Abstract
The high quality of polished end face of photonic crystal fiber has a significant effect on coupling efficiency when photonic crystal fiber is used to couple with other optical devices. In order to obtain the smooth surface of the photonic crystal fiber, the end face polishing process of the photonic crystal fiber is analyzed using the finite element method in this article. Because there are many small air holes in the cladding of photonic crystal fiber, it needs better processing technology than that of ordinary fiber. The formation mechanism of cracks and the effects of cutting depth and grit tip radius on the processing results are researched, and this process is simplified as a single grit cutting a single hole wall and the cutting depth of grit with different diameters under certain lapping force is obtained by theoretical analysis. The simulation results show that finite element method can effectively simulate the end face lapping process of photonic crystal fiber, and that in the polishing process ...
Highlights
Photonic crystal fiber (PCF) has a bright outlook for the areas of communication, sensor, biomedicine, and so on[1,2] because of its various advantages such as endless single-mode propagation, a large single-mode area, and an unusual dispersion
When PCF is used to be coupled with other optical devices, its end face needs to be polished to obtain a smooth surface for a low loss and high coupling efficiency.[3]
The quartz glass belongs to the typical hard-brittle materials so that it is very easy to have the brittle fracture causing the micro cracks during polishing process
Summary
Photonic crystal fiber (PCF) has a bright outlook for the areas of communication, sensor, biomedicine, and so on[1,2] because of its various advantages such as endless single-mode propagation, a large single-mode area, and an unusual dispersion. When PCF is used to be coupled with other optical devices, its end face needs to be polished to obtain a smooth surface for a low loss and high coupling efficiency.[3] But there are many air holes in the cladding of PCF, which is different from the conventional single-mode fiber that has a solid and continuous end face. This discontinuous structure makes PCF end face broken, so it needs much stricter processing condition than that of conventional fiber. While it verifies that the ductile regime processing to the quartz glass and other hard-brittle materials can be implemented with the no-crack and smooth surface within a certain cutting depth through the experiment made by Bifano et al.,[5] and this certain cutting depth is called
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
