Interrogation of extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric sensors using arrayed waveguide grating devices

In this paper, we present details of a solid state interrogation system based on a 16-channel arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) for interrogation of extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric sensors. The sensing element is configured in a reflecting mode and is illuminated by a broad-band light source through an optical fiber. The spectrum of light reflected from the sensor is analyzed using an AWG device acting as a coarse spectrometer. Using measurement points from the AWG channels, the original spectrum of the sensing element is reconstructed by a means of curve fitting. This allows sufficient information for the position of the reflection peak (or inverted peak) to be uniquely determined and the value of a measurement quantity obtained. In addition to the theoretical simulations of the proposed measurement system, we provide details of the laboratory evaluation.     

一种新颖的偏振不敏感的阵列波导光栅

提出了一种新颖偏振不敏感的阵列波导光栅(AWG)。器件的输入端增加了一个全光学偏振自动控制器(AOPSC),可将注入AWG的随机偏振的输入光转换为与AWG中TE0模偏振方向相同且功率损耗很小的线偏振光。AWG结构设计采用非对称的平面波导,包层与波导芯层的相对折射率差为0.7%,波导芯层的宽厚比要高,可以消除TE与TM模的简并,使波导中只能激励TE0模,而使TM0模截止。这种AWG结构完全消除了不同偏振态信号光对AWG工作性能的影响,从而使器件对偏振不敏感。设计的8×0.8nm器件整体尺寸为2cm×1cm,串扰优于-30dB,最大插入损耗为4.2dB。     

Dynamic strain measurement using an extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric sensor and an arrayed waveguide grating device

In this paper, we demonstrate an interrogation system, based on an arrayed waveguide grating, capable of monitoring dynamic strain in a cantilever beam at frequencies up to 5 kHz (limited by the actuator) with a similar precision to resistive strain gauges.     

用于32通道阵列波导光栅的氟化聚醚醚酮

合成了一种新型可自交联的苯乙炔封端的氟化聚醚醚酮(FPEEK-PEP)，并对其光学性质和热稳定性进行了表征。DSC和TGA结果显示FPEEK-PEP起始交联温度为360℃，交联后的FPEEK-PEP的玻璃化转变温度为190℃．在空气中5％的热失重温度为540℃，具有非常好的热稳定性。折射指数在1．455～1.53l范围内可调。旋涂时具有很好的成膜性，原子力显微照片(AFM)显示，粗糙度起伏为1．986nm。用FPEEK-PEP作为波导材料制作了32通道硅基聚合物阵列波导光栅(AWG)，测量其通道间隔近似为0．8nm．中心波长为1548nm。     

阵列波导光栅解复用器光谱响应特性分析

基于单模光波导本征模场及其端面衍射场分布的高斯近似表达,推导出两个端面非接触光波导耦合的耦合系数的函数表达式,并基于此推导出阵列波导光栅解复用器的简单光谱响应效率的函数表达式。建立了分析阵列波导光栅解复用器光谱响应特性的简洁数学模型,阐明了阵列波导光栅解复用器对通道中心频率的响应度和相邻信号通道间的串扰与基本参数的关系,为设计和分析阵列波导光栅解复用器提供了理论基础。     

Embossable grating couplers for planar waveguide optical sensors

Planar optical waveguides are an attractive tool for use in analytical chemistry and spectroscopy. Although similar to fiber optics, planar waveguides have been slow to be commercially accepted due to the difficulty of coupling light into the guide. Generally, prism coupling is the method of choice in the laboratory, as efficiencies approaching 80% can be reached. However, prisms are impractical for routine use for several reasons: expensive positioning equipment is required, coupled power is sensitive to environmental fluctuations, and prism coupling prohibits the fabrication of a truly planar device. The use of thin gratings on the surface of the waveguide allows for a two-dimensional structure to be maintained, while providing enough efficiency to be useful as a sensor. Our research efforts focus on developing a technique to make inexpensive, reproducible gratings that are easy to fabricate. By chemically modifying the surface of a commercial grating with a suitable release agent, it is possible to emboss replica gratings onto a variety of waveguide types. The fabrication of embossed gratings will be described, and their performance on glass, ion-diffused, polymer, and semiconductor waveguides will be presented.     

Cost-effective and high-resolution wavelength interrogation unit using an incomplete asymmetric arrayed waveguide grating

This paper presents a wavelength interrogation unit using an incomplete asymmetric arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) without output waveguides. The incomplete asymmetric AWG converts the wavelengths of the incident light into a spatial intensity distribution. The center of the spatial distribution is determined by a one-dimensional position sensitive detector (PSD). The simulation results show that wavelength shifts can be precisely interrogated by the device with a wavelength resolution of 3.5 pm. The device can be applied to the interrogation of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) temperature sensors with the temperature resolution of 0.3°C.     

Theoretical considerations for arrayed waveguide displays

An arrayed waveguide display (AWD) is proposed in which a linear emitter array is coupled to a waveguide array upon which liquid-crystal (LC) switches are formed. Images are displayed by line-by-line control of light, including emission by the emitter array, injection into the waveguide array, propagation inside, and extraction by use of the LC switches. With mostly polymeric materials, an AWD can be made thin and tough. Its light-use efficiency can be made larger than that of a conventional transmissive LC display. Because of these potential advantages, an AWD is well suited for mobile applications.     

Demodulation scheme for fiber bragg grating sensors based on active control of the spectral response of a wavelength division multiplexer

We present a closed-loop technique for measuring wavelength shifts associated with fiber Bragg gratings by using a fused biconical wavelength division multiplexer (WDM). The spectral response of the WDM is actively tuned by stretching of the coupling region to maintain a fixed coupling ratio at the reflected Bragg wavelength. The closed-loop operation allows sensitivities usually associated with a highly selective WDM to be obtained without compromising the measurement range. A simple theoretical model is presented together with experimental results for temperature and strain measurements.     

Development of a parallel demodulation system used for extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer and fiber Bragg grating sensors

A parallel demodulation system for extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors is presented, which is based on a Michelson interferometer and combines the methods of low-coherence interference and a Fourier-transform spectrum. The parallel demodulation theory is modeled with Fourier-transform spectrum technology, and a signal separation method with an EFPI and FBG is proposed. The design of an optical path difference scanning and sampling method without a reference light is described. Experiments show that the parallel demodulation system has good spectrum demodulation and low-coherence interference demodulation performance. It can realize simultaneous strain and temperature measurements while keeping the whole system configuration less complex.     

Reduction of sidewall roughness, insertion loss and crosstalk of polymer arrayed waveguide grating using vapor-redissolution technique

An efficient vapor-redissolution technique is used to greatly reduce sidewall scattering loss in the polymer arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) fabricated on a silicon substrate. Smoother sidewalls are achieved and verified by a scanning electron microscopy. Reduction of sidewall scattering loss is further measured for the loss measurement of both straight waveguides and AWG devices. The sidewall loss in straight polymer waveguide is decreased by 2.1 dB/cm, the insertion loss of our AWG device is reduced by about 5.5 dB for the central channel and 6.7 dB for the edge channels, and the crosstalk is reduced by 2.5 dB after the vapor-redissoluton treatment.     

Fiber-optic Fabry-Perot sensors based on a combination of spatial-frequency division multiplexing and wavelength division multiplexing formed by chirped fiber Bragg grating pairs

Effective multiplexing for a very large number of fiber-optic fiber-Bragg-grating-based Fabry-Perot (FBGFP) sensors is proposed that is based on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and spatial-frequency division multiplexing (SFDM). For WDM, FBGFP sensors are arranged in different wavelength domains formed by a series of chirped fiber Bragg gratings with different central wavelengths while the sensors with different cavity lengths within the same wavelength domain are multiplexed by use of SFDM because they have different spatial frequencies as a result of their different cavity lengths. In principle, a thousand FBGFP sensors could be multiplexed with such an approach. The experimental results show that a strain accuracy of better than +/-10 microepsilon has been achieved with little cross talk.     

TFBG的Fabry-Perot干涉型纵向微位移传感研究

提出了一种利用光纤Fabry-Perot(F-P)干涉结构的微位移传感器,该F-P干涉结构是由双倾斜光纤光栅(tilted fiber Bragg grating,TFBG)沿轴向错开一定距离构成空气腔形成的.入射光经双TFBG及其高反射端面往返传播,从而构成F-P干涉结构.光纤沿纵(z轴)向移动时,F-P腔的腔长发生变化,致使干涉光谱的自由光谱范围随之产生变化.实验验证,该传感器在0~115μm的测量范围内获得了高达0.475nm/μm的灵敏度,较之前提出的光纤光栅型传感器灵敏度提高了近3倍.     

Optical add-drop multiplexers based on the antisymmetric waveguide Bragg grating

A novel optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) based on a null coupler with an antisymmetric grating was designed and experimentally demonstrated. The antisymmetric grating exclusively produces a reflection with mode conversion in a two-mode waveguide. This improves the performance compared with previous demonstrations that used tilted Bragg gratings. Our design minimizes noise and cross talk produced by reflection without mode conversion. In addition, operational bandwidth and, versatility are improved while the compactness and simplicity of the null coupler OADM are maintained.     

基于光纤光栅传感器的复合材料层合板冲击能量研究

复合材料结构较容易产生结构表面无法探测到的低速冲击损伤。试验利用光纤复合材料结构中布拉格光纤光栅传感器受到低速冲击后光栅中心波长随应力变化这一特性,在恒温下用布拉格光纤光栅传感器对复合材料智能结构受到的低速冲击能量给出判别,并对通过光纤光栅解调仪采集下来的低速冲击信号进行频谱分析。在计算冲击信号所有能量等级的频谱峰值后,给出可以界定能量等级的频谱峰值临界值,利用其来判别低速冲击能量等级。试验表明布拉格光纤光栅传感器可以监测复合材料受到冲击的信号,能够对复合材料结构低速冲击进行能量等级判断研究     

All-fiber optical add-drop multiplexer based on a selective fused coupler and a single fiber bragg grating

We demonstrate a novel fiber add-drop multiplexer based on a selective fused coupler consisting of a twin-core fiber and a standard telecommunication fiber and a single fiber Bragg grating. Loss as low as ~1.1 dB for the added and dropped channel is demonstrated with a potential to be as low as ~0.4 dB. Better than 30-dB isolation is also achieved between the dropped and added channels. The device is based on well-developed fused coupler and Bragg grating technology. Most importantly, the method is noninterferometric, which means it does not need critical alignment or trimming. The fused coupler and grating are completely decoupled and can be made separately.     

Resonant waveguide grating imager for live cell sensing

We report on a resonant waveguide grating imager for high throughput screening using live cells. This imager can generate a snapshot image of all biosensors in a 384-well microtiter plate with a time resolution of ～3 s and a spatial resolution of 80 μm. This imager is well tolerant to variability in plate configurations and cell confluency. The resonant wavelength and its shifts induced by cell responses at each pixel correlate well with cell confluency. Data filtration protocol can be used to improve assay quality for partially confluent cells.     

An optimization method for multiplexer locations

Summary In order to reduce the costs of using (or leasing) a data telecommunication network, a subscriber can lease multiplexers from the network carrier. These multiplexers are placed between the subscriber terminals and the corresponding exchange, several multiplexers being able to be connected in series. An optimization method for the location of such multiplexers is presented here.

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Zusammenfassung Um die Kosten eines gemieteten Datennetzes zu senken, kann ein Teilnehmer Multiplexer vom Netzeigner mieten. Diese liegen zwischen den Terminals und der zugehörigen Vermittlungsstelle und können in Serie geschaltet sein. Ein Verfahren zur Optimierung der Standorte solcher Multiplexer wird hier dargestellt.

     

Study of waveguide grating eigenmodes for unpolarized filtering applications

The dispersion relation of eigenmodes of two-dimensional waveguide gratings is studied with a perturbative model. The analytic expression of the complex wavelength of the modes permits us to predict the shape of the anomalies in the grating reflectivity with respect to the wavelength and the polarization of the incident plane wave. The simultaneous excitation of two independent modes is necessary for obtaining high-efficiency filtering of unpolarized light. We show how this requirement can be met.     

Design and development of long-period grating sensors for temperature monitoring

Long Period Gratings (LPGs) have been developed using carbon dioxide laser in a standard optical fibre. LPGs with a periodicity of 600 μm and grating length of 24 mm have been inscribed on standard single mode fibre. Such gratings have been used in designing temperature sensors and temperature is monitored up to 80°C. The sensitivity of such type of sensor is 0·06 nm/°C where as for standard Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) it is 0·011 nm/°C. The LPG performance is also evaluated after γ-ray irradiation for total dose of 5 KGy and has not shown any effect on transmission spectrum.