Analysis of line broadening and spectral asymmetry in an all-fiber torsional acousto-optic band-pass filter

Abstract

The transmission properties of an all-fiber torsional acousto-optic (AO) band-pass filter with a sub-nm bandwidth is studied. The device is based on torsional AO coupling in a highly birefringent (HB) optical fiber. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) measured in a conventional band (C-band) is 0.88 nm, which is compared with the theoretical value of 0.45 nm estimated by using the coupled mode theory. The line broadening and the spectral asymmetry observed in experiments are investigated in detail through our theoretical model and full numerical analyses. The influence of the non-uniformity in the birefringence of the HB fiber on the filter’s transmission is analyzed quantitatively in terms of the change in the filtering bandwidth, the sidelobe asymmetry, and the resonance shift.