Rapid characterization of the ultraviolet induced fiber Bragg grating complex coupling coefficient as a function of irradiance and exposure time

We report the application of optical frequency domain reflectometry and a discrete-layer-peeling inverse scattering algorithm to the spatial characterization of the UV induced complex coupling coefficient during fiber Bragg grating growth. The fiber grating is rapidly characterized using this technique to give irradiance dependent growth as a function of exposure time, thereby providing the complete characterization of the coupling coefficient in the form of a "growth surface," which is related to the fiber's photosensitivity. We compare measurements of fiber Bragg grating growth in SMF-28 when exposed to continuous wave 244 nm irradiation from 0 to 90 W cm(-2) for exposure times up to 3230 s with a selection of other fibers including high germanium concentration fiber and erbium doped fiber. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America

Efficient single frequency fibre lasers using novel photosensitive Er/Yb optical fibres

Boron- and germanium-doped highly photosensitive cladding is used in a novel design to achieve photosensitive Er/Yb-doped fibers, permitting short, strong gratings (length ~1cm, reflectivity >99%) to be written without hydrogenation. The high absorption at 980nm in Er/Yb fibers permits efficient pump absorption over a short device length, which is ideal for achieving highly efficient single-frequency fiber lasers. Both single-frequency Bragg-grating reflector and distributed-feedback lasers with slope efficiencies of 25% with respect to launched pump power have been realized in such fibers

Grating formation in BGG31 glass by UV exposure

A three-dimensional index variation grating in bulk BGG31 glass written using neither hydrogen loading nor germanium doping is demonstrated. This material is useful for fabricating ion-exchanged waveguides, and its photosensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) radiation at 248nm has not been previously explored. Intensity measurements of the Bragg diffracted spots indicated a maximum index variation (Delta n) of similar to 4 x 10(-5)

Effects of Post Treatments on Bismuth-Doped and Bismuth/ Erbium Co-doped Optical Fibres

Bismuth-doped and bismuth/erbium co-doped optical fibres have attracted much attention for their great potential in the photonic applications at ultrawide O, E, S, C and L bands. The effects of post treatments, including various heating, high energy ray radiation, laser radiation and H2 loading processes, on these fibres’ performance, functionality and stability have been experimentally studied. Experimental results demonstrate that these post treatments could allow us to get insights regarding the formation and the structure of bismuth active centre (BAC) and be used to control and regulate the formation of BAC

Fibre Bragg gratings in polymer optical fibre for applications in sensing

This thesis presents the potential sensing applications of fibre Bragg gratings in polymer optical fibres. Fibre Bragg gratings are fabricated in different kinds of polymer optical fibres, including Poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) and TOPAS cyclic olefin copolymer based microstructured polymer optical fibres and PMMA based step-index photosensitive polymer optical fibre, using the 325nm continuous wave ultraviolet laser and phase mask technique. The thermal response of fabricated microstructured polymer optical fibre Bragg gratings has been characterized. The PMMA based single mode microstructured polymer optical fibre Bragg gratings exhibit negative non-linear Bragg wavelength shift with temperature, including a quasi-linear region. The thermal sensitivity of such Bragg gratings in the linear region is up to -97pm/°C. A permanent shift in the grating wavelength at room temperature is observed when such gratings are heated above a threshold temperature which can be extended by annealing the fibre before grating inscription. The largest positive Bragg wavelength shift with temperature in transmission is observed in TOPAS based few moded microstructured polymer optical fibre Bragg gratings and the measured temperature sensitivity is 250±0.5pm/°C. Gluing method is developed to maintain stable optical coupling between PMMA based single mode step index polymer optical fibre Bragg gratings and single mode step index silica optical fibre. Being benefit from this success, polymer optical fibre Bragg gratings are able to be characterised for their temperature, humidity and strain sensitivity, which are -48.2±1pm/°C, 38.3±0.5pm per %RH and 1.33±0.04 pm/µ??respectively. These sensitivities have been utilised to achieve several applications. The strain sensitivity of step index polymer optical fibre Bragg grating devices has been exploited in the potential application of the strain condition monitoring of heavy textiles and when being attached to textile specimens with certain type of adhesives. These polymer fibre Bragg grating devices show better strain transfer and lower structure reinforcement than silica optical fibre Bragg grating devices. The humidity sensitivity of step index polymer optical fibre Bragg grating devices is applied to detecting water in jet fuel and is proved to be able to measure water content of less than 20 ppm in Jet fuel. A simultaneous temperature and humidity sensor is also made by attaching a polymer fibre Bragg grating to a silica optical fibre Bragg grating and it shows better humidity measurement accuracy than that of electronic competitors

Periodic fibre devices for advanced applications in all-optical systems

The main objective of this work is to investigate advanced applications of fibre gratings with the combination of nonlinear fibre optical effects, including the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), Kerr effects, four-wave mixing (FWM) and second-harmonic generation. A Raman distributed-feedback (R-DFB) fibre laser formed in a passive optical fibre by using Raman gain is considered as the most promising route to generate a single-frequency and narrow-linewidth laser source at any wavelength given a proper pump source.In this thesis, the R-DFB fibre laser has been intensively studied both numerically and experimentally. Simulation results of centre pi phase-shifted R-DFB fibre lasers show that the longer length of the DFB grating, the higher Raman gain coefficient and the lower background loss of the host fibre are always beneficial for achieving low threshold R-DFB fibre lasers. 30 cm long centre pi phase-shifted R-DFB fibre lasers have been respectively demonstrated in two types of commercially available Ge/Si fibres of PS980 and UHNA4. Both un-polarised and linearly polarised CW Yb-doped fibre lasers at ~1.06 µm were used as the pump sources. The R-DFB fibre lasers are single-frequency operation at around 1.11 µm and have 3 dB linewidth less than 2.5 kHz; lasing thresholds down to sub-watt power levels; total output powers up to ~2 W; and total conversion efficiencies against incident pump power around 13%. Ultra-wide range (>110 nm) wavelength conversion by using FWM in these 30 cm-long R-DFB fibre lasers have been observed and up to ~-25 dB FWM conversion efficiency has been obtained.The nonlinearities and photosensitivity of several high-index non-silica glasses and fibres are also studied in order to incorporate fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) with the highly nonlinear fibres to form R-DFB fibre lasers with lower thresholds. In particular, the Raman gain coefficient of a house-made tellurite glass fibre has been found to be ~35 times higher than the silica fibre and a SRS-assisted supercontinuum from ~1.1-1.7 µm has been observed in the fibre with a length of ~1.35 m by pumping at ~1.06 µm in the normal dispersion region of the fibre.Preliminary investigations into concatenating periodic poled silica fibres (PPSFs) to improve the frequency-doubling conversion efficiency are also presented

Ultrafast all-optical chalcogenide glass photonic circuits

Chalcogenide glasses offer large ultrafast third-order nonlinearities, low two-photon absorption and the absence of free carrier absorption in a photosensitive medium. This unique combination of properties is nearly ideal for all-optical signal processing devices. In this paper we review the key properties of these materials, outline progress in the field and focus on several recent highlights: high quality gratings, signal regeneration, pulse compression and wavelength conversion