Analysis of radiation-mode coupling in reflective and transmissive tilted fiber Bragg gratings

Abstract

Radiation-mode coupling is stronger and more efficient in tilted fiber Bragg gratings than in other fiber gratings; it can be used to good advantage in such fields as optical communication and optical sensors. A simplified coupled-mode theory (CMT) approach to the analysis of radiation-mode coupling is proposed for what we believe to be the first time, whose validity and accuracy is demonstrated by comparing its simulation results with that of the complete CMT equations and the volume current method (VCM). With the simplified CMT approach, a theoretical spectral analysis of coupling from core mode to radiation modes in both reflective and transmissive tilted fiber Bragg gratings is presented. The influence of tilt angle on the transmission spectrum characteristics is comprehensively investigated. The different dependences between s-polarized and p-polarized radiation-mode coupling on grating tilt angle are discussed, and an analysis is performed on how to obtain a high-performance in-fiber polarizer that involves a compromise between polarization extinction and insertion loss.