Bending Effects on Highly Birefringent Photonic Crystal Fibers With Low Chromatic Dispersion and Low Confinement Losses

Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with elliptical air-holes located in the core area that exhibit high birefringence, low losses, enhanced effective mode area, and low chromatic dispersion across a wide wavelength range have been presented. The effects of bending on birefringence, confinement losses and chromatic dispersion of the fundamental mode of the proposed PCFs have been thoroughly investigated by employing the full vectorial finite element method (FEM). Additionally, localization of higher order modes is presented. Also, effects of angular orientation on bending loss have been reported. Significant improvement on key propagation characteristics of the proposed PCFs are demonstrated by carefully altering the desired air hole diameters and their geometries and the hole-to-hole spacing.     

Highly Birefringent Photonic Crystal Fibers With Ultralow Chromatic Dispersion and Low Confinement Losses

Highly birefringent photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with low confinement loss with ultralow and ultraflattened chromatic dispersions at wide wavelength band are presented. The transverse electric field vector distributions of two linearly polarized fundamental modes, their effective indices, modal birefringence, confinement losses and chromatic dispersion of the proposed PCFs are reported by using full-vector finite-element method (FEM). Significant improvements of PCFs in terms of the birefringence, chromatic dispersion and confinement losses are demonstrated by careful investigation of all air holes in each ring, air holes diameters and hole-to-hole spacing. In addition to this, the polarization beat length results of the proposed PCFs are also reported and discussed thoroughly.     

Polarized Backward Raman Amplification in Unidirectionally Spun Fibers

The vector interaction of an intense, backward-propagating, Raman pump and a weak, forward-propagating, Stokes signal in randomly birefringent, unidirectionally spun fibers is theoretically and numerically studied. The governing equations account for losses, Raman interaction, random linear birefringence, nonlinearity, and spinning. A model of birefringence, previously proposed for determining the polarization properties of unidirectionally spun fibers, is applied to the Raman amplifier confirming that this particular spin generates an equivalent circular birefringence. Numerical solutions show that, for rapid spinning, random birefringence effects are greatly reduced, Raman gain can be enhanced, and its fluctuations are minimized.     

A kind of photonic crystal fiber with high birefringence and low cofinement loss

The triangular-lattice highly birefringent photonic crystal fibers（PCFs） with gradually increasing diameter of the air holes along radial axis are put forward. The modal birefringence, dispersion and confinement loss of the fundamental mode are simulated by full vector Galerkin finite element method（FEM） with a perfectly matched layer（PML）. The results show that this PCF can keep low confinement loss when the rings of air holes are few. When the wavelength is 1.55 μm, the birefringence, the confinement loss of quick-axis and slow-axis are 1.365×10^-3, 0.017 dB/m and 0.051 dB/m, respectively. A new way is proposed to fabricate polarization-mainting fibers with high performance.     

光栅参数对线性啁啾光纤光栅偏振特性的影响

研究了单模线性啁啾光纤光栅的偏振相关损耗特性。运用耦合模理论和传输矩阵分析法推出了反射光的偏振相关损耗,并模拟了光栅的反射谱和偏振相关损耗随光栅参数和双折射量的变化曲线。模拟显示双折射值的变化对啁啾光栅偏振相关损耗的影响非常显著, 尤其是在带边比较陡峭时。啁啾光栅的偏振相关损耗也受光栅的啁啾系数和调制深度的影响。这表明线性啁啾光栅的偏振相关损耗不光依赖光栅双折射量,还依赖其啁啾系数等其他参数。实验结果与理论模拟基本吻合。     

Low-loss fusion splices of optical fibers

A low-loss splicing method, based on discharge fusion of optical fibers by a simple apparatus and by applying pressure between fibers before fusion, was developed. Average splice losses of about 0.07 and 0.15 dB for single-mode (SM) fibers having core diameters of 10 and 7μm, respectively, and 0.02 dB for 50-μm core diameter graded-index (GI) fibers are obtained. Fusion loss and fusion time are obtained minimum for better end preparation having low initial alignment losses at critical pressure and temperature. Mathematical expressions for the variation of fusion time and splice loss with effect of applied pressure between the fibers, for different practical axis alignment, showing the optimum condition to have minimum splice loss are made. Experimental fusion losses are analyzed in terms of residual misalignment of off axis, angular tilt of the fibers during aligning, and air gaps in the splicing zone. Optimum fusion time is obtained by considering the forces due to applied pressure, thermal expansion, and surface tension in the viscous melted glass of the fiber. Theoretical curves of fusion times and splicing losses versus applied pressure agree with the experimental results. The decrease of fusion time to about 1.3 times and splice loss to about two times were found when applied pressure is varried from low to its critical value of 20-25 g. The splice losses are found at a minimum for the operating temperature range of 1980°C to 2140°C for silica fibers. Experimental results of the histogram of bar chart of splice losses agree with the derived mathematical expressions assuming a statistical distribution function of splice losses.     

Virtual boundary method for the analysis of elliptically cross-sectional photonic-crystal fibers with elliptical pores

This paper introduces a new semianalytical method for the analysis of propagation characteristics of elliptically cross-sectional photonic-crystal fibers (PCFs) with elliptical pores. This method known as a virtual boundary method (VBM) is based on the equivalency between an actual PCF and a three-layered, transversely inhomogeneous waveguide. The complicated refractive-index profile of the PCF is written as a double Fourier series, and an approximate separable wave equation is found in an elliptical coordinate system for the longitudinal field components. The exact solution to the derived equation is expressed in terms of higher order transcendental functions, such as regular and irregular Coulomb-wave functions and Mathieu functions. After having expressed all the field components, boundary conditions are imposed on the boundaries, and then, a transcendental equation for the propagation constant is derived, which is solved numerically. The validity of the method is ensured by comparing various quantities, such as effective indexes, modal birefringences, and electromagnetic field distributions, with those from an accurate full-vector finite-element method (FEM) simulator, showing relatively good agreement between the results. The method correctly confirms some of the unique PCFs' properties, such as strong localization of light within the fiber and enhancement of modal birefringence as a function of the topology of hole arrangement.     

高双折射光子晶体光纤特性分析

建立了基于透明边界条件(TBC)的全矢量迦辽金有限元法(FEM)分析二维光子晶体光纤(PCF)的模型,并对椭圆芯等5种高双折射光子晶体光纤基模的模式双折射、限制损耗及色散特性进行了数值分析和比较.通过减小内包层中沿x方向的空气孔,增大沿y方向的空气孔构成的一种光子晶体光纤的模式双折射在波长1550 nm处高达5.96×10-3,而椭圆芯光子晶体光纤为1.52×10-3.研究表明,可通过增加内包层中两个正交方向上空气孔的尺寸差来获得高双折射;同时还得出内包层中放大的空气孔减小限制损耗,增加色散,而减小空气孔尺寸带来的影响则刚好相反;内包层上空气孔数量越少,色散越平坦.     

Large polarization mode dispersion in fiber optic cables

The recently observed difference in polarization mode dispersion (PMD) between spooled and cabled single-mode optical fibers is investigated experimentally. To discriminate between a large polarization mode-coupling length or a large birefringence as a cause of high PMD, both parameters are measured. The results show a factor of 50 difference between the mode-coupling lengths of spooled and cabled fibers, which accounts for the larger PMD's of cabled fibers. It is suggested that cables with a loose tube design especially suffer from large polarization mode-coupling lengths. Internal stress is shown to be the dominant source of birefringence in standard telecommunication fibers by observing the shift of the PMD spectrum over a wide wavelength interval as a function of temperature     

Highly birefringent photonic crystal fibers with flattened dispersion and low confinement loss

A highly birefringent index-guiding photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with flattened dispersion and low confinement loss is proposed by introducing two small air holes with the same diameter in the core area. The fundamental mode field, birefringence, confinement loss, effective mode area and dispersion characteristic of the fibers are studied by the full-vector finite element method (FEM). Simulation results show that a high birefringence with the order of 10 -3 and a low confinement loss of 0.001 dB/km are obtained at 1550 nm. Furthermore, flattened chromatic dispersion from 1450 nm to 1590 nm is obtained.     

Design of low-confinement-loss and highly birefringent index-guiding photonic crystal fibers

We present a systematic scheme to achieve both high birefringence and low confinement loss in index-guiding photonic crystal fibers （PCFs）, using a structurally-simple PCF with finite number of air holes in the cladding region. By increasing the size of the outermost-ring air holes in the cladding region, highly birefringent PCFs with low confinement loss can be successfully achieved. The design strategy is based on the fact that the modal birefringence of PCFs is dominated by the inner-ring air holes in PCF, which is verified by a full-vector finite element method with anisotropic perfectly matched layers. Numerical results show that modal birefringence in the order of 10-3 and confinement loss less than 0.1 dB/km can be easily realized in the proposed PCF with only four rings of air holes in the cladding region. We expect that such fibers will be much easier to be fabvicated than those with more air holes in the cladding region.     

Design and characteristics of a branching component for bunched optical fiber using two graded-index rod lenses

An optical branching component is proposed for coupling bunched optical fiber to mono-core optical fibers and the component loss and crosstalk characteristics are investigated. The component is constructed with two graded-index (GRIN) rod lenses for matching different parameters between bunched and mono-core optical fibers. The method of analyzing mismatching and misalignment losses is based on geometrical optics. Measured losses are found to be in agreement with the calculated results and demonstrate that bunched optical fibers can be branched with low loss. Crosstalk measurements show that crosstalk attenuation greater than 30 dB can be easily maintained in the component.     

色散管理传输系统中克尔效应对偏振模色散的补偿研究

光纤的随机双折射效应可导致脉冲无规展宽即偏振模色散(PMD)。在零路径色散管理孤子传输系统中，二阶色散和三阶色散效应均被完全补偿，克尔效应成为一种有害因素会使脉冲变窄，但是当光纤的随机双折射被考虑时，克尔效应正好与PMD相互抵消，使光脉冲准稳定传输，不同的光纤偏振模色散参数分别对应不同的最佳系统功率。此外，如果考虑不同偏振方向的损耗差异，则即使在最佳匹配条件下，微小的偏振损耗差异也可产生很大的脉宽波动。因此，偏振相关损耗是影响脉冲传输质量的相当重要的因素，不论在理论计算还是在工程设计中都应当认真考虑。     

A reciprocal-compensated fiber-optic electric current sensor

A novel reciprocal-compensated structure is proposed and demonstrated for intensity-modulated intrinsic fiber-optic current sensors. Both the component losses and birefringence influences can be partly compensated using this configuration, and the sensor is sensitive only to nonreciprocal Faraday rotation. The dependence of the signal on circular birefringence drift can be reduced by a factor better than 10 for low birefringence fibers. The property of total reciprocity reduces the sensitivity of the current sensor to temperature changes and vibrations. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions for the sensor, fabricated using a coil of low birefringence single-mode fiber     

Measure of twist-induced circular birefringence in long single-mode fibers: theory and experiments

Production defects and external perturbations cause standard telecommunication fibers to be randomly birefringent. Fiber birefringence is the origin of the well-known polarization mode dispersion (PMD), which degrades system performances. The knowledge of birefringence properties may be crucial, especially when problems like development of low-PMD fibers or PMD interaction with optical nonlinearities in very high-capacity systems are faced. Some techniques are known to measure birefringence, and useful results have been obtained for both installed and wound-on-drum fibers. However, measurement of the circular component of birefringence still presents difficulties. In this paper, a new method for circular birefringence measurement is proposed that applies to long single-mode twisted fibers. The technique is based on polarization-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry. Experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis.     

Spatially resolved PMD measurements

Spatially resolved measurements of polarization properties of fiber optic link-such as birefringence, polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) and polarization dependent loss (PDL)-may be effectively performed using polarization sensitive reflectometric techniques. In particular, this paper focuses on polarization-OTDR and reviews its theory and applications. Special emphasis is given to the use of optical reflectometry as a tool to characterize fiber birefringence. This allows to inspect the fiber while cabled and, consequently, to test and improve the cabling process. In addition, it also allows to define reliable mathematical models, which are essential for the design of low polarization mode dispersion fibers. The application of polarization-OTDR to polarization mode dispersion and polarization dependent loss measurements is also discussed.     

Performance of waveguide-based two-dimensional photonic-crystalmirrors studied with Fabry-Perot resonators

As a step toward the use of photonic crystals in optoelectronic devices, we present a thorough study of 2-D photonic-crystal mirrors etched into a GaAs-AlGaAs planar waveguide. Fabry-Perot resonators are fabricated to deduce the reflectivity, transmission, losses, as well as the penetration lengths of these mirrors. The guided photoluminescence of InAs quantum dots embedded in GaAs is used to obtain the transmission spectra of these cavities. The varying thickness between the mirrors allows a scan across the whole bandgap spectral range. Quality factors (up to 200) and peak transmissions (up to 0.3) are measured showing that mirrors of four rows of holes have 88% reflectivity, 6% transmission and 6% losses. Losses are also related to a two-dimensional transfer matrix method calculation including a recently introduced scheme to account for losses     

Design and performance of tuned fiber coil isolators

Optical isolators using coiled single-mode fibers with controlled birefringence have been thoroughly analyzed and tested experimentally. Isolation ratios as high as 44.5 dB with insertion losses (excluding coupling and polarizer losses) of 0.3 to 0.4 dB have been obtained at 633 nm. Analysis indicates that these devices will have >20-dB isolation over a spectral range of 2.5 nm or a temperature range of 36°C.     

双折射色散阶跃光纤中太赫兹脉冲的提取

根据光脉冲在双折射色散阶跃光纤中调制不稳定性,研究了双折射色散阶跃光纤中调制不稳定性增益谱随传输距离的变化关系.结果表明:在弱双折射色散阶跃光纤和强双折射色散阶跃光纤中,利用调制不稳定性增益谱随传输距离的变化关系可分离和提取THz脉冲.     

Bending losses of coated single-mode optical fibers

Peaks appear in bending losses of coated single-mode fibers due to interference between the guided mode and rays which are radiated from the guided mode and are reflected at cladding-coating boundary. This paper reports derivation of bending loss formulas for coated slab waveguides and coated fibers. Plane wave concepts are also used to explain the appearance of the loss peaks. Measurements were performed by using two coated single-mode fibers. The agreement between theory and experimental results is found to be excellent. It is possible to obtain the refractive index difference from measured peak wavelengths.