Broadband tunable Raman soliton self-frequency shift to mid-infrared band in a highly birefringent microstructure fiber

Raman soliton self-frequency shifted to mid-infrared band（λ 〉 2 μm） has been achieved in an air-silica microstructure fiber（MF）. The MF used in our experiment has an elliptical core with diameters of 1.08 and 2.48 μm for fast and slow axis. Numerical simulation shows that each fundamental orthogonal polarization mode has two wide-spaced λZDW and theλZDW pairs located at 701/2110 nm and 755/2498 nm along the fast and slow axis, respectively. Using 810-nm Ti：sapphire femtosecond laser as pump, when the output power varies from 0.3 to 0.5 W, the furthest red-shift Raman solitons in both fast and slow axis shift from near-infrared band to mid-infrared band, reaching as far as 2030 and 2261 nm. Also, midinfrared Raman solitons can always be generated for pump wavelength longer than 790 nm if output pump power reaches0.5 W. Specifically, with pump power at 0.5 W, the mid-infrared soliton in slow axis shifts from 2001 to 2261 nm when the pump changes from 790 nm to 810 nm. This means only a 20 nm change of pump results in 260 nm tunability of a mid-infrared soliton.

Experimental study on the Stokes effect in disordered birefringent microstructure fibers

In this paper, a 120-fs pulse transmission experiment is carried out using disordered birefringent microstructure fibers with cladding ventages. Through this experiment, it is found for the first time that remarkable Stokes and anti-Stokes waves can also be produced when the central wavelength of the incident pulse is in the normal dispersion regime of the microstructure fiber. The generation of the two waves can be explained by the four-wave mixing phase matching theory. Properties of the two waves under the action of femtosecond laser pulses with different parameters are studied. The results show that the central wavelength of anti-Stokes waves and Stokes waves produced under the two orthogonal polarization states shift by 63 nm and 160 nm, respectively. The strengths and central positions of the two waves in birefringent fibers can be controlled by adjusting the phase match condition and the polarization directions of incident pulses.

Tunable Supercontinuum Generated in a Yb^3＋-Doped Microstructure Fiber Pumped by Ti：Sapphire Femtosecond Laser

We experimentally demonstrate that a tunable supercontinuum（SC） can be generated in a Yb3＋-doped microstructure fiber by the concept of wavelength conversion with a Ti：sapphire femtosecond（fs） laser as the pump.Experimental results show that an emission light around 1040 nm in an anomalous dispersion region is first generated and amplified by fs pulses in the normal dispersion region. Then, SC spectra from 1100 to 1380 nm and 630 to 840 nm can be achieved by combined effects of higher-order soliton fission and Raman soliton self-frequency shift in the anomalous dispersion region and self-phase modulation, dispersive wave, and four-wave mixing in the normal dispersion region. It is also demonstrated that the 20 nm change of pump results in a 280 nm broadband shift of soliton and the further red-shift of soliton is limited by OH-absorption at 1380 nm.

Application of different fiber structures and arrangements by electrospinning in triboelectric nanogenerators

In recent years,nanogenerators(NGs)have attracted wide attention in the energy field,among which triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)have shown superior performance.Multiple reports of electrospinning(ES)-based TENGs have been reported,but there is a lack of deep analysis of the designing method from microstructure,limiting the creative of new ES-based TENGs.Most TENGs use polymer materials to achieve corresponding design,which requires structural design of polymer materials.The existing polymer molding design methods include macroscopic molding methods,such as injection,compression,extrusion,calendering,etc.,combined with liquid-solid changes such as soluting and melting;it also includes micro-nano molding technology,such as melt-blown method,coagulation bath method,ES method,and nanoimprint method.In fact,ES technology has good controllability of thickness dimension and rich means of nanoscale structure regulation.At present,these characteristics have not been reviewed.Therefore,in this paper,we combine recent reports with some microstructure regulation functions of ES to establish a more general TENGs design method.Based on the rich microstructure research results in the field of ES,much more new types of TENGs can be designed in the future.

A novel design for broadband dispersion compensation microstructure fiber

A novel microstructure fiber （MF） structure is proposed for broadband dispersion compensation. Through manipulating the four air-hole parameters and the pitch, the broad band dispersion compensation MF can be efficiently designed. The newly designed MF could compensate （to within 0.8%） the dispersion of 101 times of its length of standard single mode fiber over the entire 100-nm band centered on 1550 nm. The proposed design has been simulated through the finite difference beam propagation method, and the corresponding design procedures are also presented. OCIS codes： 060.2310, 060.2280.

Temperature Dependence of the Spontaneous Brillouin Scattering Spectrum in Microstructure Fiber with Small Core

The almost equal height dual peak spontaneous Brillouin scattering spectrum of a piece of microstructure fiber with a small core was investigated at various temperatures using the heterodyne method. The central frequencies of the two peaks increase linearly with increasing temperature with temperature coefficients of 1.05 MHz/℃ and 1.13 MHz/℃. The height difference between the two peaks decreases linearly with a coefficient of-0.06 dB/℃. The results show that microstructure fibers with a small core have great potential for fiber Brillouin distributed sensing.

Design of a Surface-Plasmon-Resonance Sensor Based on a Microstructured Optical Fiber with Annular-Shaped Holes

A novel design is proposed for highly sensitive surface-plasmon-resonance sensors. The sensor is based on a microstructured optical fiber with two layers of annular-shaped holes. A gold layer is deposited on the inner surface of the second hole-layer, in which the holes have several micrometers thickness in size, facilitating analyte infiltration and metal layer deposition. In the first layer of holes, the sector-ring^shaped arms, used as supporting strips, are utilized to tune the resonance depth of the sensor. Numerical results indicate that the sensor operation wavelength can be tuned across the C＋L-band. The spectral sensitivity of 1.0.104 nm. RIU-1 order of magnitude and a detection limit of 1.0.10-4 RIU order are demonstrated over a wide range of analyte refractive index from 1.320 to 1.335.

Fabrication of solid-phase-sintered Si C-based composites with short carbon fibers

Solid-phase-sintered Si C-based composites with short carbon fibers（Csf/SSi C） in concentrations ranging from 0 to 10wt% were prepared by pressureless sintering at 2100°C. The phase composition, microstructure, density, and flexural strength of the composites with different Csf contents were investigated. SEM micrographs showed that the Csf distributed in the SSi C matrix homogeneously with some gaps at the fiber/matrix interfaces. The densities of the composites decreased with increasing Csf content. However, the bending strength first increased and then decreased with increasing Csf content, reaching a maximum value of 390 MPa at a Csf content of 5wt%, which was 60 MPa higher than that of SSi C because of the pull-out strengthening mechanism. Notably, Csf was graphitized and damaged during the sintering process because of the high temperature and reaction with boron derived from the sintering additive B4C; this graphitization degraded the fiber strengthening effect.

Characteristics of Bragg Gratings in All-Solid Photonic Bandgap Fiber

We report on fiber Bragg gratings in all-solid photonie bandgap fiber that was composed of a triangular array of high-index Ge-doped rods in pure silica background with fluorine-doped index-depressed layer surrounding the Ge-doped rod. Fiber Bragg gratings were photowritten with 193 nm ArF excimer laser and characterized for their response to strain, temperature, bending, and torsion. These gratings couple light from the forward core mode to not only backward core mode but also backward rod modes. This results in multiple resonance peaks in the reflection spectrum. All resonance wavelengths exhibited the same temperature and strain response with coefficient similar to that of Bragg gratings in standard single-mode fiber. The strength of the resonance peaks corresponding to the backward rod modes showed high sensitivity to bending and torsion.

Supercontinuum generation with 15-fs pump pulses in microstructured fiber with combination core and random cladding

We demonstrate the generation of supercontinuum (SC) of over 1350 nm by injecting 790-nm, 15-fs, 74-MHz optical pulses into a 183-mm-long microstructured fiber with combination core and random cladding. The maximum total power of SC is 73 mW with 290-mW pump power from 40x microscope objective. The wavelength and power ranging in SC as well as the polarization states and waveguide modes of the visible light can be tuned by adjusting the input end of MF.In particular, white light has been observed. To our knowledge, this is the first report of tunable properties in SC generation process using microstructured fiber with combination core and random cladding.

A Kind of Low Loss Birefringent Photonic Crystal Fibre with Increasing-Diameter Air-Holes

We report the results of our investigation on the loss property of a birefringent photonic crystal fibre （PCF） based on a particular periodic arrangement of air-holes and pure silica. The structure of the birefringent PCF, whose air-hole diameter in one ring is always larger than the next inner ring, presents an obviously low confinement loss than the one whose air-hole （except those on the horizontal line） diameter is constant. It is shown from numerical results that a four-ring PCF with birefringenee B=5×10^-4 and fast axis confinement loss of 4.5×10^-3 dB/km at wavelength of 1.55μm can be designed.

Multi-direction bending sensing based on spot pattern demodulation of dual-hole fiber

A multi-direction bending sensor based on spot pattern demodulation of a dual-hole fiber(DHF)is proposed.By using the interference and scattering in a DHF,the related multidirectional variations can be captured by the optical field.Furthermore,the multi-directional bending characteristics of the fiber are quantitatively described by the pattern of the output light spot,achieving multidirectional bending sensing.In addition,considering the subtle changes in the deformation patterns over time,a convolutional neural network(CNN)model based on deep learning is introduced for accurate recognition and prediction of the bending angle.The experimental results show that the sensor can perceive different bending angles in four directions.These outstanding results indicate that the multi-directional bending sensor based on dual-hole interference pattern decoding has potential applications in multi-directional quantitative sensing and artificial intelligence perception.

Review of Femtosecond Laser Fabricated Fiber Bragg Gratings for High Temperature Sensing

This paper reviews high temperature sensing applications based on fiber Bragg gratings fabricated by use of femtosecond laser. Type II fiber Bragg gratings fabricated in the silica fiber can sustain up to 1200 ℃ while that fabricated in the sapphire fiber have the good thermal stability up to 1745 ℃.

Lab-on-Fiber Technology： a New Avenue for Optical Nanosensors

The ＂lab-on-fiber＂ concept envisions novel and highly functionalized technological platforms completely integrated in a single optical fiber that would allow the development of advanced devices, components and sub-systems to be incorporated in modem optical systems for communication and sensing applications. The realization of integrated optical fiber devices requires that several structures and materials at nano- and micro-scale are constructed, embedded and connected all together to provide the necessary physical connections and light-matter interactions. This paper reviews the strategies, the main achievements and related devices in the lab-on-fiber roadmap discussing perspectives and challenges that lie ahead.

Deep-learning cell imaging through Anderson localizing optical fiber

We demonstrate a deep-learning-based fiber imaging system that can transfer real-time artifact-free cell images through a meter-long Anderson localizing optical fiber.The cell samples are illuminated by an incoherent LED light source.A deep convolutional neural network is applied to the image reconstruction process.The network training uses data generated by a setup with straight fiber at room temperature(∼20°C)but can be utilized directly for high-fidelity reconstruction of cell images that are transported through fiber with a few degrees bend or fiber with segments heated up to 50°C.In addition,cell images located several millimeters away from the bare fiber end can be transported and recovered successfully without the assistance of distal optics.We provide evidence that the trained neural network is able to transfer its learning to recover images of cells featuring very different morphologies and classes that are never“seen”during the training process.

Strain Sensitivity Enhancement in Suspended Core Fiber Tapers

Suspended core fiber tapers with different cross sections （with diameters from 70μm to 120 μm） are produced by filament heating. Before obtaining the taper, the spectral behavior of the suspended core fiber is a multimode interference structure. When the taper is made, an intermodal interference between a few modes is observed. This effect is clearly visible for low taper core dimensions. Since the core and cladding do not collapse, two taper regions exist, one in the core and the other in the cladding. The cladding taper does not affect the light transmission, only the core is reduced to a microtaper. The spectral response of the microtaper based-suspended core fiber is similar to a beat of two interferometers. The strain is applied to the microtaper, and with the reduction in the transverse area, an increase in sensitivity is observed. When the taper is immersed in a liquid with a different index of refraction or subjected to temperature variations, no spectral change Occurs.

Recent Progress in Fiber Optofluidic Lasing and Sensing

Fiber optofluidic laser(FOFL)integrates optical fiber microcavity and microfluidic channel and provides many unique advantages for sensing applications.FOFLs not only inherit the advantages of lasers such as high sensitivity,high signal-to-noise ratio,and narrow linewidth,but also hold the unique features of optical fiber,including ease of integration,high repeatability,and low cost.With the development of new fiber structures and fabrication technologies,FOFLs become an important branch of optical fiber sensors,especially for application in biochemical detection.In this paper,the recent progress on FOFL is reviewed.We focuse mainly on the optical fiber resonators,gain medium,and the emerging sen sing applicatio ns.The prospects for FOFL are also discussed.We believe that the FOFL sensor provides a promising technology for biomedical analysis and environmental monitoring.

Grating Writing in Structured Optical Fibers

Grating writing in structured optical fibers is reviewed. Various laser sources have been used including UV and near IR nanosecond and femtosecond lasers, each enabling different material processing regimes. The issue of scattering is modeled through simulation and compared with experiment. Good agreement has been established.

Simultaneous Measurement of One Dimensional Bending and Temperature Based on Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

A simple and compact optical fiber directional bending vector sensor with simultaneous measurement of temperature based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer （MZI） is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The device consists of a piece of photonic crystal fiber （PCF） sandwiched between two single mode fibers （SMFs） with a lateral offset splicing. It shows the capacity for recognizing positive and negative directions. Within a curvature range of-7.13m-1 to 7.13 m-1, the bending sensitivities of two resonant dips with opposite fiber orientations are obtained to be 0.484 nm/m-1 and 0.246 nm/m-1, respectively. This simple MZI is formed by invoking interference between LP01 and LP21 core modes, which leads to that the sensor is not sensitive to ambient refractive index （ARI）. The temperature sensitivity has also been investigated. Two dips have obviously different sensitivities on the temperature and bending, so two parameters of both curvature and temperature can be distinguished and measured simultaneously by constructing a matrix and using one simple model interferometer.

Spectral Absorption Gas Sensor Based on Anti-Resonant Reflecting Optical Waveguide

An air-silica microstructure optical fiber based on the anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide （ARROW） principle was used to develop a spectral absorption gas sensor. The ARROW fiber has an air core and an air cladding layer. An ARROW fiber with a length of 725mm was used to construct a sensing system to detect acetylene gas. The gas was injected into the fiber from one end of the fiber. The transmission spectra were collected using an optical spectrum analyzer. The results indicate that the system can detect the gas of different concentrations and has the good system linearity. The response time of the system is about 200 s.