Quasi-optical diplexer and filter based on a polarization ring interferometer

The operation of a quasi-optical polarization ring interferometer (PRI) performing the function of a diplexer, bandpass filter, and band-stop filter is demonstrated for the first time. It is shown that the beam focusing losses in this interferometer can be reduced using spherical low-permittivity lenses. The results of measurements of the transmission characteristics of a PRI prototype in a 3-mm wavelength range are presented.     

Faraday compensator of reciprocal optical anisotropy utilizing a polarization ring interferometer

It is shown that a polarization ring interferometer containing a Faraday cell can be used to compensate the reciprocal anisotropy in round-trip optical circuits. It is established theoretically and experimentally that, unlike the case of conventional Faraday mirrors, the quality of the restoration of the polarization in a compensator based on a polarization ring interferometer is practically independent of the Faraday rotation angle. A deviation of the Faraday rotation angle from 45° leads only to an additional power loss. The novel compensators can be used in fiber-optic circuits with a wideband light source or with several sources having different wavelengths. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 25, 57–63 (May 26, 1999)     

Simultaneous measurement of multiparameters using a Sagnac interferometer with polarization maintaining side-hole fiber

A Sagnac interferometer with a section of a polarization maintaining side-hole fiber for multiparameter measurement is proposed. The sensor was experimentally demonstrated to be sensitive to torsion, temperature, and longitudinal strain, simultaneously. The birefringence in the investigated side-hole fiber is induced simultaneously by the elliptical shape of a germanium-doped core and by field overlap with the air holes surrounding the core. The latter effect is purely geometrical and causes high chromatic dispersion of the group birefringence in the long wavelength range, which results in a different period of spectral interference fringes. A different wavelength response is obtained for each interference fringe peak when the fiber is subjected to torsion, temperature, or longitudinal strain. A matrix equation for simultaneous measurement of the three parameters--torsion, temperature, and longitudinal strain--is also proposed.     

Signals of an intermodal fiber interferometer induced by laser frequency modulation

Signals of an intermodal fiber interferometer induced by laser optical frequency modulation are studied. Dependences of signal amplitudes and spectra on the laser frequency deviation are examined theoretically and experimentally for various optical fibers. It is established that the sensitivity of the intermodal fiber interferometer to the laser frequency variation essentially depends on the fiber refractive index profile. The minimal sensitivity corresponds to graded-index (α ≈ 2) multimode optical fibers. Step-index optical fibers (α = ∞) are more sensitive to the laser frequency variation by more than a factor of 100.     

Single-frequency Q-switched erbium-doped fiber ring laser by combination of a distributed Bragg reflector laser and a Mach-Zender interferometer

A single-frequency Q-switched erbium-doped fiber ring laser is implemented for producing a single frequency with 25-Mhz laser linewidth, Q-switched pulses with a high peak power at 1557.5 mm. The single longitudinal mode is selected by a distributed Bragg reflector fiber laser, and a fiberoptic Mach-Zehnder interferometer acts as a Q-switch. The peak power and the average power of the Q-switched pulses vary with the repetition rate.     

Nonlinear-index-of-refraction measurement in a resonant region by the use of a fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

The nonlinear index of refraction in a resonant region has been determined by the use of a fiber-based Mach--Zehnder interferometer to measure the temporal fringe shift between two signals. The measurement technique is direct and does not require additional amplitude information for the extraction of the nonlinear index of refraction. This technique has been used to measure the temporal response of an InGaAsP semiconductor optical amplifier at 1.313 μm.     

Suppression of polarization errors in fiber-ring interferometer by polarizing fibers

Polarization errors in a Sagnac fiber-ring interferometer are considered. It is shown that the joint application of polarizing fibers at the input of the interferometer and the sensing coil is able to radically suppress these errors.     

Analysis of a low-finesse Fabry-Perot sensing interferometer illuminated by a multimode optical fiber

A model of the reflected fringe system for an ideal plane-parallel, low-finesse Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity illuminated by a multimode optical fiber has been developed and experimentally validated. This showed that the phase dispersion within the cavity arising from the divergent nature of the incident illumination significantly degrades the visibility of the reflected fringes. Departures from the ideal FP cavity are also examined. The effect on fringe visibility when the plane of the FP cavity is tilted with respect to the fiber axis and when the cavity surfaces are no longer perfectly parallel to each other has been explored. The analysis described is relevant to the design and the optimization of multimode optical-fiber sensors that use FP sensing cavities.     

Ray picture of polarization and coherence in a Young interferometer

We apply a polarization Wigner formalism to the propagation of polarization in a Young interferometer within paraxial approximation. With a very simple ray picture, we obtain complete and rigorous information about polarization evolution via the superposition of the spatial-angular Stokes parameters associated with three light rays. We compare the degree of polarization in the interference region with several measures of the degree of coherence for vectorial fields.     

High-precision measurement of a fiber connector end face by use of a Mirau interferometer

What we believe to be a new instrument for measuring the end-face geometrical parameters of fiber connectors is described. In this apparatus, a Mirau-type interferometric objective is employed to measure a small area of the connector end face and generate an interferogram corresponding to the surface profile. Various new technologies are used to ensure excellent performance and high measurement repeatability. A multipoint method is proposed to adjust the inclination of the physical contact sample stage. The physical contact angle of the sample stage is adjusted directly on the instrument by use of a special tool whose angle is calibrated with the reversal method. Measurement results of important parameters of the fiber connector end face are compared with those inspected by a commercial profiler or with a standard sample. Optical insertion losses of connectors inspected by the developed system are also evaluated.     

Effects of polarization mixing on the dual-wavelength heterodyne interferometer

A great amount of phase fluctuation was observed in the dual-wavelength heterodyne interferometer that we have developed. Through analyses and experiments, we found that this fluctuation was caused by polarization mixing in the interferometer. The errors originating from the polarization mixing were also found to be the first or second harmonic versus the phase change of one mode of the laser in the optical path difference and might become substantial in value. Measures that reduce the polarization mixing and improve the precision of the interferometer are given.     

Frequency-domain intermodal interferometer for the bandwidth measurement of a multimode fiber

A new bandwidth measurement technique for a multimode optical fiber (MMF) using a frequency-domain intermodal interferometer is proposed. We have demonstrated that the relative modal delay (RMD) of a MMF can be obtained easily and accurately based on an optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) technique by using an intermodal interference signal among the excited modes of a MMF. As an example, a photonic crystal fiber with a few modes is prepared and its RMD is measured by using our proposed measurement technique. Measurement results are compared with those from a previously reported frequency-domain method. We have also measured the RMD of a commercial MMF as a practical application and compared our result with the one obtained from a well-known time-domain differential mode delay measurement technique.     

Measurement of the induced refractive index in a photothermorefractive glass by a liquid-cell shearing interferometer

A liquid-cell shearing interferometer was developed to measure refractive-index variations (delta n) in transparent materials. The cell was filled with a liquid having a matched refractive index. The achieved resolution was better than 1/1000 of a fringe shift and resulted in a delta n measurement sensitivity down to 10(-7) for 1-mm-thick samples. A refractive-index increment in photothermorefractive glass of up to 5 x 10(-6) was observed after UV exposure at 325 nm. A refractive-index decrement of up to 1 x 10(-3) was observed after thermal development of the exposed sample. It was proved that photothermorefractive glass obeys the reciprocity law; i.e., delta n depends on the UV dosage but does not depend on the irradiance.     

Analysis of a shift interferometer as a component of a fiberoptic acoustic pressure sensor

Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 10, pp. 24–26, October, 1992.     

Bending-loss studies of a single-mode triangular-index fiber with a depressed cladding ring with a vector-mode method

Attention is directed to the bending-loss properties of a triangular-index fiber with a depressed cladding ring, which can be advantageously used to obtain either a dispersion-shifted or a dispersion-flattened feature. Both cases are studied to search for the set of ring parameters that yield the lowest bending loss while ensuring a low dispersion. Near-optimal designs are proposed and compared with other well-known dispersion-shifted and dispersion-flattened fiber designs. The numerical methods used in our computations are the vector-mode power-series expansion method for fields and dispersion calculations and the volume-current method for bending-loss predictions.     

White-light interferometry with polarization phase-shifter at the input of the interferometer

Abstract

In white-light interferometry the surface profile is determined by measuring the fringe contrast function of the white-light interferogram. One of the techniques proposed for the measurement of the fringe contrast function is the use of the phase shifting technique with the help of an achromatic phaseshifter. The available phase-shifters employ a rotating polarization component at the output end of the interferometer. Using a rotating polarization component at the input end, rather than at the output end, has certain advantages. In this paper we investigate a rotating half-wave plate phase-shifter at the input end for its applications to a white-light interferometer.     

Measuring optical fiber length by use of a short-pulse optical fiber ring laser in a self-injection seeding scheme

A method for measuring the length of an optical fiber by use of an optical fiber ring laser pulse source is proposed and demonstrated. The key element of the optical fiber ring laser is a gain-switched Fabry-Perot laser diode operated in a self-injection seeding scheme. This method is especially suitable for measuring a medium or long fiber, and a resolution of 0.1 m is experimentally achieved. The measurement is implemented by accurately determining the pulse frequency that can maximize the output power of the fiber ring laser. The measurement results depend only on the refractive index of the fiber corresponding to this single wavelength, instead of the group index of the fiber, which represents a great advantage over both optical time-domain reflectometry and optical low-coherence reflectometry methods.     

Phase-shifting interferometer based on changing the direction of linear polarization orthogonally

We present a new type of phase-shifting interferometer, which utilizes a polarizing prism to form quadrature phase-shifted fringe patterns onto a single imaging sensor. By changing the direction of linear polarization of the incident light orthogonally, four phase-shifted fringe patterns in quadrature are obtained by taking images twice; thus it is possible to reduce phase errors caused by mechanical vibrations and air turbulence that occur in temporal phase-shifting interferometers. We present the principle of this interferometer with its theoretical analysis, using the Jones matrix, along with experimental results.     

Obtaining a given phase shift between voltages by the beating method

Conclusions The tests carried out by us have shown that it is possible with the above beating method circuit to set a given phase difference between voltages with an error not exceeding 0.1–0.3°, providing the described precautionary measures are observed. The above method can find wide application in producing reference phase-difference generators used for checking electronic phasemeters.The majority of phasemeters intended for measuring phase differences between two voltages have a linear scale and incorporate devices for setting the zero value of the phase. In such meters only the linearity of their scale need be checked. This circumstance makes considerably less stringent the requirements for the identity of the phasedifference generator amplifying channels, since the setting of the zero value of the phase can be made by means of the tested phasemeter.If the output of one of the channels is fitted with a calibrated potential divider it also becomes possible to use the device for measuring voltages by the compensation method.Phase-difference generators with a continuous adjustment of the phase angle in a given frequency range can be used widely not only for testing purposes but also for measuring phase characteristics of amplifiers, filters, and other radio equipment, as well as for adjusting components of tracking systems, computers, and other automatic equipment.