Time Domain Optical Spectrometry with Fiber Optic Waveguides

Abstract

The transit time, τ, of a light pulse in a fiber optic waveguide is a function not only of the fiber length but also of the frequency content of the pulse and, to some extent, the electric and magnetic field distributions within the fiber. Thus, we can write τ = τ(L, γ, μ, v) where L is the fiber length and γ is the wavelength. The integers and v index the mode of propagation which is excited. The purpose of this article is to review a number of ways the various transit time effects in optical fibers can be used to measure optical spectra in the time domain. Conventional spectrometers disperse the light spatially. The spectrum is measured either with an array of detectors or, if a single detector is used, by mechanically scanning some element of the spectrometer. The instruments described in this review use optical fibers to selectively delay the wavelength components of a modulated light source so that these components arrive sequentially at a single detector. If the light source is already pulsed, these instruments have the same inherent capability as a multiple detector spectrometer in terms of measurement time or signal-to-noise ratio. For a steady source, special modulation schemes can be used to improve the signal collection and reduce the effective dead time required to measure the dispersed light.