Laser Brillouin à fibre microstructurée en verre de chaleogénure

Souvent considéré néfaste dans le domaine de la télécommunication car il limite la puissance d'un système de transmission optique, l'effet Brillouin peut être utilisé pour la réalisation de lasers. Un laser à fibre Brillouin peut potentiellement être très cohérent et très peu bruité ; ce qui incite son utilisation dans plusieurs domaines incluant la défense, la métrologie et les télécommunications. L'objectif de cette thèse, qui s'insert dans le cadre du projet ATOS (Antenne acoustique en technologie Tout Optique pour la Surveillance), est d'obtenir un laser Brillouin à la fois compact et avec un seuil laser relativement bas. Pour respecter ces deux conditions, il est nécessaire de disposer d'une bre avec un très fort coefficient de gain Brillouin gB et ayant une très petite aire effective de manière à concentrer la puissance optique dans le cœur de la fibre. Nous avons ainsi choisi d'utiliser une fibre faite à partir de verres en chalcogénure, qui ont un gB de deux ordres de grandeurs supérieures au gB d'une fibre monomode silice classique avec une microstructure dans le coeur. Ces travaux de recherche contribuent donc, d'une part, à démontrer qu'il est expérimentalement possible de réaliser des lasers Brillouin compacts, bas seuils et exhibant des caractéristiques remarquables en termes de bruit et de cohérence avec des fibres microstructurées en verre de chalcogénure et, d'autre part, à étudier la potentialité de ces cavités lasers dans le cadre du projet ATOS tout en proposant d'autres applications possibles pour la métrologie, l'instrumentation et les télécommunications.Although stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in optical ber is a penalizing nonlinear e ect in optical communication systems, it is possible to make good use of SBS in other applications such as in Brillouin ber lasers (BFLs). A BFL can potentially have a very narrow linewidth and very low relative intensity noise (RIN) and frequency noise, making them excellent coherent laser sources that can be used in telecommunications, defense and metrology. The goal of this research work, which is in the framework of ATOS (Antenne acoustique en technologie Tout Optique pour la Surveillance, All Optical Acoustic Antenna for Security) project, is to obtain a compact Brillouin laser with a very low threshold power. In order to match these two conditions, it is essential to use a fiber with a very high Brillouin gain coefficient gB and with a small effective mode area to ensure a stronger light con nement in the ber core. For this research work, we have combined both alternatives by using a microstructured optical fiber made of chalcogenide glass. These materials are known to have very high gB, which can be two orders of magnitudes higher than in the case of a standard silica fiber. In this work, we have, first of all, experimentally demonstrated that it is possible to obtain a compact, low threshold and low noise Brillouin laser using microstructured chalcogenide fibers. Then, we have studied the feasibility of using this laser cavity in the framework of the ATOS project while proposing alternative applications for metrology and telecommunications.RENNES1-Bibl. électronique (352382106) / SudocSudocFranceF

First demonstration of a 12 DFB fiber laser array on a 100 GHz ITU grid, for underwater acoustic sensing application

International audienceWe report for the first time a multiplexed array of 12 distributed feedback fiber lasers (DFB FLs) on a single optical fiber, separated by only 100 GHz (0.8 nm) in the C-band. These lasers are pumped by a 200 mW laser diode at 1480 nm with no apparent impact on the sensor noise floor despite the fact that the residual reflections from adjacent gratings may be enhanced due to the smaller wavelength separation. Each DFB FL, especially developed for serial multiplexing, exhibits low lasing threshold typically between 1 and 2 mW, low intensity noise and very low frequency noise (less than 30 dB re 1 Hz²/Hz at 1 kHz from optical carrier). From these experimental results, extension to 32 DFB FLs array (on 100 GHz ITU grid) multiplexed on one fiber will be discussed

From spider webs to a fibre-optic chemical sensor

From the spider’s perspective, silk is not only a building material but also a safety net, a weapon and a sensory organ to detect the presence of prey on its web. For scientists, dragline silk - directly extracted from spiders - is a tough, biodegradable and biocompatible optical fibre. These protein optical threads are made up of millions of repetitive protein sequences and domains that, unlike its silica counterpart, can interact with a multitude of chemical species. In this communication, we will explore the potential of using spider silk as a new type of fibre-optic chemical sensor

Spider silk thread as a fiber optic chemical sensor

Monitoring the properties of light transmitted through a thread of spider silk enables detection of trace amounts of chemical compounds

Effets d'une faible contre-réaction optique sur des lasers à fibre DFB pour applications capteurs

National audienceNous étudions l'effet d'une faible réflection externe sur des lasers à fibre à contre-réaction répartie (DFB FLs). Nous démontrons expérimentalement que la phase optique accumulée sur un aller-retour dans la cavité étendue et la réflectivité associée au miroir externe modifient la puissance de sortie et la fréquence d'émission d'un DFB FL. Comme pour un laser à semiconducteurs (SC) contre-réactionné, à réflectivité externe donnée, l'amplitude des variations est constante pour ces deux paramètres quelle que soit la longueur de la cavité externe

All-fiber molecular frequency reference at 2 μm based on a versatile laser modulation sideband locking and a hollow-core fiber gas cell

Sensing of atmospheric trace gases is crucial for climate monitoring and to predict global climate changes. The required global coverage and spatial resolution have driven the studies of space-borne differential absorption lidar (DIAL) instruments to remotely monitor atmospheric gases from a satellite to ground. The performance of such instruments is notably determined by the frequency stability and accuracy of a low-power continuous-wave laser that seeds the pulsed laser transmitter. For a CO2 DIAL, this reference laser needs to be stabilized with an adjustable frequency-detuning from the center of the probed molecular transition and the 2.05-μm spectral range is of high interest from a spectroscopic point-of-view [1].We have developed an all-fiber modulation sideband locking set-up enabling a laser to be locked at a controlled frequency detuning from the center of the CO2 R(30) transition at 2050.97 nm, selected for DIAL applications. The offset frequency can be directly tuned over a span ranging from some hundred MHz up to at least 3 GHz, which is the typical requirement for a space-borne CO2 DIAL. The method is depicted in Fig. 1a. It consists of a distributed feedback (DFB) laser, followed by an intensity electro-optic modulator (EOM) driven by a radio-frequency signal at fEOM provided by an amplified voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). The EOM generates a pair of sidebands shifted by ±fEOM that are coupled into a reference gas cell. The sidebands are dithered by modulating the VCO at a frequency fm 40 kHz to implement wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS). An error signal is produced by demodulating the reference cell transmission signal to servo-lock one of the sidebands at the center of the transition. As a result, the unmodulated laser carrier is detuned from the transition linecenter by the frequency offset fEOM, which can be easily varied, thus making the system versatile

All-fiber versatile laser frequency reference at 2μm for CO2 space-borne lidar applications

We present a frequency stabilized laser at 2051 nm based on a versatile all-fibered stabilization setup. A modulation sideband locking technique is implemented to lock the laser at a controlled frequency detuning from the center of the CO2 R(30) transition envisaged for space-borne differential absorption lidar (DIAL) applications. This method relies on the use of a compact all-fibered gas reference cell that makes the setup robust and immune to mechanically induced optical misalignments. The gas cell is fabricated using a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with pure CO2 at a low pressure of ~20 mbar and hermetically sealed at both ends by splices to silica fibers. Different configurations of this fibered cell have been developed and are presented. With this technique, frequency stabilities below 40 kHz at 1-s integration time and <100 kHz up to 1000-s averaging time were achieved for a laser detuning by around 1 GHz from the center of the CO2 transition. These stabilities are compliant with typical requirements for the reference seed source for a space CO2 DIAL

Compact fibre Bragg grating-based thermometer for on-line temperature monitoring of drill bits

In this communication, a novel compact fibre Bragg grating-based thermometer for on-line temperature monitoring of drill bits is reported. Our proposed technique can potentially be used to optimize any drilling process, requiring the use of small drill bits, through direct temperature measurement at the drill bit instead of relying on indirect parameters (speed of rotation, applied force) in order to avoid an overheating as it is currently done nowadays