Hollow-core fiber-based speckle displacement sensor

The research enterprise towards achieving high-performance hollow-core photonic crystal fibers has led to impressive advancements in the latest years. Indeed, using this family of fibers becomes nowadays an overarching strategy for building a multitude of optical systems ranging from beam delivery devices to optical sources and sensors. In most applications, an effective single-mode operation is desired and, as such, the fiber microstructure or the light launching setups are typically designed for achieving such a behavior. Alternatively, one can identify the use of large-core multimode hollow-core fibers as a promising avenue for the development of new photonic devices. Thus, in this manuscript, we propose and demonstrate the utilization of a large-core tubular-lattice fiber for accomplishing a speckle-based displacement sensor, which has been built up by inserting and suitably dislocating a single-mode fiber inside the void core of the hollow fiber. The work reported herein encompasses both simulation and experimental studies on the evolution of the multimode intensity distributions within the device as well as the demonstration of a displacement sensor with an estimated resolution of 0.7 {\mu}m. We understand that this investigation identifies a new opportunity for the employment of large-core hollow fibers within the sensing framework hence widening the gamut of applications of this family of fibers

Hollow-core fibers with reduced surface roughness and ultralow loss in the short-wavelength range

While optical fibers display excellent performances in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet ranges remain poorly addressed by them. Obtaining better fibers for the short-wavelength range has been restricted, in all fiber optics, by scattering processes. In hollow-core fibers, the scattering loss arises from the core roughness and represents the limiting factor in reducing their loss regardless of the fiber cladding confinement power. To attain fibers performing at short wavelengths, it is paramount developing means to minimize the height variations on the fiber microstructure boundaries. Here, we report on the reduction of the core surface roughness of hollow-core fibers by modifying their fabrication technique. In the novel process proposed herein, counter directional gas fluxes are applied within the fiber holes during fabrication to attain an increased shear rate on its microstructure. The effect of the process on the surface roughness has been quantified by optical profilometry and the results showed that the root-mean-square surface roughness has been reduced from 0.40 nm to 0.15 nm. The improvement in the fiber core surface quality entailed fibers with ultralow loss in the short-wavelength range. We report on fibers with record loss values as low as 50 dB/km at 290 nm, 9.7 dB/km at 369 nm, 5.0 dB/km at 480 nm, and 1.8 dB/km at 719 nm. The results reveal this new approach as a promising path for the development of hollow-core fibers guiding at short wavelengths with loss that can potentially be orders of magnitude lower than the ones achievable with their silica-core counterparts

Tailoring modal properties of inhibited-coupling guiding fibers by cladding modification

Understanding cladding properties is crucial for designing microstructured optical fibers. This is particularly acute for Inhibited-Coupling guiding fibers because of the reliance of their core guidance on the core and cladding mode-field overlap integral. Consequently, careful planning of the fiber cladding parameters allows obtaining fibers with optimized characteristics such as low loss and broad transmission bandwidth. In this manuscript, we report on how one can tailor the modal properties of hollow-core photonic crystal fibers by adequately modifying the fiber cladding. We show that the alteration of the position of the tubular fibers cladding tubes can alter the loss hierarchy of the modes in these fibers, and exhibit salient polarization propriety. In this context, we present two fibers with different cladding structures which favor propagation of higher order core modes \u2013 namely LP11 and LP21 modes. Additionally, we provide discussions on mode transformations in these fibers and show that one can obtain uncommon intensity and polarization profiles at the fiber output. This allows the fiber to act as a mode intensity and polarization shaper. We envisage this novel concept can be useful for a variety of applications such as hollow core fiber based atom optics, atom-surface physics, sensing and nonlinear optics

INHIBITED-COUPLING HOLLOW-CORE FIBERS : NEW HORIZONS

International audienceThis communication will review our recent developments in inhibited-coupling hollow-core fibers, ranging from understanding the optical guiding mechanism to new state-of-the-art performances. These results are expected to have strong impacts in a new landscape of research and technology

Tapered hollow-core photonic crystal fibers

International audienceIn this communication, we will first review the recent advances of hollow-core photonic crystal fibers. Then, the possibility offered to tailor their optical properties by making tapers will be discussed

High repetition rate passively mode-locked fiber laser

Date du colloque : 03/2011International audienceWe investigate different ways to considerably increase the repetition-rate of passively mode-locked fiber lasers. We first report the harmonic mode-locking of a double-clad fiber laser passively mode-locked through nonlinear polarization rotation. We then consider the theoretical possibility to generate a bound-state filling the optical cavity thus resulting in ultra-high repetition rate with a remarkable stability

Characterization of a high-power erbium-doped fiber laser

In this paper we investigate the properties of a 10 W double-clad Er:Yb doped fiber amplifier in two laser setups. It is first studied an all-fibered continuous laser. A laser efficiency of 20 % is obtained with an output power of about 8 W for 40 W pumping power. A passively mode-locked fiber laser is then built up. In the anomalous dispersion regime it is obtained a soliton crystal involving some hundreds of solitons. We demonstrate that the soliton crystal becomes unstable for higher pumping power resulting in its dislocation. Key words: Fiber laser, high-power, soliton. 1

Hollow-Core Fiber Technology: The Rising of “Gas Photonics”

Since their inception, about 20 years ago, hollow-core photonic crystal fiber and its gas-filled form are now establishing themselves both as a platform in advancing our knowledge on how light is confined and guided in microstructured dielectric optical waveguides, and a remarkable enabler in a large and diverse range of fields. The latter spans from nonlinear and coherent optics, atom optics and laser metrology, quantum information to high optical field physics and plasma physics. Here, we give a historical account of the major seminal works, we review the physics principles underlying the different optical guidance mechanisms that have emerged and how they have been used as design tools to set the current state-of-the-art in the transmission performance of such fibers. In a second part of this review, we give a nonexhaustive, yet representative, list of the different applications where gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber played a transformative role, and how the achieved results are leading to the emergence of a new field, which could be coined “Gas photonics„. We particularly stress on the synergetic interplay between glass, gas, and light in founding this new fiber science and technology

Infrared ultra-short pulses generation using Stimulated Raman Scattering in gas-filled HC-PCF

International audienc