Attenuation characteristics of a light attenuator combined by polarizers with different extinction ratios

This paper deals with a systematical analysis and an algorithm of attenuation characteristics of a light attenuator combined by n pieces of polarizers （n-LACP） whose extinction ratios are different from each other. The attenuation ratio expression of a two-LACP is deduced. We find that the monotonic attenuation interval depends on the first polarizer and that the attenuation range depends on the second one. For the three-LACP, a method for obtaining a monotonic attenuation interval is proposed. Moreover, the attenuation ratio expression is demonstrated. Analysis and experiment show that when the initial status of the three-LACP is at the maximum output, if the second or third polarizer rotates alone, the minimum attenuation ratios can reach K2^-1 and K3^-1, respectively, and if the first polarizer rotates, a minimum attenuation ratio of K2^-1K3^-1 can be obtained （K1, K2 and K3 represent the extinction ratios of the three polarizers in turn）. Furthermore, the attenuation ratio expression of n-LACP and the relevant attenuation characteristics are proposed. The minimum attenuation ratio of an n-LACP is （K2K3 ... Kn）-1.

A monolithic integrated medium wave Mercury Cadmium Telluride polarimetric focal plane array

A medium wave(MW)640×512(25μm)Mercury Cadmium Telluride(HgCdTe)polarimetric focal plane array(FPA)was demonstrated.The micro-polarizer array(MPA)has been carefully designed in terms of line grating structure optimization and crosstalk suppression.A monolithic fabrication process with low damage was explored,which was verified to be compatible well with HgCdTe devices.After monolithic integration of MPA,NETD<9.5 mK was still maintained.Furthermore,to figure out the underlying mechanism that dominat⁃ed the extinction ratio(ER),specialized MPA layouts were designed,and the crosstalk was experimentally vali⁃dated as the major source that impacted ER.By expanding opaque regions at pixel edges to 4μm,crosstalk rates from adjacent pixels could be effectively reduced to approximately 2%,and promising ERs ranging from 17.32 to 27.41 were implemented.

A 155 Mbps laser diode driver with automatic power and extinction ratio control

An integrated laser diode driver(LDD) driving an edge-emitting laser diode was designed and fabricated by 0.35 μm BiCMOS technology. This paper proposes a scheme which combines the automatic power control loop and temperature com-pensation for modulation current in order to maintain constant extinction ratio and average optical power. To implement tem-perature compensation for modulation current,a novel circuit which generates a PTAT current by using the injecting base current of a bipolar transistor in saturation region,and alternates the amplifier feedback loop(closed or not) to control the state of the current path is presented. Simulation results showed that programmed by choice of external resistors,the IC can provide modu-lation current from 5 mA to 85 mA with temperature compensation adjustments and independent bias current from 4 mA to 100 mA. Optical test results showed that clear eye-diagrams can be obtained at 155 Mbps,with the output optical power being nearly constant,and the variation of extinction ratio being lower than 0.7 dB.

Design of a photonic crystal fiber polarization beam splitter with simple structure and ultra-wide bandwidth

A novel polarization beam splitter(PBS)based on dual-core photonic crystal fiber(DC-PCF)is proposed in this work.The proposed DC-PCF PBS contains two kinds of lattices and three kinds of air holes to form the asymmetrical elliptic dual-core structure.By using the full-vector finite element method,the propagation characteristics of the proposed DC-PCF PBS are investigated.The simulation results show that the bandwidth of the proposed DC-PCF PBS can reach to 340 nm,which covers the S+C+L+U communication bands,the shortest splitting length is 1.97 mm,and the maximum extinction ratio appears near wavelength 1550 nm.Moreover,the insertion loss of the proposed DC-PCF PBS is very low.It is believed that the proposed DC-PCF PBS has important applications in the field of all-optical communication and network.

Implementation of a DC-10Mb/s 0.5μm CMOS Laser Diode Driver

A DC-10Mb/s laser diode driver,compatible with TTL and CMOS levels,is presented. The optical power corresponding to‘1＇ and ‘0＇ can be set independently with resistors off-chip and stabilized with a closed loop. A novel peak-to- peak optical power monitor and stabilization mechanism is introduced. The circuit, fabricated in a CSMC 0. 5μm mixed signal CMOS process, can provide 120mA maximum drive current and 0. 6dB extinction ration fluctuation over - 20 ＋ 80℃ ,which is independent of input pattern.

Wide-Band Polarization-Independent Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Gate with Tensile-Strained Quasi-Bulk InGaAs

A semiconductor optical amplifier gate based on tensile strained quasi bulk InGaAs is developed.At injection current of 80mA,a 3dB optical bandwidth of more than 85nm is achieved due to dominant band filling effect.Moreover,the most important is that very low polarization dependence of gain (<0 7dB),fiber to fiber lossless operation current (70～90mA) and a high extinction ratio (>50dB) are simultaneously obtained over this wide 3dB optical bandwidth (1520～1609nm) which nearly covers the spectral region of the whole C band (1525～1565nm) and the whole L band (1570～1610nm).The gating time is also improved by decreasing carrier lifetime.The wide band polarization insensitive SOA gate is promising for use in future dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) communication systems.

Design of a polarization splitter for an ultra-broadband dual-core photonic crystal fiber

A novel ultra-broadband polarization splitter based on a dual-core photonic crystal fiber(DC-PCF)is designed.The full-vector finite element method and coupled-mode theory are employed to investigate the characteristics of the polarization splitter.According to the numerical results,a graphene-filled layer not only broadens the working bandwidth but also reduces the size of the polarization splitter.Furthermore,the fluorine-doped region and the germanium-doped region can broaden the bandwidth.Also,the 4.78 mm long polarization splitter can achieve an extinction ratio of-98.6 d B at a wavelength of 1550 nm.When extinction ratio is less than-20 d B,the range of the wavelength is 1027 nm-1723 nm with a bandwidth of 696 nm.Overall,the polarization splitter can be applied to all-optical network communication systems in the infrared and near-infrared wavelength range.

Optimization of Key Parameters in 622-Mb/s Amplitude Shift Keying Labeled 40-Gb/s Return to Zero Differential Phase Shift Keying Optical Switching Network

Optimized are the label extinction ratio and dispersion compensation of an optical label switching transmission system,which employs 40-Gb/s return to zero differential phase shift keying(RZ-DPSK)payload labeled with 622-Mb/s amplitude shift keying(ASK)control data.In our scheme,the receiver sensitivities of payload and label achieves-27.8dBm and-33.5dBm,respectively.After transmitted over 40km,60km and 80km single mode fiber(SMF)(with dispersion compensation)respectively,the payload can be recovered with no power penalty,while the label can be recovered with less than 2dB penalty.

Theoretical simulation of a polarization splitter based on dual-core soft glass PCF with micron-scale gold wire

A polarization splitter based on dual-core soft glass photonic crystal fiber （PCF） filled with micron-scale gold wire is proposed. The characteristics of the polarization splitter are studied by changing the structural parameters of the PCF and the diameter of the gold wire with the finite element method （FEM）. The simulation results reveal that the coupling length ratio of the soft glass-based PCF is close to 2 and the corresponding curve is more fiat than that of the silica-based PCE The broadband bandwidth is 226 nm in which the extinction ratio is lower than -20 dB by the soft glass-based PCE i.e., from 1465 nm to 1691 nm which is competitive in the reported polarization splitters, and the bandwidth is just 32 nm by the silica-based PCE The insertion loss by our polarization splitter is just 0.00248 dB and 0.43 dB at the wavelength of 1.47 μm and 1.55 μm. The birefringence is obviously increased and the coupling length is decreased by filling gold wire into the soft glass-based or the silica-based PCE Also the birefringence based on the silica-based PCF is much larger than that based on the soft glass-based PCF whether or not the gold wire is introduced. The fabrication tolerance of the polarization splitter is also considered by changing the structural parameters. The polarization splitter possesses broad bandwidth, low insertion loss, simple structure and high fabrication tolerance.

Extinction ratio and resonant wavelength tuning using three dimensions of silica microresonators

In this paper, a multidimensional tuning method of the silica microcapillary resonator(MCR) is proposed and demonstrated whereby the extinction ratio(ER) as well as the resonant wavelength can be individually controlled.An ER tuning range of up to 17 d B and a maximum tuning sensitivity of 0.3 d B/μm are realized due to the tapered profile of the silica optical microfiber(MF) when the MF is adjusted along its axial direction. Compared to direct tuning of the coupling gap, this method could lower the requirement for the resolution of displacement stage to micrometers. When the MF is adjusted along the axial direction of the silica microcapillary, a resonance shift of 3.06 nm and maximum tuning sensitivity of 0.01 nm/μm are achieved. This method avoids the use of an applied external field to control the silica microresonators. Moreover, when air is replaced by ethanol and water in the core of the silica microcapillary, a maximum resonance shift of 5.22 nm is also achieved to further enlarge the resonance tuning range. Finally, a microbubble resonator with a higher Q factor is also fabricated to achieve an ER tuning range of 8.5 d B. Our method fully takes advantage of the unique structure of the MCR to separately and easily tune its key parameters, and may broaden its applications in optical signal processing and sensing.

Additional Sensitivity Penalty of Burst Mode Receivers in Ethernet PON due to Extinction Ratio

An additional sensitivity penalty of burst mode receivers due to the extinction ratio is analyzed considering the specific transmitter control in Ethernet PON. For an extinction ratio of 6dB, a penalty of 8dB occurs additionally.

Improved extinction ratio of Mach-Zehnder based optical modulators on CMOS platform

Silicon based optical modulators with improved extinction ratio （ER） of 25 dB were demon- strated on complementary metal oxide semiconductor （CMOS） platform. It was proposed that the effect of optical absorption due to free carriers accumulated in silicon should be considered in the analysis of device configuration. Experimental results presented in this study were identical with the proposed analyses. The modulators were operated with the data transmission rate of 3.2 Gbps.

A Novel Polarization Maintaining Fiber

It introduces a novel elliptical jacket polarization maintaining fiber, whose SAP is like numeral "1". One preform can be drawn over 8km. Fiber's performances show that it is fit for fiber gyroscope and other sensors.

Fabrication of a novel lumped electro-absorption modulator with a lower RC-time constant

A novel lumped electro-absorption modulator with a charge layer and an undercut ridge waveguide （DU-EAM） was fabricated and measured.Also,two other kinds of EAM with straight ridge waveguides,one with a charge layer（D-EAM） and another with no charge layer（N-EAM）,were fabricated and tested to ensure that the design of the DU-EAM would reduce the RC-time constant.The measured capacitance of the D-EAM and the DU-EAM is lower than that of the N-EAM under reverse bias voltage from -1 to -8 V due to the inserted charge layer.The capacitances of the N-EAM,the D-EAM and the DU-EAM are 0.375,0.225 and 0.325 pF,respectively, at -3 V.In addition,the DU-EAM had a larger extinction ratio（25 dB at -3 V） and higher modulation efficiency （13 dB/V between -1 and -2 V） than two other straight-ridge-waveguide ones（the D-EAM performed 22 dB and 10 dB/V,the N-EAM performed 20 dB and 10 dB/V） due to the 5.2μm wider active region.

Design and fabrication of an embedded wire-grid nanograting

An embedded wire-grid nanograting was designed and fabricated for using as a broadband polarizing beam splitter to reflect s-polarized light and transmit p-polarized light. A protected cladding layer of the same material as the grating＇s was deposited on the ridge, whereas the wire-grid is deposited in the grating trenches, which makes it more firm during application. High polarization extinction ratios of above 40 and 20 dB for transmission and reflection, respectively, with a broad wavelength range for the whole optical communication bandwidth （850 -1700 nm） and a wide angular tolerance （〉 ±20 °） are obtained by optimization of the designed structures, and the grating period is 200 nm.

Silicon photonics integrated dynamic polarization controller

We designed and demonstrated experimentally a silicon photonics integrated dynamic polarization controller.The overall size of the dynamic polarization controller on chip is 2.830 mm × 0.210 mm × 1 mm.The modulation bandwidth is 30 kHz.By using a variable step simulated annealing approach,we achieve a dynamic polarization extinction ratio greater than 25 dB.A numerical simulation method was used to optimize the relevant parameters of the dynamic polarization controller.It is expected that the dynamic polarization controller can be utilized in fiber communication systems or silicon photonics integrated quantum communication systems to minimize the size and decrease the cost further.

Novel configuration for wavelength conversion based on cross-gain modulation in semiconductor optical amplifiers

Novel configuration for cross-gain modulation (XGM) wavelength conversion based on the single-port-coupled semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), in which the input and the output share one port, has been demonstrated with the output extinction ratio as high as 15 dB, even in the 2.5 Gbit/s wavelength up conversion with a 12.8 nm span. Owing to the existence of double-pass gain and the transmission loss of the rear facet, the novel scheme can be achieved with simpler implementation and higher output extinction ratio, compared with the conventional schemes based on double-port-coupled SOA either with identical long chip or double long chip.