Broadband all-fiber optical phase modulator based on photo-thermal effect in a gas-filled hollow-core fiber

We report broadband all-fiber optical phase modulation based on the photo-thermal effect in a gas-filled hollow-core fiber.The phase modulation dynamics are studied by multi-physics simulation.A phase modulator is fabricated using a 5.6-cm-long anti-resonant hollow-core fiber with pure acetylene filling.It has a half-wave optical power of 289 mW at 100 kHz and an average insertion loss 0.6 dB over a broad wavelength range from 1450 to 1650 nm.The rise and fall time constants are 3.5 and 3.7μs,respectively,2–3 orders of magnitude better than the previously reported microfiber-based photo-thermal phase modulators.The gas-filled hollow-core waveguide configuration is promising for optical phase modulation from ultraviolet to mid-infrared which is challenging to achieve with solid optical fibers.

Hollow and filled fiber bragg gratings in nano-bore optical fibers

To combine the technical functions and advantages of solid-core fiber Bragg gratings(FBGs) and hollow-core optical fibers(HCFs), the hollow and filled FBGs in nano-bore optical fibers(NBFs) with nano-bore in the GeO2-doped core are proposed.The fundamental mode field, effective mode index, and confinement loss of NBF with 50 nm–7 μm-diameter hollow and filled nano-bore are numerically investigated by the finite element method.The reflected spectra of FBGs in NBFs are obtained by the transmission matrix method.The hollow FBGs in NBFs can be acheived with ~5% power fraction in the bore and the ~0.9 reflectivity when bore diameter is less than 3 μm.The filled FBGs can be realized with^1% power fraction and 0.98 reflectivity with different fillings including o-xylene, trichloroethylene, and chloroform for 800-nm bore diameter.The feasibility of the index sensing by our proposed NBF FBG is also analyzed and discussed.The experimental fabrication of hollow and filled FBGs are discussed and can be achieved by current techniques.The aim of this work is to establish a principle prototype for investigating the HCFs and solid-core FBGs-based fiber-optic platforms,which are useful for applications such as the simultaneous chemical and physical sensing at the same position.

The Study on the Polycrystal Germanium Dioxide Hollow-core Fiber and Its Performances

A method of fabricating pure germanium dioxide hollow-core fibers has been introduced for the first time. The inner diameter of the fiber is φ0.8mm, with the transmission loss of 1.23dB/m at 10.6μm. The mechanism of transmitting CO_2 laser by the fiber is analyzed. The transmitting performances are discussed and its application fields are envisaged.

Mid-infrared all-optical modulators based on an acetylene-filled hollow-core fiber

We report all-optical mid-infrared phase and intensity modulators based on the photo-thermal effect in an acetylene-filled anti-resonant hollow-core fiber.Optical absorption of the control beam promotes the gas molecules to a higher energy level,which induces localized heating through non-radiative relaxation and modulates the refractive index of the gas material and hence the accumulated phase of the signal beam propagating through the hollow-core fiber.By modulating the intensity of the control beam,the phase of the signal beam is modulated accordingly.By use of a 1.53μm near-infrared control beam,all-optical phase modulation up to 2.2πrad is experimentally demonstrated at the signal wavelength of 3.35μm.With the phase modulator placed in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer,intensity modulation with on-off ratio of 25 dB is achieved.The gas-filled hollow-core-fiber modulators could operate over an ultra-broad wavelength band from near-to mid-infrared and have promising application in mid-infrared photonic systems.

A new generation of plastic optical fibers and its functional exploiting

A major problem of plastic optical fibers(POFs) is large transmission loss in comparison with silica fibers.After adopting a new optical fiber structure,hollow-core Bragg fiber with cobweb-structured cladding,which can suppress the absorption losses of constituent materials by a factor of about 104―106,the problem of POFs with large losses is solved ultimately.With the advantage of flexibility and easy bending,the POFs with this structure can guide light with low transmission loss for information and energy in the wavelength range of visible light to terahertz(THz) wave(0.4―1000 μm).This new generation of POFs will find many applications.

Toward a compact fiber comb with 1.66×10^(-12)instability based on acetylene-filled photonic microcells

We demonstrated an optical fiber frequency comb stabilized to an acetylene-filled photonic microcell.The short-term instability of the comb at 1 s gate time was 1.66×10^(-12)for a 4.2-h measurement in a laboratory environment with air conditioning.This is the best short-term stability reported for a compact fiber comb stabilized to an acetylene-filled photonic microcell at telecom wavelengths.It is particularly significant in the development of compact fiber combs with target instability of 10^(-13).Such a device has the potential to serve as an alternative to GPS in areas lacking signal coverage,including remote locations,regions with adverse weather conditions,and military intelligence areas.

Pure germanium dioxide hollow-core fiber for transmitting CO_2 laser

A method of fabricating pure germanium dioxide hollow-core fibers has been introduced for the first time. The output power of the fabricated fiber can come to 18 W, with the transmission loss of 1.23 dB/m at 10.6 μm. The mechanism of transmitting CO2 laser by the fiber is analyzed, the transmitting loss is further discussed and its application fields are envisaged.

An HC-PCF Fluorescence Spectrocopy for Detection of Microsphere Samples Based on Refractive Index Scaling Law

This paper illustrates an efficient fluorescence detection of micro particles using hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) by applying the refractive index (RI) scaling law. The variations in the central wavelength for different filling material indices are illustrated for most commonly available HC-PCFs that have cladding made of pure fused silica with array of air holes running along the entire length of the fiber. The proposed concept is verified by immobilizing fluorescent microsphere samples inside two HC-PCFs of different central wavelengths and the quantification of fluorescence inside the fibers is performed through spectroscopic analysis. The sensitivity has been compared for similar fiber with different dispersed media and different fibers with same dispersed medium.

HCPCF-Based In-Line Fiber Fabry-Perot Refractometer and High Sensitivity Signal Processing Method

An in-line fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer （FPI） based on the hollow-core photonic crystal fiber （HCPCF） for refractive index （RI） measurement is proposed in this paper. The FPI is formed by splicing both ends of a short section of the HCPCF to single mode fibers （SMFs） and cleaving the SMF pigtail to a proper length. The RI response of the sensor is analyzed theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. The results show that the FPI sensor has linear response to external RI and good repeatability. The sensitivity calculated from the maximum fringe contrast is -136 dB/RIU. A new spectrum differential integration （SDI） method for signal processing is also presented in this study. In this method, the RI is obtained from the integrated intensity of the absolute difference between the interference spectrum and its smoothed spectrum. The results show that the sensitivity obtained from the integrated intensity is about -1.34× 10^5 dB/RIU. Compared with the maximum fringe contrast method, the new SDI method can provide the higher sensitivity, better linearity, improved reliability, and accuracy, and it＇s also convenient for automatic and fast signal processing in real-time monitoring of RI.