Multiplexing Scheme for Self-Interfering Long-Period Fiber Gratings Using a Low-Coherence Reflectometry

A novel multiplexing scheme based on a low-coherence reflectometry (LCR) is proposed for a sensing array (in parallel) of self-interfering long-period fiber gratings (SI-LPGs). Each SI-LPG sensor consists of an LPG and a section of fiber with a highly reflective end (mirror). The spectral information of each LPG is sensitive to some parameters of the surrounding measurand and can be reconstructed from the corresponding subreflectograms (obtained by the LCR) through a fast Fourier transformation. The sensing signals of multiple SI-LPG sensors can be multiplexed if the length of the fiber section in each sensor is set to a different value. Experiments of measuring the surrounding temperature at different sensors are demonstrated to show the good performance of our multiplexing system.     

Sensing characteristics of a novel two-section long-period grating

The behavior of a temperature self-compensating, fiber, long-period grating (LPG) device is studied. This device consists of a single 325-microm-period LPG recorded across two sections of single-mode B-Ge-codoped fiber--one section bare and the other coated with a 1-microm thickness of Ag. This structure generates two attenuation bands associated with the eighth and ninth cladding modes, which are spectrally close together (approximately 60 nm). The attenuation band associated with the Ag-coated section is unaffected by changes in the refractive index of the surrounding medium and can be used to compensate for the temperature of the bare-fiber section. The sensor has a resolution of +/-1.0 x 10(-3) for the refractive index and +/-0.3 degrees C for the temperature. The effect of bending on the spectral characteristics of the two attenuation bands was found to be nonlinear, with the Ag-coated LPG having the greater sensitivity.     

Long-period grating refractive index sensor with a modified cladding structure for large operational range and high sensitivity

What is believed to be a novel long-period grating (LPG) refractive index sensor with a modified cladding structure is proposed and studied. In the proposed structure, the cladding of the fiber has a two-layer structure, i.e., a cladding layer of low refractive index with a reduced radius and an overlay of high refractive index. The sensitivity of the structure-modified LPG sensor to the ambient refractive index change as a function of the cladding layer and overlay parameters is investigated by way of modeling. It is found that an increase of the ambient refractive index causes a field redistribution of the cladding mode into the overlay when the parameters of the overlay are properly selected. It is shown that by reducing the radius of the cladding layer, the operational range of the LPG refractive index sensor can be as large as 0.195 (from 1.244 to 1.440) with a minimum sensitivity of 660 nm/refractive index, which represents a 31% increase of operational range in comparison with the operational range obtained from the reported structure. The design guidelines for achieving this large operation range and high sensitivity are explained by investigating the dependence of the cladding modes on the radius of the cladding layer.     

Responses of a long-period grating fabricated in a graded-index optical fiber to temperature and refractive-index changes

Sensing experiments with a long-period grating (LPG) inscribed by a CO₂ laser in a single-mode fiber with an inverted-parabolic index profile in the fiber cladding were done. A single LPG with a period of 500 μm was used in experiments and spectral changes of the attenuation band centered at ≈1520 nm were measured. Responses of the LPG to temperature changes and temperature-induced refractive-index changes were investigated. An average shift of 0.56 nm/°C was obtained for the bare LPG and of 0.86 nm/°C for the LPG recoated with a polymeric layer. An overall shift of the central wavelengths was observed in experiments repeated after two weeks that can be attributed to post-curing processes in the polymeric layer.     

Enhancing the tuning range of a single resonant band long period grating while maintaining the resonant peak depth by using an optimized high index indium tin oxide overlay

We report laboratory test results of a long period grating (LPG) that can maintain a constant resonant peak depth over an enhanced tuning range when it is coated with an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode that has optimized thickness and refractive index. The authors have experimentally demonstrated a LPG coated with ITO that can be tuned in excess of 200 nm with an ambient refractive index change of less than 0.01. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the highest sensitivity reported for a LPG to date. In addition to the tuning performance, the resonant peak remains within 1 dB of its maximum depth for at least 100 nm of the tuning range.     

Fabrication and analysis of a low-loss in-fiber active polymer waveguide

We present a method for fabricating an in-fiber electro-optic polymer waveguide within a D-shaped optical fiber. A combined process of selective chemical etching and spin coating creates a 2-cm in-fiber poly(methyl methacrylate)-DR1 dye polymer waveguide section with an overall insertion loss of micro 1.6 dB at 1550 nm. Numerical simulations show that, for in-fiber polymer waveguides to have low loss, the polymer layer's thickness must be kept below a certain value so that it will not support slab waveguide modes. Long transition regions between the unetched fiber and the polymer waveguide section also reduce loss. We analyze the efficiency of an in-fiber polymer waveguide by simulating its theoretical performance as an electro-optic modulator.     

Bend sensing with long-period fiber gratings in capillaries embedded in structures

Bend responses of an LPG inscribed with a CO₂ laser in a conventional single-mode fiber are investigated in an arrangement, where the LPG is inserted into a thin silica capillary bonded to a steel strip. The curvature of the strip, laid on two supports and bent with a micrometer driver in the middle between the supports, decreases linearly with distance from the center of bending to the supports. Experiments are done for a very large range of bend deflections with the LPG in three positions shifted with respect to the center of bending, and two distinct opposite rotational orientations with respect to the plane of bending. Responses obtained for the above positions and orientations are greatly different and some of them show features which have not been reported for LPGs bent with a constant curvature and smaller deflections. They are, particularly, maxima and minima of the central wavelength's shift along with reversals of its direction, or the reappearance of a previously vanished attenuation band with increasing magnitude of bending. Also, it is found that the responses depend not only on the average curvature of the bent LPG, but also on the particular dependence of the curvature along the LPG's length. Some of the results obtained cannot be satisfactorily explained at the present level of knowledge, and a more thorough theoretical analysis is needed.     

Enhancing sensitivity and selectivity of long-period grating sensors using structure-switching aptamers bound to gold-doped macroporous silica coatings

High surface area, sol-gel derived macroporous silica films doped with gold nanoparticles (AuNP) are used as a platform for high-density affinity-based immobilization of functional structure-switching DNA aptamer molecules onto Michelson interferometer long-period grating (LPG) fiber sensors, allowing for label-free detection of small molecular weight analytes such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The high surface area afforded by the sol-gel derived material allowed high loading of DNA aptamers, while the inclusion of gold nanoparticles within the silica film provided a high refractive index (RI) overlay, which is required to enhance the sensitivity of the LPG sensor according to our numerical simulations. By using a structure-switching aptamer construct that could release an oligonucleotide upon binding of ATP, the effective change in RI was both enhanced and inverted (i.e., binding of ATP caused a net reduction in molecular weight and refractive index), resulting in a system that prevented signals originating from nonspecific binding. This is the first report on the coupling of aptamers to LPG fiber sensors and the first use of high RI AuNP/silica films as supports to immobilize biomolecules onto the LPG sensor surface. The dual functionality of such films to both improve binding density and LPG sensor cladding refractive index results in a substantial enhancement in the sensitivity of such sensors for small molecule detection.     

Demonstration of Long-Period-Grating Efficient Couplings with an External Medium of a Refractive Index Higher than that of Silica

We discuss the behavior of the transmission spectra of a long-period grating (LPG) with an external medium of refractive index higher than that of silica. We studied the evolution of the features of LPG's surrounded by several liquid media for several kinds of fiber. The study demonstrated that the behavior depends strongly on the fiber type. Efficient couplings (efficiency greater than 50%) have been obtained with an external medium of a refractive index larger than that of silica. This result indicates that a LPG can operate with surrounding materials of a refractive index higher than that of silica, promising new applications for LPG's as active optical filters.     

Long-period Gratings in-situ Sensing for Flow Monitoring in Liquid Composite Molding

Liquid composite moulding (LCM) processes are used to manufacture high quality and complex-shaped composite parts in the automotive, marine, aerospace and civil industries. On-line sensing plays an important role in controlling the quality of the final product in the LCM manufacturing environment. The long-period fiber grating (LPG) technology, a new real-time fiber optic sensor system, was developed to monitor the flow front progression. The sensor operation and characterization under various process conditions were discussed in detail. The experimental results showed that LPG sensors were robust and reliable to detect the arrival of resin at pre-selected locations in structures with low-medium fiber volume fraction; however were limited at different depths in structures with high fiber volume fraction.     

Interrogation of a Long Period Grating Fiber Sensor With an Arrayed-Waveguide-Grating-Based Demultiplexer Through Curve Fitting

Interrogation of a long period grating (LPG) fiber sensor with an arrayed-waveguide-grating (AWG)-based demultiplexer through curve fitting is investigated and experimentally demonstrated. In the interrogation system, the measured light intensities from the output of the AWG are used to reconstruct the selected resonant dip of the LPG sensor through curve fitting in the form of a linear combination of Gaussian functions. By monitoring the changes of the reconstructed LPG spectrum, including the center wavelength shift and the minimum attenuation variation, the sensor signals can be interrogated with good accuracy in real time. The center wavelength is obtained by calculating the first-order derivative of the fitting function. The minimum attenuation is obtained directly from the reconstructed spectrum. Since the interrogation system demonstrated is based on an all-solid-state optical device, it offers the advantages of compact size and high-speed interrogation with high potential for integration.      

Comprehensive analysis of LPG‐PCA algorithms in denoising and deblurring of medical images

This article presents the detailed analysis of the local pixel grouping–principle component analysis (LPG‐PCA) algorithm in denoising and deblurring of medical images. Inefficient diagnosis of the medical images containing lot of information is often affected by the noise and artifacts. In order to remove these noises and artifacts, a statistical decorrelation technique, LPG‐PCA is used which is found to be one of the efficient methods, which could be used in improving the performance of medical images. For better preservation of local structures of the image, a pixel and its nearest neighbors are modeled as a vector variable, which leads to the selection of similar intensity characteristics. Denoising method used in this article is done in two stages for improving the denoising performance. The smoothening caused by the denoising process is removed by using LPG‐PCA along with adaptive sparse domain representations in the deblurring process. This involves clustering of data and finding the subdictionary of each cluster using LPG‐PCA. Experimental results show that an average improvement of 2.9 and 5.1 dB is found in the computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging images using denoising and deblurring process. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 23, 157–170, 2013     

Highly tunable large-core single-mode liquid-crystal photonic bandgap fiber

We demonstrate a highly tunable photonic bandgap fiber, which has a large-core diameter of 25 microm and an effective mode area of 440 microm2. The tunability is achieved by infiltrating the air holes of a photonic crystal fiber with an optimized liquid-crystal mixture having a large temperature gradient of the refractive indices at room temperature. A bandgap tuning sensitivity of 27 nm/degrees C is achieved at room temperature. The insertion loss is estimated to be less than 0.5 dB and caused mainly by coupling loss between the index-guided mode and the bandgap-guided mode.     

Kinetic behavior of polymer-coated long-period-grating fiber-optic sensors

A new method of analysis employing the time-dependent response of long-period-grating (LPG) fiber-optic sensors is introduced. The current kinetic approach allows analysis of the time-dependent wavelength shift of the sensor, in contrast to previous studies, in which the LPG sensing element has been operated in an equilibrium mode and modeled with Langmuir adsorption behavior. A detailed kinetic model presented is based on diffusion of the analyte through the outer protective membrane coating into the affinity coating, which is bound to the fiber cladding. A simpler phenomenological approach presented is based on measurement of the slope of the time-dependent response of the LPG sensor. We demonstrate the principles of the kinetic methods by employing a commercial Cu+2 sensor with a carboxymethylcellulose sensing element. The detailed mathematical model fits the time-dependent behavior well and provides a means of calibrating the concentration-dependent time response. In the current approach, copper concentrations below parts per 10(6) are reliably analyzed. The kinetic model allows early-time measurement for low concentrations of the analyte, where equilibration times are long. This kinetic model should be generally applicable to other affinity-coated LPG fiber-optic sensors.     

基于狭缝整形的低损耗飞秒光纤光栅制备

为了解决飞秒激光逐点法制备的光纤布拉格光栅（Fiber Bragg Gratings, FBG）损耗较高的问题,利用逐面法完成飞秒光纤光栅制备的实验研究。运用高斯光束传播的基本理论,通过狭缝整形技术对聚焦的飞秒激光能量分布进行等高宽整形,突破在光纤横截面内诱导产生圆形折射率调制的难点,最终制备得到低损耗的飞秒光纤光栅。开展不同狭缝宽度制备FBG的光谱特性对比实验,结果表明：利用光斑直径为5.0 mm的飞秒激光光束刻写FBG时,采用宽度为1.7 mm的狭缝制备得到的FBG插入损耗降低至0.15 dB,短波损耗降低至0.5 dB,验证了基于狭缝整形的低损耗飞秒光纤光栅制备方法的有效性。针对狭缝法制备的FBG反射率分散问题,提出控制折射率匹配液填充量以及调整飞秒激光能量的方法,并优化光束聚焦流程,成功降低FBG反射率的分散度。本研究对推动飞秒光纤光栅在大容量、高链路损耗等环境中的实际应用具有重要意义。     

Comment on the reported fiber attenuations in the visible regime in "Fabrication of glass photonic crystal fibers with a die-cast process"

We comment on the recent paper by Zhou et al. [Appl. Opt.45, 4433 (2006)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.45.004433], in which transmission losses of 0.2-0.3 dB/m were claimed across the wavelength range 420-900 nm in a high-index (n(d)=1.80518 at 587.6 nm) SF6 glass-based photonic crystal fiber fabricated by novel die-cast technique. If confirmed, these losses are at least 1 order of magnitude lower than previous reported losses of SF6 photonic crystal fibers from other fabrication approaches. Here we present a statistic survey on the relationship between the refractive index and the bulk material attenuation, based on a large number of commercial Schott optical glasses with the n(d) ranging between 1.40 and 2.05. It shows that the loss of a high-index (n(d)=1.80) glass optical fiber should be at the levels of 10-50 dB/m at 420 nm and 1-10 dB/m at 500 nm, respectively. Moreover, the material attenuation of such a high-index glass fiber should intrinsically show a large decay, from 10-50 dB/m at 420 nm to the level of 1 dB/m at 700 nm, which arises from the tail on the UV absorption edge of the high-index glass extending to the visible region. Therefore, we conclude that: (1) the low loss of 0.2-0.3 dB/m reported in the cited paper is abnormally one or two magnitudes lower than the material attenuation that a high-index (n(d)=1.80) glass optical fiber should have in the range between 420 and 500 nm and that (2) the flat loss curve between 420 and 700 nm in the cited paper deviates greatly from the intrinsic behavior of a high-index (n(d)=1.80) glass fiber.     

Effects of mechanical stress on the transmission properties of optical fiber packaged in a composite structure

Optical circuit boards for system-level interconnection may be fabricated by bonding segments of optical fiber, in the configuration necessary for signal distribution, to a substrate such as a printed wiring board. To measure the effects of mechanical stress on optical transmission, a four-point bend test is applied to prototype optical circuit boards. The results show that flexing a board to a strain of approximately 0.3% leads to a decrease in loss of 0.012 ± 0.002 dB for multimode fiber. Flexing of a thin board, in two directions, around 40-in.- (101.6-cm-) bend-radius mandrels decreases fiber loss by almost 1 dB after 700 cycles. Single-mode fiber bonded to aboard, however, exhibits an increase in loss of 0.11 ± 0.05 dB under an induced strain of 0.3%, a change that is not significant relative to typical loss-per-line budgets in real systems.     

Measurement of up- and down-lead fiber sensitivity caused by the lead in a multimode fiber in an interferometric system

The results of a comparative experimental study on the effect of the modal noise induced by lead-in fibers in an extrinsic interferometric system, illuminated by high- and low-coherence light sources, respectively, are reported. When the up-lead fiber was subject to a perturbation, the sensitivity of the system was reduced by 20.9 dB through the use of a high-coherence source, and by 1.8 dB through the use of a low-coherence source. When the down-lead fiber was perturbed, the sensitivity dropped by 30.3 dB and 4.9 dB for high- and low-coherence sources, respectively. The results from the experimental analysis supported qualitatively by simple theory show that the use of a low-coherence light source can greatly suppress the modal noise induced in both the up- and down-lead fibers, if the coherence length of the light source used is less than the optical path difference between two adjacent fiber modes. This shows the practicality of the use of niultimode fibers in an interferometric system with a suitable lig t source.     

基于干涉解调技术的光纤激光器水声传感系统

分析了基于Michelson干涉解调技术的光纤激光器水声传感的原理,在一段掺铒光纤中写入具有π相移的光纤光栅构成光纤激光器,水声压力作用在激光器上引起激光工作波长的变化;采用基于3×3耦合器的偏振无关的非平衡光纤Michelson干涉仪将激光波长变化转化为干涉仪的相位变化;干涉仪的输出由光电探测器转换后使用DSP进行信号解调.针对3×3耦合器分光比不对称的问题,本文提出利用实时调整幅度的2路干涉信号进行解调的方案,该方案不需要3×3耦合器有严格的分光比,消除了外界环境对解调输出的非线性影响.水声探测实验表明,光纤激光器水声传感系统的声压灵敏度为-166.5 dB(参考值1 rad/μPa),解调结果与水声信号具有良好的线性关系.     

Dual wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser using a tapered fiber

A tapered fiber is fabricated by heating and stretching a piece of optical fiber after the polymer protective cladding has been removed. An equidistant comb-like transmission spectrum, with a spacing of 1.6?nm and an extinction ratio of more than 5?dB, was obtained by the tapered fiber due to the multibeam interferences of the cladding modes. The tapered fiber was applied in a ring erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) to generate dual-wavelength lasing oscillations. The EDFL operates at wavelengths of 1557.0?nm and 1558.6?nm with a stable peak power and a signal-to-noise ratio of more than 40?dB.