Thermal tuning of mechanically induced long-period fiber grating

We have developed a wideband tunable optical filter that uses a long-period fiber grating (LPFG) in which both resonance wavelength and its signal attenuation can be adjusted. We create the grating mechanically by pressing a spring coil to an optical fiber. We achieve continuous fine tuning of wavelength and attenuation by varying the temperature of the LPFG. The adjustable ranges of the LPFG are more than 200 nm in resonance wavelength and more than 10 dB in signal attenuation.     

相移长周期光栅在EDFA增益平坦中的应用

对相移长周期光栅进行了理论分析,在此基础上,运用传输矩阵法对它的透射光谱进行数值计算,分析了相移量大小、平均折射率变化以及光栅长度等结构参数变化对相移长周期光栅透射谱的影响,并根据这些变化规律适当调节它的结构参数,使其透射光谱与平坦EDFA的目标光谱在一定程度上相符。平坦后的EDFA增益谱在34nm范围内最大波动不超过±0.7dB。根据此方法设计的增益平坦滤波器只包含一个器件,体积小,便于制造和封装,具有很好的市场应用前景。     

All-optical 2 x 2 switching with two independent Yb3+ -doped nonlinear optical fibers with a long-period fiber grating pair

We have demonstrated a new type of all-optical 2 x 2 switch by using two independent Yb3+ -doped nonlinear optical fibers with a long-period fiber grating pair and a 3-dB fiber coupler. A 400-Hz square-wave pulse train at approximately 1549.4 nm was fully switched between the two output ports up to 200 Hz by modulated pump signals at 976 nm with a maximum pump power of approximately 35 mW, where the extinction ratio at approximately 1549.4 nm between the on and the off states was approximately 17.5 dB.     

External-cavity wavelength tunable laser with an electro-optic deflector

A near-IR tunable external-cavity laser that uses an electro-optic deflector and a reflection grating as a tunable filter is demonstrated. The deflector is an electronically reconfigurable nonpixelated nematic liquid-crystal device. By controlling the voltage applied to the electro-optic deflector, a tuning range of 12 nm and a side-mode suppression higher than 30 dB are obtained.     

Acousto-optic superlattice modulation in fiber Bragg gratings

The superposition of a long-period grating and a fiber Bragg grating, which we call an optical superlattice, causes high-efficiency narrow-band reflections to be induced on either side of the Bragg wavelength. This effect was recently observed experimentally in a fiber-based acousto-optic superlattice modulator. We develop in detail the theory of optical superlattices in fiber Bragg gratings, treating both the acousto-optic and the fixed-grating cases. Applications include reconfigurable wavelength division multiplexers, fiber lasers and sensors, tunable filters, modulators, and frequency shifters.     

Long-period grating fabricated by periodically tapering standard single-mode fiber

We fabricated an asymmetric long-period grating (LPG) by periodically tapering a section of standard single-mode fiber using a resistive filament heating. The LPG exhibits large peak transmission attenuation of -30.31 dB with only 22 periods in a 1.0 cm long optical fiber and possesses unique characteristics for sensing applications. The bending and strain sensitivities are 1.74 nm m and 1.11 pm/mu epsilon, respectively. The polarization dependent loss is large, up to 11.65 dB, which is caused by an asymmetric index profile in the cross section of the tapered LPG.     

Tunable dual-wavelength optical short-pulse generation by use of a fiber Bragg grating and a tunable optical filter in a self-seeding scheme

A simple self-seeding scheme is developed to generate tunable dual-wavelength optical short pulses in a flexible manner and with an increased wavelength-tuning range. The wavelength selection and tuning are achieved by simultaneous use of a fiber Bragg grating and a tunable optical filter. The side-mode suppression ratio of the output pulses is better than 30 dB over a wavelength-tuning range of 33.8 nm. The system is compact and convenient for dual-wavelength tuning.     

All-fiber dynamic gain equalizer based on a twisted long-period grating written by high-frequency CO2 laser pulses

A novel dynamic gain equalizer for flattening Er-doped fiber amplifiers based on a twisted long-period fiber grating (LPFG) induced by high-frequency CO(2) laser pulses is reported for the first time to our knowledge. Experimental results show that its transverse-load sensitivity is up to 0.34 dB/(g.mm(-1)), while the twist ratio of the twisted LPFG is approximately 20 rad/m, which is 7 times higher than that of a torsion-free LPFG. In addition, it is found that the strong orientation dependence of the transverse-load sensitivity of the torsion-free LPFG reported previously has been weakened considerably. Therefore such a dynamic gain equalizer based on the unique transverse-load characteristics of the twisted LPFG provides a much larger adjustable range and makes packaging of the gain equalizer much easier. A demonstration has been carried out to flatten an Er-doped fiber amplifier to +/-0.5 dB over a 32 nm bandwidth.     

Widely tunable fiber-coupled single-frequency Er-Yb:glass laser

A fiber-coupled tunable Er-Yb:glass minilaser is presented with output power of 40 mW. The laser can be stepwise tuned in single-frequency operation from 1530 to 1560 nm by compressing a fiber Bragg grating that provides selective feedback. Constant output power (fluctuation < 0.8 dB) over the full tuning range is demonstrated. The relative intensity noise spectrum was measured to be < 150 dB/Hz for frequencies > 2 MHz.     

Widely tunable optical bandpass filter by use of polymer long-period waveguide gratings

We report the design and fabrication of a widely tunable optical bandpass filter based on using two identical long-period gratings formed along a polymer channel waveguide with a section of the waveguide core removed. The peak transmission of the passband of the fabricated filter is approximately 60% and the bandwidth of the passband is approximately 6 nm. The filter is thermally tunable over the C + L band (1520-1610 nm) for both TE and TM polarizations with a temperature control of approximately 30 degrees C.     

Polarization-independent tunable spectral slicing filter in Ti:LiNbO3

A two-port polarization-independent tunable spectral slicing filter at the 1530?nm wavelength regime is presented. The design utilizes an asymmetric interferometer with a sparse index grating along its arms. The sparse grating makes it possible to select equally spaced frequency channels from an incident WDM signal and to place nulls between them to coincide with the signal comb frequency. The number of selected channels and nulls between them depends on the number of coupling regions used in the sparse grating. The free spectral range depends on the spacing between the coupling regions. The Z-transform method is used to synthesize the filter and determine the spectral response. The operation of a device with six coupling regions is demonstrated, and good agreement with theoretical predictions is obtained. A 3?dB bandwidth of ～1?nm and thermal tuning over a range of ～13?nm are measured.     

Pump efficiency improvement of a C-band tunable fiber laser using optical circulator and tunable fiber gratings

We propose and demonstrate a tunable fiber laser based on an optical circulator (OC) and two tunable fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs). The OC acts as a pump power router to improve the pumping efficiency, and a 4% increase in overall conversion efficiency has been observed. The combined tuning spectra range of two TFBGs could cover the entire C-band spectrum from 1530 to 1560 nm. Stable laser output power above 10 dBm is obtained using 1.9 m of erbium-doped fiber and TFBGs with 50% reflectivity. With power equalization by using variable optical attenuators, the power variation is less than 0.1 dB in the whole C band with narrow linewidth of 0.05 nm. A signal-to-noise ratio of 60 dB and a continuous tuning resolution of 0.5 nm have been achieved. The TFBG-based tunable fiber laser can be a promising light source for WDM transmission and fiber sensor applications.     

Tunable Tm-doped fiber ring laser operating at 1.9 μm band using force-induced fiber grating as wavelength tuner

We report wavelength-tunable operation of a Tm-doped silica fiber laser by using a force-induced long-period fiber grating (LPFG) formed in a fiber ring resonator. The laser output wavelength is tuned by moving the transmission passband that is generated between adjacent resonance wavelengths due to the force-induced LPFG. By changing the grating period around 900 μm, we control the laser output wavelength between 1845 and 1930 nm.     

Near-IR tunable laser with an integrated LiTaO3 electro-optic deflector

We report the successful demonstration of a near-IR tunable laser (1525.4-1558.2 nm) that uses an integrated LiTaO3 deflector in combination with a reflection grating as an electronically tunable filter. The electro-optic deflector is a unique integrated optical device and consists of a horn-shaped array of electro-optic prisms in series. The almost 33 nm of tuning covers a wavelength region of high interest to the communications industry (1527-1550 nm).     

Optimization of distributed resistive metal film heaters in thermally tunable dispersion compensators for high-bit-rate communication systems

Tunable dispersion compensators are an essential component for optical networks operating at 40 Gbits/s and beyond. One fiber-based tunable dispersion compensator that has proved to be effective consists of a chirped fiber Bragg grating tuned by a thin-film distributed resistive heating element. We describe several modifications to the heater design that minimize temperature-induced higher-order dispersion, eliminate the need for a second stabilization heater when the device is operated at constant ambient temperature, and significantly lower its maximum operating temperature. We demonstrate a tunable dispersion compensator with a single thin-film heater that provides over 500 ps/nm of tunable dispersion over a fixed 100-GHz bandwidth with a maximum operating temperature of less than 125 degrees C above ambient.     

Free-space wavelength-multiplexed optical scanner demonstration

Experimental demonstration of a no-moving-parts free-space wavelength-multiplexed optical scanner (W-MOS) is presented. With fast tunable lasers or optical filters and planar wavelength dispersive elements such as diffraction gratings, this microsecond-speed scanner enables large several-centimeter apertures for subdegree angular scans. The proposed W-MOS design incorporates a unique optical amplifier and variable optical attenuator combination that enables the calibration and modulation of the scanner response, leading to any desired scanned laser beam power shaping. The experimental setup uses a tunable laser centered at 1560 nm and a 600-grooves/mm blazed reflection grating to accomplish an angular scan of 12.92 degrees as the source is tuned over an 80-nm bandwidth. The values for calculated maximum optical beam divergance, required wavelength resolution, beam-pointing accuracy, and measured scanner insertion loss are 1.076 mrad, 0.172 nm, 0.06 mrad, and 4.88 dB, respectively.     

Replicated arrays of hybrid elements for application in a low-cost micro-spectrometer array

Abstract

We report on the fabrication and characterization of replicated hybrid elements for low-cost micro-spectrometer array applications. An array of hybrid elements, where one surface combines the fairly large dimensions of refractive microlenses with the submicron features of a diffraction grating, was successfully replicated by hot embossing. The parameters are: lens diameter=990 μm, height=60 μm, grating period=1 μm, linewidth=300 nm and grating depth=2 μm. These replicated spectrometer elements showed a maximum resolution of 2.25 nm and a stray-light suppression better than 30 dB.     

Tunable external-cavity diode laser at 650 nm based on a transmission diffraction grating

A tunable external-cavity diode laser (ECDL) based on a transmission diffraction grating in a Littrow mount has been developed and characterized. A single-transverse-mode diode laser at 650 nm is used in an external-cavity configuration in which the transmission grating is used as a dispersive element to select the single longitudinal mode. The transmission diffraction grating is made with electron-beam lithography. A tunable true single-mode cw output power of >20 mW is obtained from the ECDL. The total wavelength tuning range is 12 nm, and the mode-hop-free continuous tunability is >20 GHz.     

Tunable narrow band filter based on a surface plasmon polaritons Bragg grating with a metal–insulator–metal waveguide

A tunable narrow band filter based on a Bragg grating with surface plasmon polaritons is developed and investigated numerically by using the finite-difference time-domain method. A defect state with narrow transmission peak (about 15?nm) is shown to appear in the bandgap by introduction of a defect into the Bragg grating, which can thus be used as filtering device. We also show that double-channel filtering can be realized by introducing two defects into the Bragg grating. The resonant wavelengths in the bandgap are related to the position of defects and the refractive index of the insulator. Our results may provide useful information in the design of tunable narrow band filters in nano-circuits.     

Reconstruction of long-period fiber gratings from their core-to-core transmission function

In order to reconstruct the structure of a long-period grating, both the complex core-to-core transmission function and the complex core-to-cladding transmission function should be known. However, in practice, only the core-to-core transmission function of the grating can be measured. We demonstrate theoretically the reconstruction of long-period gratings from only the core-to-core transmission function. The reconstruction is performed by extracting the complex core-to-cladding transmission function of the grating from its core-to-core transmission function. Generally, the extraction is not unique; however, we show that by writing an additional grating in cascade to the interrogated grating, a unique reconstruction can be obtained. In weak long-period gratings, only the amplitude of the core-to-core transmission function is needed to reconstruct the grating. The results of our work can enable the experimental reconstruction of long-period gratings from their transmission function as well as the development of novel distributed sensors.