Tailoring of broadband dispersion-compensating photonic crystal fibre

This paper presents a broadband dispersion-compensating photonic crystal fibre (B-DCPCF) with a high compensation ratio of 30:1. We theoretically tailored the negative dispersion in a photonic crystal fibre (PCF) to nullify the positive dispersion in the transmission fibre over a bandwidth range of as wide as possible. The numeric results indicate that the effective dispersion within ±0.64 ps/nm/km over a bandwidth range of 226 nm (from 1338 to 1564 nm), cover the E + S + C wavelength bands. Finally, the confinement loss and the modal properties were examined to verify that the proposed B-DCPCF with extremely low confinement loss and should be operated in single mode throughout the operating band.     

A high sensitivity refractive index sensor based on photonic crystal fibre Mach–Zehnder interferometer

A compact and high sensitivity refractive index sensor based on a photonic crystal fibre Mach–Zehnder mode–mode interferometer is proposed. The sensing part is formed by in fibre SMF-PCF-SMF structure (SMF: single-mode fibre; PCF: photonic crystal fibre) using fusion splicing method. The fully collapse air holes of photonic crystal fibre make coupling of fibre core and cladding mode in the splicing collapse region which establish a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The Mach–Zehnder interferometers with different photonic crystal fibre length are fabricated to investigate refractive index sensing characteristics. The refractive index measuring sensitivity can reach 224.2 nm/RIU (RIU: Refractive Index Unit) with a length of PCF L = 4 cm, experimentally. The proposed refractive index sensor is attractive due to its simple production process, compact size and high sensitivity.     

A single-mode highly birefringent dispersion-compensating photonic crystal fiber using hybrid cladding

Based on the hybrid cladding design, a single-mode photonic crystal fibre (PCF) is proposed to achieve an ultra-high birefringence and large negative dispersion coefficient using finite-element method. Simulation results reveal that with optimal design parameters, it is possible to achieve an ultra-high birefringence of 2.64 × 10^?2 at the excitation wavelength of 1.55 μm. The designed structure also shows large dispersion coefficient about ?242.22 to ?762.6 ps/nm/km over the wavelength ranging from 1.30 to 1.65 μm. Moreover, residual dispersion, effective dispersion, effective area, confinement loss and nonlinear coefficient of the proposed PCF are discussed thoroughly.     

A kind of single-polarization single-mode photonic crystal fiber

A kind of single-polarization and single-mode totally internal reflection photonic crystal fiber (SPSM TIR-PCF) is proposed in this paper. It is a PCF structure with elliptical air holes in the cladding and four large holes in the first ring. A full-vector plane wave expansion method is employed to analyze this PCF structure. The numerical results show that this PCF structure can realize an ultra-broad SPSM bandwidth of 540?nm with a confinement loss less than 0.1?dB?km^?1, the broadest bandwidth to the best of our knowledge. Moreover, the structure that we proposed can realize a high nonlinear coefficient.     

一种高双折射低限制性损耗光子晶体光纤设计

本文设计了一种适用于长距离光纤通信的新型光子晶体光纤。该光纤包层内椭圆形和圆形空气孔呈交错排列,纤芯两侧为两个小椭圆空气孔。利用有限元分析方法对所设计光纤的传输特性进行分析并对其结构进行了优化,确定了最佳结构。结果表明,波长为1550 nm时,此新型光子晶体光纤在最佳结构下可提供高达3.51×10^-2的高双折射和低至1.5×10^-9 dB/m的限制性损耗。与现存的引入椭圆形空气孔的光子晶体光纤相比,本文中的光子晶体光纤的双折射系数有较大提高,限制性损耗系数降低了5个数量级。另外,本文还详细研究了光子晶体光纤的色散随光子晶体光纤结构的变化以及其布里渊增益特性,并分析了其可制造性。基于其高双折射和低限制性损耗特性,此种光纤可应用于长距离光纤通信系统。     

Multi-parameters measurement based on cascaded Bragg gratings in magnetic fluid-infiltrated photonic crystal fibre

Simultaneous measurement of multi-parameters is demonstrated quantitatively using two fibre Bragg gratings inscribed on a high birefringence photonic crystal fibre (PCF) and common PCF, respectively. The birefringence coefficient and the Bragg wavelengths corresponding to the fast-axis mode and slow-axis can be magnetic-controlled by filling magnetic fluid (MF) into several cladding air-holes. Based on the dependence of the MF refractive index on temperature and magnetic field, the sensitivity of the spectral response of the device to longitudinal strain, magnetic field and temperature are characterized, and the results of its application as a multi-parameter sensor are also presented.     

Improving of high birefringence photonic crystal fiber with low confinement loss using small elliptical air holes in the core region

In this paper, a novel design double lattice photonic crystal fiber is proposed for achieving both high birefringence and low confinement loss. In this structure, circular air holes are arranged as octagonal lattice in the cladding and elliptical as rectangular lattice in the core region. Numerical results illustrate that the birefringence in such fibers is determined not only by the double lattice but also the changing of the shape and the arrangement of the air hole in the first inner rings of the cladding. The birefringence property and confinement loss are studied by employing the finite difference time domain method with transparent boundary condition. The numerical results demonstrate that the maximal birefringence and lowest confinement loss of our optimized structure PCF at the excitation wavelength of λ = 1550 nm can be achieved at 5.16 × 10^?2 and 0.003 dB/km, respectively.     

Numerical investigation of birefringence and confinement loss formed by rectangular/elliptical/circular air holes photonic crystal fibers

In this paper, high birefringence and low confinement loss of rectangular air holes photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are numerically investigated and compared with elliptical and circular patterns using the finite element method. The mode birefringence of the proposed PCFs with rectangular air holes at λ?=?1.55?µm reaches 8.1?×?10^?2 and the confinement loss is less than 5?×?10^?3?dB/km. Besides, a high birefringence up to 2.76?×?10^?2 is also achieved from the proposed circular air holes PCF, which is the highest value compared to conventional circular air holes PCF.     

Theoretical assessment of a highly sensitive photonic crystal fibre based on surface plasmon resonance sensor operating in the near-infrared wavelength

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor comprising a photonic crystal fibre (PCF) with an annular analyte channel outside the fibre is described and analysed. The losses of the sensor are analysed by the finite element method (FEM) with the boundary condition of a perfectly matched layer (PML). The influence of the structural parameters on the performance of the sensor is investigated based on the loss spectra of the fundamental mode. The relationship between the resonance wavelengths and analyte refractive indexes is established for refractive indexes ranging from 1.395 to 1.425. An average spectral sensitivity of 12,592.86?nm/RIU can be achieved in the sensing range corresponding to a resolution of 7.94×10^?6?RIU. The maximum spectral sensitivity and the maximum figure of merit (FOM) are as high as 22,807.14?nm/RIU and 595.78, respectively.     

Dispersion-compensating photonic crystal fiber with wavelength tunability based on a modified dual concentric core structure

We present a 5-layer air-hole dispersion-compensating photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a modified dual concentric core structure, based on central rod doping. The finite element method (FEM) was used to investigate the structure numerically. If the structural parameters remain unchanged, a high degree of linear correlation between the central rod refractive index and the operating wavelength can be achieved in the wavelength range of 1.5457–1.5857 μm, which suggests that the operating wavelength can be determined by the refractive index of the centre rod. A negative dispersion coefficient between –5765.2 ps/km/nm and –6115.8 ps/km/nm was obtained by calculation and within the bandwidth of 108 nm (1.515–1.623 μm) around 1.55 μm, a dispersion coefficient of –3000 ps/km/nm can be ensured for compensation. In addition, this proposed PCF also has the advantage of low confinement loss, between 0.00011 and 0.00012 dB/m, and ease of fabrication with existing technology. The proposed PCF has good prospects in dispersion-compensating applications.     

Refractive index and temperature sensors based on no-core fiber cascaded with long period fiber grating

A kind of compact fibre-optic sensor based on no-core fibre (NCF) cascaded with a strong coupling long-period fibre grating (LPFG) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensing mechanism is based on the Mach–Zehnder-like interference between the core fundamental mode and cladding mode of the fibre structure. The NCF and LPFG are used as the mode exciter and combiner, respectively. Due to the particular properties of the strong coupling LPFG, the measurements of refractive index (RI) and temperature with high sensitivity are realized by monitoring the transmission spectrum with intensity and wavelength interrogation techniques, respectively. The achieved RI sensitivity reaches ?580.269 dB/RIU in the range of 1.436–1.454 and the temperature sensitivity reaches 27.2 pm/°C.     

A novel structure of photonic crystal fibre for dispersion compensation over broadband range

This paper studies a novel structure of photonic crystal fibre (PCF) for dispersion compensation at broadband wavelengths. The application of broadband is investigated using a design model based on combination of modal properties and dispersion compensation. The newly designed PCF with defect introduced is recorded over transmission spectrum range 146.7–256.98 THz, i.e., 1.16–2.04 µm. The modal characteristics and dispersion compensation of 2D PCF with circular air holes defect introduced are investigated and compared to those of conventional hexagonal 2D PCF. Changes in bandwidth behaviour are also observed by changing refractive index and geometric parameter of PCF.     

Advanced design and optimization of single mode photonic crystal fibers

This paper proposes a combination of differential evolution (DE) and estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) to design photonic crystal fiber structures with desired properties over the C communication band. In order to determine the properties of PCFs such as dispersion, dispersion slope and loss, an artificial intelligence method, the Nero-Fuzzy system, is applied. In addition, a special cost function which simultaneously includes the confinement loss, dispersion and its slope is used in the proposed design approach. The results revealed that the proposed method is a powerful tool for solving this optimization problem. The optimized PCF exhibits an ultra low confinement loss and low dispersion at 1.55 µm wavelength with a nearly zero dispersion slope over the C communication band.     

Optical fibre Fabry–Perot relative humidity sensor based on HCPCF and chitosan film

Abstract

An optical fibre Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) sensor for relative humidity (RH) measurement is proposed. The FPI is formed by splicing a short section of hollow-core photonic crystal fibre(HCPCF) to single mode fibre and covering a chitosan film at the end of HCPCF. The refractive index of chitosan and film thickness will change with ambient RH, leading to the change in the reflected interference spectrum of FPI. RH response of the FPI sensor is analysed theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. It shows nonlinear response to RH values from 35 to 95%RH. The interference fringe shifts to shorter wavelength as RH increases with a maximum sensitivity of 0.28 nm/%RH at high RH level. And the fringe contrast also decreases as RH increases with an available maximum sensitivity of 0.5 dB/%RH. The sensor shows good stability and fast response time less than 1 min. With its advantages of compact structure, good performance, simple and safe fabrication, the proposed optical fibre FPI sensor has great potential for RH sensing.     

Study of the sensitivity of gas sensing by use of index-guiding photonic crystal fibers

We demonstrate an absorption transmission spectrum of CH(4) in a 16.9 cm long index-guiding photonic crystal fiber (PCF) fabricated in our laboratory. One of the main factors to improve the sensitivity is to increase the fraction of power in PCF cladding air holes. We study the fraction of power in PCF cladding air holes as a function of the index-guiding PCF parameters. We found that a PCF with small spacing and a large air-filling ratio has a higher fraction of power in its cladding air holes. At the same time the mode area in this PCF is small and would generate strong nonlinear effects in the fiber. If we use a PCF in which the core is formed by missing seven air holes, it is immediately obvious that the PCF used as a sensor has higher sensitivity and a larger mode area.     

A low confinement loss double-photonic crystal fibre over 850 nm bandwidth with 26 orbital angular momentum modes transmission

In this paper, a new double-photonic crystal fibre (D-PCF) is proposed and numerically investigated, result shows that can support angular momentum (OAM) mode transmission up to 26. Based on As₂S₃ substrate, the proposed D-PCF is composed of three well-ordered air-hole rings in the cladding and another several air-hole rings at the centre. Due to the large effective index difference greater than 10^?4 between eigenmodes, OAM can be well separated with the proposed D-PCF. In addition, the confinement loss of less than 7?×?10^?9 dB/m for all eigenmodes is obtained with wavelengths spanning from 1.25 to 2.1?µm, where the optical wave can be confined closely within the core of D-PCF. With these beneficial properties, the designed D-PCF could enable large-capacity transmission in high-speed communications.     

Investigation of structural dependence of host erbium-doped triangular-lattice PCF on lasing properties and design of high performance laser

A detailed study is presented on the lasing properties of an erbium-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) laser. The effects of the host PCF’s structure and laser parameters on continuous-wave laser emission are analyzed by considering the confinement and overlap of pump and signal fields in the gain medium for varying values of pitch, hole diameter, and doping radius. For analysis, we used a finite-difference mode-calculation algorithm devised with standard population and propagation rate-equation solver. Our analysis, applied to an experimentally realized PCF laser, reproduces the observed/reported data, thereby showing the efficacy of our analysis. Finally, a fiber geometry to realize a laser with threshold as low as 6?mW using a short fiber length of 0.52?m is prescribed. The aim of the design is to greatly reduce splice loss with standard single-mode SM28/G.652 fiber while maintaining the optimum performance. These results are new in PCF laser research and should be useful in realizing high performance PCF-based laser devices.     

Pulsed optical parametric amplification based on photonic crystal fibres

In this paper, we simulate pulsed one-pump fibre optical parametric amplifiers (1-P FOPAs) based on photonic crystal fibres in telecommunication region. At first, a PCF is designed such that its zero-dispersion wavelength is located at 1535 nm in order to fulfil the phase-matching condition for the parametric amplification in the telecommunication region. Then, the dispersion coefficients of the PCF including β₂, β₃, β₄ and β₅ as well as the nonlinear parameters are calculated at the pump, signal and idler wavelengths. Finally, the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations are numerically solved and the impacts of pump power and the pulse shape on the evolution of each pulse along the 1-P FOPA are investigated. The results show that the peak powers of the pump, signal and idler are periodically varied and each pulse is distorted and broadened as it propagates down the fibre optical parametric amplifiers. Also, the pulse distortion and broadening increase with the increase in both propagation distance and the input peak power.     

Modelling of a variable optical switch based on the parametric amplification in a photonic crystal fibre

We model an optical switch with a variable gain based on the optical parametric amplification in a photonic crystal fibre (PCF). By solving the coupled amplitude equations, the switch gain as a function of the power, wavelength and the state of polarization (SOP) of the control wave as well as the signal wavelength is simulated. The results show that the switch gain is increased by increasing the control power and the maximum gain is obtained for a specific SOP of the control wave. Also, the proposed switch has ultrahigh speed and provides a very wide and flat gain over the C-band without changing the operating wavelength.     

Slow light generation using SBS in a liquid-core photonic crystal fiber

Based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), the slow light effect in photonic crystal fibre (PCF), which is filled with highly nonlinear liquid-carbon disuphide in the core region, is investigated. Maximum allowable pump power for undistorted output pulse, minimum value of pump power required to initiate the SBS effect, Brillouin gain and time-tonic delay experienced by the pulse in the designed liquid-core photonic crystal fibre, are all calculated numerically. We have found that the maximum time-delay up to ～134.4 ns at 1.064 μm can be obtained using 1 m long liquid-core PCF pumped with only 65.8 mW, which is lower than the value reported in the literature for achieving such a high delay time. The results indicate that liquid-core PCF is capable of generating tunable time-delay that is adjusted by the pump power and structural parameters of the proposed liquid-core PCF.