We demonstrate electrical tunability of a fiber laser using a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber. Tuning of the laser is
achieved by combining the wavelength filtering effect of a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber device with an
ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber. We fabricate an all-spliced laser cavity based on a liquid crystal photonic
bandgap fiber mounted on a silicon assembly, a pump/signal combiner with single-mode signal feed-through and an
ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber. The laser cavity produces a single-mode output and is tuned in the range 1040-
1065 nm by applying an electric field to the silicon assembly.
We demonstrate suppression of amplified spontaneous emission at the conventional ytterbium gain wavelengths around
1030 nm in a cladding-pumped polarization-maintaining ytterbium-doped solid core photonic crystal fibre. The fibre
works through combined index and bandgap guiding. Furthermore, we show that the peak of the amplified spontaneous
emission can be shifted towards longer wavelengths by rescaling the fibre dimensions. Thereby one can obtain lasing or
amplification at longer wavelengths (1100 nm - 1200 nm) as the amount of amplification in the fibre is shown to scale
with the power of the amplified spontaneous emission.
Infiltrated photonic crystal fibres (PCFs) offer a new way of studying nonlinearity in periodic systems. A wide
range of available structures and the ease of infiltration opens up a large range of new experimental opportunities
in bio-physics, nonlinear optics, and the study of long range interactions in nonlinear media. Devices relying
on these effects have many applications, from bio-sensors, to all optical switches. To further understand these
nonlinear interactions and realise their potential applications, the effects of nonlinearity need to be studied on
the short time scale. In this work we study the temporal dynamics of thermally induced spatial nonlinearity
in liquid-filled photonic crystal fibres. Light is injected into a single hole of an infiltrated PCF cladding, and
the subsequent response is measured at a few milliseconds time scale. We experimentally demonstrate the short
time scale behavior of such systems, and characterise the effects of this thermal nonlinearity.
Liquid crystal photonic bandgap fibers represent a promising platform for the design of all-in-fiber optical devices,
which show a high degree of tunability and exhibit novel optical properties for the manipulation of guided light. In this
review paper we present tunable fiber devices for spectral filtering, such as Gaussian filters and notch filters, and devices
for polarization control and analysis, such as birefringence control devices and switchable and rotatable polarizers.
The guiding properties of fabricated air-silica Bragg fibers with different geometric
characteristics have been numerically investigated through a modal solver based on the finite element method.
The method has been used to compute the dispersion curves, the loss spectra and the field distribution of the modes
sustained by the Bragg fibers under investigation.
In particular, the silica bridge influence on the fundamental mode has been analyzed,
by considering structures with different cross sections, that is an ideal Bragg fiber, without the silica nonosupports,
a squared air-hole one and, finally,
a rounded air-hole one, which better describes the real fiber transverse section.
Results have shown the presence of anti-crossing points in the effective index curves
associated with the transition of the guided mode to a surface mode.
Moreover, it has been verified that these surface modes are responsible of the loss peaks in the fiber transmission spectra,
also experimentally measured.
Surface modes are mainly localized in the regions of the cladding where
the bridge supports join the cladding rings, forming silica islands where the field can focuses.
We demonstrate a tunable laser operating in the 1-1.1 &mgr;m wavelength region with a tuning range of 43 nm (FWHM), an
output power of 19 mW and coherence length of 14 mm. The source is based on a master laser consisting of a cavity
tuned ring configuration with a fiber Fabry Perot filter used as a tuning element and a semiconductor amplifier as gain
medium. The output of the master laser is subsequently power boosted using an Ytterbium doped fiber amplifier
(YDFA). In addition to providing a power boost, we demonstrate that by tailoring the gain spectrum of the YDFA it is
possible to increase the FWHM scanning range by 7 nm compared to that of the master laser.
Supercontinuum generation is often achieved using pulses from a femtosecond laser. Recent advances in highpower
continuous-wave (CW) fiber lasers have made it possible to use these compact and rugged sources for
supercontinuum generation. We briefly review the physical mechanisms behind supercontinuum generation and
also treat some of the intricacies of numerically modelling a CW pump. This allows an investigation of, e.g.,
how the pump spectral linewidth affects the supercontinuum spectrum.
KEYWORDS: Cladding, Silica, Optical fibers, Bridges, Dielectric breakdown, Fiber lasers, High power fiber lasers, High power lasers, Laser damage threshold, Step index fibers
Silica-based hollow-core photonic bandgap (HC-PBG) fibers are of interest for high-power laser applications, due to the possibility of guiding the majority of the optical power in air, thus suppressing nonlinearities and the limitations set by the breakdown threshold of silica. In this contribution, we study numerically the laser-induced damage threshold in HC-PBG fibers as function of core size and cladding air-filling fraction, and compare to a typical silica-core large-mode area (LMA) fiber. Remarkably, the HC-PBG fibers yield no significant improvement over the LMA reference, indicating that radically new design ideas will be needed for HC-PBG fibers to be competitive as active components in a high-power laser system.
Photonic Crystal Fibres (PCFs) have appeared as a new class of optical waveguides, which have attracted large scientific and commercial interest during the last years. PCFs are typically microstructured silica waveguides with a large number of air holes located in the cladding region of the fibre. The size and location of these air holes allows for a large degree of design freedom within optical waveguide design, and PCFs with properties tailored for fibre lasers, airguiding fibres, nonlinear fibres, hybrid fibres etc. have been demonstrated. Further, the existence of air holes in the PCF gives the possibility of propagating light through air, or alternatively allows access close to the fibre core for interactions with new materials placed in the air holes. This makes a well controlled interaction between light and material possible.
Two swept-wavelength light sources based on Ytterbium doped fibre amplifiers are demonstrated. The filtered output from a superfluorescent source is scanned over 20 nm, and used for topography with an axial resolution of <40 μm. Dynamic properties of a swept-wavelength YDFA based ring laser is investigated. This is the first reported results with dynamically swept sources centered in the 1 μm wavelength range, which is expected to be important for future development of optical coherence tomography systems for retinal imaging.
We have infiltrated photonic crystal fibers with liquid crystals, thus creating, to our knowledge for the first time, what we call Liquid Crystal Photonic BandGap (LCPBG) fibers. We have demonstrated thermal, electrical and all-optical tunability of the optical transmission properties of these fibers, thus providing broadband spectral switching and filtering functionalities which may be operated linearly as well as nonlinearly. For instance, in a continuous thermo-optic mode, the photonic bandgaps of a LCPBG fiber can be tuned with a sensitivity of a few nm/°C. In a thermo-optic threshold mode, a temperature change as small as 0.4°C can cause optical switching with an extinction ratio as high as 80 dB in the near-infrared. In another nonlinear mode, all-optical modulation up to 2 kHz frequency of an infrared probe signal has been achieved by using a pulsed, 532 nm pump source of a few milliwatts optical power. In addition, since the mode-field diameter of the LCPBG fiber is similar to that of standard, single-mode fibers, these devices can be inserted into existing telecom transmission links without significant additional losses. This paper gives a basic overview of the optics and the materials involved in LCPBG fibers, in particular "tuning in" on how the optical transmission properties of these fibers depend on various liquid crystal aspects, such as mesomorphism, optical and electrical parameters, and the alignment of liquid crystals in cylindrical geometry.
Supercontinuum generation is shown for the first time in a tapered triangular structure photonic crystal fiber with two closely spaced zero dispersion wavelengths where dispersion becomes normal for all guided wavelengths at a certain distance along the taper. The numerical calculation shows an increased bandwidth and a reduced depletion of the pump source when the photonic crystal fiber is tapered. We simulate the propagation of 15 femtosecond pulse with a peak power of 80 kW centered at 808 nm. Both fiber and pump source are commercially available and the improved light source can be used for measuring techniques such as optical coherence tomography and spectroscopy.
We present a novel implementation of the lightwave synthesized frequency sweeper (LSFS) based on Ytterbium doped fiber amplifiers. The source can potentially be used for swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT), which has recently been shown to have an improved signal to noise ratio compared to time domain OCT systems, and development of suitable swept wavelength sources is for this reason of utmost importance. Based on Ytterbium doped fiber amplifiers, the source operates in the 1-1.1 μm range, which makes it particular useful for ophthalmic applications of OCT. Previous studies of a LSFS based on Erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), which can be operated with noise figures close to the fundamental quantum limit, showed that the scanning range was limited by the buildup of amplified spontaneous emission noise. In spite of Ytterbium doped amplifiers are fundamentally not able to approach the quantum limit, our fundamental experiments show performance comparable to EDFA based systems. The result of the experiments compare well with predictions given by a numerical concatenated amplifier model, hence validating the model and enabling us to use the model for future system optimization.
Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers with two zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDWs) is investigated numerically. The role of the second ZDW is examined for 5 fiber designs where the higher ZDW differs while the lower ZDW is almost the same for all fibers. We find that tapering can arrest pump depletion, thereby improving the flatness and bandwidth of the supercontinuum. Pumping with low-power picosecond pulses is also investigated; we find that the low peak power leads to a broad four-wave mixing gain bandwidth, resulting in a supercontinuum that is extremely flat over almost 500 nm.
In order to realize an efficient absorption measurement based evanescent-wave sensor, a long interaction length and a strong penetration of the optical field into the sample space is required. For an optical fiber based device, with a solid silica core immersed into a liquid sample, the strength of the evanescent field increases with decreasing core radius. When the core diameter is comparable to the wavelength of the light, a large fraction of the light propagates in the evanescent field. We demonstrate evanescent-wave sensing on aqueous solutions of fluorophore labeled biomolecules positioned in the air holes of a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The aqueous solutions can be positioned in close proximity to light guided in small cores without removing the coating and cladding, thus ensuring a very robust device. In order to make selective DNA detection, we coated the inside of the hollow-core PCF with a sensing layer, which by hybridization selectively immobilize specific molecules. A fluorescence measurement method, where a line-shaped laser beam expose the fiber from the side and excites the fluorophore molecules, was realized. The emitted fluorescence tunnels via the evanescent field into the fiber core(s) and is analyzed by a spectrometer at the fiber end.
Photonic crystal materials and waveguides have since their appearance in 1987 attracted very much attention from the scientific community. From being a more academia discipline, new components and functionalities have emerged, and photonic crystals have today started to enter the field of commercial devices. Especially the photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with its lattice of air holes running along the length of the fiber has matured, and the technology provides a large variety of novel optical properties and improvements compared to standard optical fibers. With respect to optical sensors, the photonic crystal structures have several important properties. First of all the wavelength-scale periodically-arranged material structures provide completely new means of fabricating tailored optical properties either using modified total internal reflection or the photonic bandgap effect. Secondly, the new materials with numerous micro- or even nano-scale structures and voids allow for superior mode control, use of polarization properties, and even more a the potential of close interaction between optical field and the material under test. The present paper will be using the example of the relatively mature photonic crystal fiber to discuss the fundamental optical properties of the photonic crystals, and recent examples of their use as optical sensors will be reviewed.
Photonic crystal fibers (PCF) exhibit many challenges with respect to production. One property of such fibers that make them more complicated than standard fibers is their cladding structure that consists of air holes. These holes are typically arranged in a periodic pattern formation. We propose a novel monitoring method for non-destructive and non-invasive characterization of hole diameter and hole spacing of such photonic cladding structures. This method is applicable simultaneously to drawing a fiber but also as an off-line non-destructive characterisation method. By transversal illumination of a crystal fiber with a white light source, a colourful diffraction pattern can be observed. Hue, saturation and intensity (HSI) analysis of this diffraction pattern reveals information about 1) density of the number of cladding holes present, 2) air hole diameter, and 3) air hole spacing. This HSI based measurement method does not give absolute values for the fiber parameters but is very applicable as a differential measurement technique sensitive to even minor changes in the cladding structure, and may, therefore, potentially serve as a sensitive monitoring method during fabcication of PCFs. We will present comparative results for various types of photonic crystal fibers.
Photonic crystal fibres having a microstructured air-silica cross section offer new optical properties compared to conventional fibres. These include novel guiding mechanisms, new group velocity dispersion properties and new non-linear possibilities.
Photonic crystal fibers having a microstructured air-silica cross section offer new optical properties compared to conventional fibers. These include novel guiding mechanisms, new group velocity dispersion properties and new non-linear possibilities.
Within the past few years, the new class of photonic crystal fibres has attracted significant attention in the international research community. In these fibres, the cladding structure typically is a system of air holes in a matrix of undoped silica. By properly designing this cladding structure unique properties can be achieved. Due to the complexity of such structures, modelling these fibres is cumbersome and time consuming. Thus, the particularities of the model used are of great interest. We use a variant of the localised function method to enable modelling of real fibre structures with finite claddings. In this presentation, we discuss the advantages and challenges of this approach. We further present a number of improvements of the method and some results obtained therewith. With the rapid improvement of fabrication techniques the last few years have seen, precise control of the cladding structures has become possible. The ability to model these structures is, therefore, becoming increasingly important. It is, also therefore, increasingly important to precisely model the properties of these structures.
Germanosilicate film waveguides have been fabricated by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. In the film waveguides straight waveguides, directional couplers and a Y-splitter were written directly point to point with UV-light by focussing a 244 nm beam by a single lens. No kind of mask was used to define the structure. The propagation loss of a multi-mode UV-written waveguide has been measured to 0.3 dB/cm, which is excellent for directly written waveguides. The UV-induced change of refractive index in the written components is estimated to be between 4 (DOT) 10-3 and 6 (DOT) 10-3. This provides a highly flexible and fast method for fabrication of new waveguide components.
The design of integrated optical S-bands, power splitters, and directional couplers are described in terms of normalized parameters. These parameters are calculated accurately by a numerical method leading to general design curves for fiber-compatible waveguide devices.
An overview of the development on lossless Er-doped Y-branches and high gain Er-doped waveguide amplifiers is given, and their applications in future prospects are reviewed. A comprehensive model is presented for the integrated Er-doped phosphate silica amplifier, that includes high concentration ion-ion interaction. The model is applied to a rigorous design optimization of high gain amplifiers, where the influence of variations in the launched pump power, the core cross-section, the waveguide length, the Er-concentration, and the background loss are evaluated. Optimal design proposals are given and the process reproducibility of the proposed design is examined. Requirements to process parameter control in the fabrication of the Er-doped waveguide are also set up.
A numerical analysis of microwave and optical properties of a polymer-based travelling-wave integrated electro-optic modulator is presented. We propose a new structure with a microwave buffer layer on top of the driving electrode. This buffer layer is added in order to obtain phase velocity matching between the optical field and the microwave modulation field. Employing the Effective Index Method and the 2D Beam Propagation Method the optical properties is investigated and the optical modulation index and the driving voltage is determined. Employing the Spectral Domain Approach we investigate the microwave properties of the new structure in a configuration with a travelling-wave electrode. It is shown that the two characteristics: the microwave mode index and the characteristic impedance, can be varied independently for the proposed structure. From the optical and microwave properties the active characteristics of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on the waveguide structure is investigated. We show that with no restrictions on the electrical power consumption, the optical modulation bandwidth can be higher than 100 GHz. This bandwidth will be reduced to 34 GHz, if a restriction on the electrical power from the signal generator is imposed.
An integrated optical waveguide isolator based on adiabatic polarization splitters in the silica- on-silicon technology and non-reciprocal elements are proposed and investigated with an accurate Finite Difference Beam Propagation Method. Improvements of noise figure of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier by using this type of isolator are calculated and discussed.
Low noise erbium-doped fiber amplifiers find widespread use in telecommunication systems. Different design ideas have been presented for such amplifiers, including various pump configurations, the use of filters, and advanced active fiber design. In this paper we present an experimental confirmation of a fiber design based on an Er/Al doped untapered fiber. As recently predicted theoretically, a continuous uptapering of the radius of the core of the active fiber from the signal input end to the signal output end improves the population inversion of the erbium in the signal input end of the fiber. This ensures that the generated amplifier spontaneous emission is reduced while the high gain properties are retained. The result is a significant reduction of the noise figure. The active fiber is pumped at 980 nm with the pump power copropagating with the signal. In this way we have demonstrated noise figure improvements in excess of 1.5 dB compared with similar conventional fibers, while still obtaining high gain. To our knowledge, this represents the first experimental verification that tapered fiber amplifiers have considerably improved noise properties. This communication will include a short description of the method used to fabricate the tapered fiber.
Theoretical limits in noise figures for a long haul transmission line based on lumped amplification are compared with distributed amplification. A reduction of approximately 60% of the required number of pump power stations is achieved. The distributed optical amplification is provided by an erbium doped fiber and comparisons of aluminum and germanium as codopant materials are shown. The pump power consumption and noise figure are analyzed with respect to the background loss.
Erbium doped fiber amplifiers in eight different system configurations are investigated, using a very accurate model. The in-line placement of the amplifier is shown to be optimum. A distributed amplifier is compared to the remote pumping scheme showing no system improvement. By the use of a booster, an inline remote pumped amplifier and a preamplifier up to 180 km of extra transmission fiber can be added.
Design of a distributed Erbium doped fiber amplifier for a long distance transmission line is investigated, using a very accurate model. The design is evaluated for a bidirectional pumping scheme, taking nonlinearities into account. Bit error rates based on amplified spontaneous emission are calculated. For distances between each pumping station equal to 100km, bit error rates lower than 10-10 at 4GBit/s is found.
Filters and isolators placed within the EDFA's can be used to increase the gain , and decrease the noise figure. By use of an accurate model the placement of the filters and isolators are optimized. The optimization are performed for situations with pump lasers emittiing at 0.980?m and 1.480?m and signal wavelengths at either the emission cross section peak near 1.530?m or at the silica loss minimum around 1.550?m.
A comprehensive model is used to analyze gain and noise performance for Erbium doped fibre amplifiers pumped at 980 and 1480 nm. A minimum noise figure is shown to be given by emission to absorption cross section ratios at both pump and signal wavelength. The deterioration from the minimum noise figure in each pumpband is shown mainly to be due to the presence of the counter propagating Amplified Spontaneous Emission. It is shown that for the preamplifier the fibrelength for optimum receiver sensitivity is up to 50 % smaller than the maximum gain fibre-length
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