Codirectional Mode Coupling Research Articles

Strain-Insensitive Simultaneous Measurement of Bending and Temperature Using Long-Period Fiber Grating Inscribed on Double-Clad Fiber with CO₂ Laser.

Here we report an optical fiber sensor capable of performing strain-insensitive simultaneous measurement of bending and temperature using a long-period fiber grating (LPFG) inscribed on doubleclad fiber (DCF) with a CO₂ laser at ˜10.6 μm. The LPFG inscribed on DCF, referred to as a DC-LPFG, was fabricated by scanning CO₂ laser pulses on an unjacketed DCF with a specific period. Due to co-directional mode coupling, the fabricated DC-LPFG has discrete attenuation bands widely distributed over hundreds of nanometers. Among these wavelength-dependent loss dips, adjacent two dips with different resonance wavelengths were selected as sensor indicators for the measurement of bending and temperature. For these two indicator dips designated as dips A and B, their bending and temperature responses were investigated in a curvature range of 4.90 to 21.91 m-1 and a temperature range of 30 to 110 °C. With increasing bending applied to the DC-LPFG at room temperature, dips A and B showed different blue shifts. The bending sensitivities of dips A and B were measured to be approximately -0.77 and 0.51 nm/m-1, respectively. Unlike the bending response, they showed red shifts of different amounts with increasing ambient temperature, while the sensor head (i.e., the DC-LPFG) remained straight without any applied bending. The temperature sensitivities of dips A and B were measured to be ˜0.094 and ˜0.078 nm/°C, respectively. Owing to their linear and independent responses to bending and temperature, bending and temperature changes applied to the DC-LPFG could be simultaneously estimated from the measured wavelength shifts of the two indicator dips using their pre-determined bending and temperature sensitivities. Moreover, in a strain range of 0 to 2200 με (step: 200 με), strain-induced spectral variations of dips A and B were also measured, and the strain sensitivities of dips A and B were evaluated as approximately -0.028 and -0.013 pm/με, respectively. These strain-induced wavelength shifts were so small that they had little effect on the measurement results of bending and temperature. Thus, it is concluded that the fabricated DC-LPFG can be employed as a cost-effective sensor head for strain-insensitive separate measurement of bending and temperature.

Wavelength-Switchable Fiber Laser Based on Long-Period Fiber Grating Written on Polarization-Maintaining Photonic Crystal Fiber.

Here we propose a wavelength-switchable erbium-doped fiber ring laser using a temperatureinsensitive spectral polarization-dependent loss (PDL) element and two fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The fiber PDL element was fabricated by inscribing a long-period grating (LPG) on polarizationmaintaining photonic crystal fiber (PMPCF) with a 10.6 μm CO₂ laser. The LPG fabricated on PMPCF, referred to as PMPCF-LPG, has the characteristics of a fiber polarizer at two specific wavelengths due to the birefringence of PMPCF and the co-directional mode coupling of the LPG. The two wavelengths at which the fabricated PMPCF-LPG acts as a polarizer are two resonance wavelengths (~1528.58 and ~1555.90 nm) of the PMPCF-LPG, obtained for orthogonal input polarization states. By considering these two resonance wavelengths of the PMPCF-LPG, the Bragg wavelengths of two FBGs, which determine lasing wavelengths in our wavelength-switchable laser, were selected as ~1527.71 and ~1554.74 nm. As the temperature sensitivity of the PMPCF birefringence is 30 times lower than that of the birefringence of conventional polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF), the fabricated PMPCF-LPG could facilitate more stable switching operation between the two lasing wavelengths in comparison with a previous fiber laser employing an LPG inscribed on conventional PMF as a wavelength-switching filter. The lasing wavelengths of our laser could be switched by controlling input polarization of the PMPCF-LPG with a polarization controller, and temperature-insensitive wavelength switching operation was experimentally demonstrated over a temperature range of 25-100 °C.

Distributed Bragg reflector structures based on PT-symmetric coupling with lowest possible lasing threshold

A new approach towards the design of optimized distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) structures is proposed by taking advantage of recent developments related to the concept of parity-time (PT) in optics. This approach is based on using unidirectional gratings that provide coupling between co-propagating modes. Such couplers with PT symmetric gratings can provide co-directional mode coupling occurring only in one direction. This specific coupling property is achieved through a combined contribution of superimposed index and gain/loss modulations with same grating periodicity, but shifted with respect to one another by a quarter periods. Based on the transfer matrix approach, the transmission and reflection properties of the structure are modeled. One of the unique characteristics of the structure is very low lasing threshold. Such low threshold can be achieved by 100% reflectivity of the both Bragg grating mirrors, and by releasing the amplified signal in one single direction through a PT symmetric grating assisted co-directional coupler. Besides the lasing applications, the proposed structure can be implemented as an optical memory unit of replicating any input optical waveform.

Ultrasonic waveguide with square wave surface grating

The effect of spatial harmonics of a square-wave surface grating on the multiband frequency response of ultrasonic SH waves in an elastic plate is investigated. Stopbands are found to occur under simultaneous occurrence of first-order and higher-order Bragg resonances together with co-directional and/or contra-directional mode coupling conditions. The odd harmonic nature of the structure causes stopbands to appear above the cutoff frequencies of the odd-numbered modes. The attenuation within stopbands is found to be greatest when all propagating modes are coupled and reflected. The simultaneous resonance conditions for higher order stopbands must contain at least one co-directional mode coupling condition. The analysis is performed according to the multiple scales scheme, leading to the derivation of coupled mode equations, which are solved numerically using the fundamental matrix method.

Periodic microbending-induced core-to-cladding mode coupling in polarization-maintaining fibers.

We investigate codirectional mode coupling induced by periodic microbending in polarization-maintaining (PM) fibers by using both an acoustic flexural wave and a pair of corrugated fixtures. The measured filtering spectra are found to be strongly polarization dependent. In addition, the coupling strength depends on the angle between the birefringence axes and the bending direction. These characteristics can be utilized for a variety of applications, such as fiber polarizers, polarization-dependent-loss compensators, and on-line alignment of birefringence axes for the manufacture of PM fiber couplers.

Limitations imposed by birefringence uniformity on narrow-linewidth filters based on mode coupling

Integrated tunable narrow-linewidth wavelength filters based on TE-TM mode conversion require a high quality processing. The dis- cussion is based on numerical simulations of typical technology-induced defects and on a comparison with experimental results. We show that uniformity of the LiNbO3 crystal growth currently limits the linewidth to about 0.6 nm for spectral filters operating at 1.55mm. Moreover, such a filter would require a technology with strict conditions of uniformity over several centimeters. The discussion is focused on electro-optic filters but the results can be extended to any device based on codirectional mode coupling, such as acousto-optic filters. © 2001 Society of Photo-Optical Instru- mentation Engineers. (DOI: 10.1117/1.1418711)

Effect of internal reflections on wavelength access in widely tunable laser diodes

A key issue in widely tumble laser diodes employing codirectional mode coupling is the number of accessible wavelength channels. Depending on the device structure, only a fraction of about 25% of the available cavity modes can typically be accessed. In this paper, we identify the suppression of individual longitudinal modes by internal reflections at the grating and other waveguide inhomogeneities as the relevant physical mechanism limiting the number of accessible modes. A vertical coupler filter (VCF) is analyzed in detail by the transfer matrix method, yielding analytical expressions for the internal reflections. Owing to fabrication tolerances the location of the index perturbation varies randomly, leading to a random phase of each reflection contribution. The internal reflections influence the filter transfer function and thus may randomly suppress or enhance individual modes. The fraction of accessible wavelength channels of a VCF-based laser structure has been calculated as a function of the relevant technological parameters, showing good agreement with experimental data. It is shown that by tapering the index discontinuities, a marked reduction of internal reflections can be obtained and a complete wavelength access to all longitudinal modes appears feasible.

Widely tunable laser diodes with tapered index perturbationsfor reduced internal reflections and improved wavelength access

The wavelength selectivity of widely tunable laser diodes is usually too weak to enable access to all longitudinal modes. This is because internal reflections may randomly suppress individual modes. The authors show for codirectionally mode coupled lasers, that by tapering the index discontinuities, a marked reduction of the reflections by 2-4 orders of magnitude is possible without affecting the codirectional mode coupling.

Tuning range and spectral selectivity of the distributed forward coupled (DFC) laser

The tuning performance and spectral filtering mechanism in the distributed forward-coupled (DFC) laser diode are investigated. This widely tunable device is based on codirectional mode coupling along the entire laser length by a gain/loss grating perturbation. Due to the transverse integration, even rather short (L approximately=300-600 mu m) DFC lasers may achieve side-mode suppression superior to that of previous codirectionally coupled devices over similar tuning ranges. Model calculations yield a tuning range above 100 nm at 1.5- mu m wavelength with a side-mode suppression ratio around 30 dB. >

Widely tunable distributed forward coupled (DFC) laser

A novel widely tunable laser diode, the distributed forward coupled (DFC) laser, is presented. Exploiting the codirectional mode coupling over the entire laser length, a convenient tuning by one single control current appears feasible over 50–100 nm. Compared to previous approaches, the wavelength selectivity can be improved by about an order of magnitude. The technological realisation and experimental results on first devices are reported.