Non Linear Optic in Fiber Bragg Grating

A Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) is a periodic variation of the refractive index of the core in the fiber optic along the length of the fiber. The principal property of FBGs is that they reflect light in a narrow bandwidth that is centered about the Bragg wavelength, ?B (A. Orthonos and K. Kalli, 1999). FBGs are simple intrinsic devices that are made in the fibre core by imaging an interference pattern through the side of the fibre. They are used as flexible and low cost in-line components to manipulate any part of the optical transmission and reflection spectrum. FBG is formed by the periodic variations of the refractive index in the fiber core. Several techniques have been established to inscribe them with UV-lasers. However, these technologies are limited to photosensitive fiber core material, which are unsuitable for high power applications. Only recently modifications have been demonstrated in a non photosensitive fiber but at the expense of longer exposure times (K. W. Chow et al., 2008). FBGs have all the advantages of an optical fibre, such as electrically passive operation, lightweight, high sensitivity with also unique features for self-referencing and multiplexing capabilities. This gives them a distinct edge over conventional devices (Nahar Singh et. al, 2006, Govind P. Agrawal 2002)

Vector optical rogue waves in mode-locked fibre lasers

The project consists of an experimental characterisation of optical vector rogue wave (RW) events by using three different testbed fibre laser setups. The first testbed is a long cavity fibre laser (615 m). Here, we have demonstrated for the first time, a new type of vector resonance multimode instability that inherits some features of modulation and multimode instability. This instability leads to emerging different pulse laser regimes from longitudinal modes synchronization to different types of optical RW events. Using the same testbed fibre laser, we have also shown experimentally for the first time fibre twist-based chiral symmetry breaking. This leads to versatile laser dynamics tuneable from a periodic pulse similar mode-locked regime to chaotic oscillations which are revealed as a mechanism for the emergence of RW events. The observed optical RW events have been classified as fast optical RWs or slow optical RWs depending on the autocorrelation function of the experimental data. The classified optical RWs have been studied by collecting experimental data of a 19x19 grid of polarization positions through tuning both intra-cavity and pump polarization controllers. The second testbed is a passively mode-locked fibre laser. Using this system, the control, appearance and disappearance of the soliton rain flow were demonstrated for the first time using a low range of pump power. Harmonics soliton rain, soliton fission and soliton-soliton interactions leading to the emergence of optical RWs have also been demonstrated in this experiment at a different pump power and intra-cavity birefringence. High harmonic (902 MHz) mode-locked fibre laser based on acoustic-optic effect has been realized in the same laser experiment. In the third laser testbed experiment with, a stretched mode-locked fibre laser, vector bright-dark optical RWs were observed experimentally for the first time. These bright-dark RWs have formed in the laser cavity due to modulation instability at close pump power threshold or due to the polarization instability (incoherent coupling) at higher pump power

Optical sampling and metrology using a soliton-effect compression pulse source

A low jitter optical pulse source for applications including optical sampling and optical metrology was modelled and then experimentally implemented using photonic components. Dispersion and non-linear fibre effects were utilised to compress a periodic optical waveform to generate pulses of the order of 10 picoseconds duration, via soliton-effect compression. Attractive features of this pulse source include electronically tuneable repetition rates greater than 1.5 GHz, ultra-short pulse duration (10-15 ps), and low timing jitter as measured by both harmonic analysis and single-sideband (SSB) phase noise measurements. The experimental implementation of the modelled compression scheme is discussed, including the successful removal of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) through linewidth broadening by injection dithering or phase modulation. Timing jitter analysis identifies many unwanted artefacts generated by the SBS suppression methods, hence an experimental arrangement is devised (and was subsequently patented) which ensures that there are no phase modulation spikes present on the SSB phase noise spectrum over the offset range of interest for optical sampling applications, 10Hz-Nyquist. It is believed that this is the first detailed timing jitter study of a soliton-effect compression scheme. The soliton-effect compression pulses are then used to perform what is believed to be the first demonstration of optical sampling using this type of pulse source. The pulse source was also optimised for use in a novel optical metrology (range finding) system, which is being developed and patented under European Space Agency funding as an enabling technology for formation flying satellite missions. This new approach to optical metrology, known as Scanning Interferometric Pulse Overlap Detection (SIPOD), is based on scanning the optical pulse repetition rate to find the specific frequencies which allow the return pulses from the outlying satellite, i.e. the measurement arm, to overlap exactly with a reference pulse set on the hub satellite. By superimposing a low frequency phase modulation onto the optical pulse train, it is possible to detect the pulse overlap condition using conventional heterodyne detection. By rapidly scanning the pulse repetition rate to find two frequencies which provide the overlapping pulse condition, high precision optical pulses can be used to provide high resolution unambiguous range information, using only relatively simple electronic detection circuitry. SIPOD’s maximum longitudinal range measurement is limited only by the coherence length of the laser, which can be many tens of kilometres. Range measurements have been made to better than 10 microns resolution over extended duration trial periods, at measurement update rates of up to 470 Hz. This system is currently scheduled to fly on ESA’s PROBA-3 mission in 2012 to measure the intersatellite spacing for a two satellite coronagraph instrument. In summary, this thesis is believed to present three novel areas of research: the first detailed jitter characterisation of a soliton-effect compression source, the first optical sampling using such a compression source, and a novel optical metrology range finding system, known as SIPOD, which utilises the tuneable repetition rate and highly stable nature of the compression source pulses