinear phase-matching THz waves are obtained under the same conditions as for surface-emitted THz waves, and the THz wave is propagated in the silica cladding of the optical fiber. This is a promising method for realizing a reasonable THz-wave source.     

Silica-air photonic crystal fiber design that permits waveguiding by a true photonic bandgap effect

A theoretical investigation of a novel type of optical fiber is presented. The operation of the fiber relies entirely on wave guidance through the photonic bandgap effect and not on total internal reflection, thereby distinguishing that fiber from all other known fibers, including recently studied photonic crystal fibers. The novel fiber has a central low-index core region and a cladding consisting of a silica background material with air holes situated within a honeycomb lattice structure. We show the existence of photonic bandgaps for the silica-air cladding structure and demonstrate how light can be guided at the central low-index core region for a well-defined frequency that falls inside the photonic bandgap region of the cladding structure.     

Q-switched neodymium-doped Y3Al5O12-based silica fiber laser

We present pulsed laser operation in a Nd-doped, Y3Al5O12-based silica fiber. The fiber was fabricated using the rod-in-tube technique with a Nd:YAG crystal rod as the core material and a silica tube for the cladding material. A spectroscopy study revealed that the core region had become amorphous in the process of fiber drawing. Q-switched pulsed laser operation was realized at a wavelength of 1058 nm when the fiber was cladding pumped at a wavelength of 808 nm. The laser delivered 38 μJ of energy in 65 ns pulses. The extracted energy was limited due to the multimodal operation of the fiber. Laser slope efficiency in continuous wave operation reached 52%. The spectroscopic properties of the fabricated fiber are discussed and compared to a Nd:YAG crystal and a Nd:Al-doped silica fiber.     

Improved air-silica photonic crystal with a triangular airhole arrangement for hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber design

We propose an improved photonic crystal (PC) cladding design for existing air-guiding photonic bandgap (PBG) fibers whose cladding airholes are arranged in a triangular lattice pattern. By increasing the sizes of concentrated silica regions in the cladding PC, we can have a larger degree of freedom in controlling the cladding bandgap regions. We predict that a fiber made from this type of cladding would perform better in terms of the PBG-guiding wavelength range, radiation loss owing to finite cladding size, and the ability to avoid surface mode problems.     

Widely tunable mode-locked all-fiberized Yb-doped fiber laser with near-transform-limited spectrum linewidth

A widely tunable mode-locked all-fiberized Yb-doped fiber laser with near-transform-limited spectrum linewidth is used. It consists of a tunable fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) and a fiber-coupled LiNbO₃ phase modulator (PM) in a linear cavity. The TFBG is used to achieve tunable emission wavelength, and the intracavity PM is used to achieve actively mode-locking operation. We have experimentally demonstrated that the laser-emitting wavelength can be tuned between 1,041 and 1,091 nm with power fluctuation less than 3 dB. The temporal width of the laser pulse is about 1 ns, and the pulses are near transform-limited with a spectral linewidth of 1.3 GHz. The results may find useful application in optical communication and optical measurement system.     

Study on a low loss, low voltage, polarization-independent EO modulator based LPG

In this paper, a new type of high-speed EO modulator is presented. It is a multi-cladding structure with LPG written in the core, and polymer with high EO coefficient is fabricated as the outer layer. A special material with ultra-negative temperature coefficient is used for the temperature compensation. This modulator is polarization independent, it can be coupled with the optical fiber very easily and can work steadily with low voltage, high speed, is temperature insensitive, and its cost is low. To our knowledge, this is the first time a modulator has been designed with such a simple and effective structure.     

A microscopic bright-field image technique for the measurement of averaged index profiles of quasi-axially symmetric large-mode-area microstructured fibers

We report on a nondestructive and noninterferometric technique for the experimental investigation of an approximation for the averaged index profile of quasi-axially symmetric large-mode-area microstructured optical fibers (MOFs). MOFs with a solid silica core surrounded by cladding, which consists of a system of air channels in silica, running along the fiber in a hexagonal structure around the core were analyzed. We used the transversal gradient of the phase, which was obtained from microscopic bright-field images of the studied quasi-axially symmetric MOFs. The inverse Abel transform was then applied to receive the approximation of the averaged index profile of the tested MOFs. The results of our investigations are presented.     

Numerical model of the polymer electro-optic waveguide

A numerical design model is presented for the polymer waveguide in an electro-optic modulator. The effective index method is used to analyze the height of the core waveguide and rib waveguide, an improved Marcatili method is presented to design the rib waveguide width in order to keep the strong single mode operation and have a good match with the standard fiber. Also, the thickness of the upper cladding layer is discussed through calculating the effective index of the multilayer planar waveguide structure has been obtained by setting the optical loss due to the metallic absorption to an acceptable value (<0.1 dB/cm). As a consequence, we take the EO polymer waveguide structure of UV15:CLD/APC:UFC170 as an example, an optimized design is reported.     

Core-pumped gain-guided index-antiguided continuous wave lasing in dispersion-engineered erbium-doped fiber

We demonstrate core-pumped gain-guided index-antiguided fiber lasers using a 22?cm long dispersion-engineered erbium-doped fiber. The erbium-doped fiber is dispersion-engineered using optical liquid to replace the most part of silica cladding so that the index of core turns out to be higher (lower) than that of new cladding at pump (lasing) wavelength, respectively. The pump light is confined to propagate in core based on an index-guiding mechanism to efficiently excite the gain medium running through the fiber whereas the cw lasing is constructed in a long, small-core waveguide under a gain-guided, index-antiguided situation.     

Fabrication and characteristics of silica optical fiber doped with InP nano-semiconductor material

We fabricated a novel special silica optical fiber doped with nano-semiconductor material InP in double cladding layers by using conventional modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process. During the deposition process, InP powder was placed at the entrance of silica substrate tube and vaporized by high temperature. With the help of nitrogen gas flow, the vaporized InP was carried into silica substrate tube and deposited on the inner surface in the form of nano-particle. The physical structure and amplification characteristics of the special fiber were investigated. From the refractive index distribution of the preform, we can observe obvious increase in inner cladding index, which attributes to InP dopant. By using 532 nm LD as pump, a broadband amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) was demonstrated in the wavelength range from 1,080 to 1,350 nm. The proposed nano- semiconductor doped fiber with optical amplification is expected to a wide application in optical fiber communications.