Modification of spontaneous emission rate of micrometer-sized light sources using hollow-core photonic crystal fibers

We investigate numerically and experimentally the modification of the spontaneous emission rate for micrometersized light sources embedded in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber （HCPCF）. The diameter of the light source is deliberately chosen such that they could be easily introduced into the central hole of the hollow-core photonic crystal fiber by capillary force. The photoluminescence from the microparticles is measured by using an inverted microscope in combination with a spectrometer. The modification of the spontaneous emission rate is observed in a wavelength region where there is no band gap. The experimental observations are consistent with the simulation results obtained by the plane wave expansion and finite-difference time-domain techniques.

Analytical formulation for the bend loss in single-ring hollow-core photonic crystal fibers

Understanding bend loss in single-ring hollow-core photonic crystal fibers(PCFs)is becoming of increasing importance as the fibers enter practical applications.While purely numerical approaches are useful,there is a need for a simpler analytical formalism that provides physical insight and can be directly used in the design of PCFs with low bend loss.We show theoretically and experimentally that a wavelength-dependent critical bend radius exists below which the bend loss reaches a maximum,and that this can be calculated from the structural parameters of a fiber using a simple analytical formula.This allows straightforward design of single-ring PCFs that are bend-insensitive for specified ranges of bend radius and wavelength.It also can be used to derive an expression for the bend radius that yields optimal higher-order mode suppression for a given fiber structure.

Highly efficient Cherenkov radiation generation in the irregular point of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Highly efficient Cherenkov radiation （CR） is generated by the soliton self-frequency shift （SSFS） in the irregular point of a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber （HC-PCF） in our laboratory. The impacts of pump power and wavelength on the CR are investigated, and the corresponding nonlinear processes are discussed. When the average power of the 120 fs pump pulse increases from 500 mW to 700 mW, the Raman soliton shifts from 2210 nm to 2360 nm, the output power of the CR increases by 2.3 times, the maximum output power ratio of the CR at 539 nm to that of the residual pump is calculated to be 24.32：1, the width of the output optical spectrum at the visible wavelength broadens from 35 nm to 62 nm, and the conversion efficiency η of the CR in the experiment can be above 32%.

Polarization-dependent efficient Cherenkov radiation at visible wavelengths in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber cladding

Efficient Cherenkov radiation （CR） is experimentally generated by a soliton self-frequency shift （SSFS） in a knot of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber （HC-PCF）. When the angle of the half-wave plate is rotated from 0° to 45°, the Raman soliton shifts from 2227 to 2300 nm, the output power of the CR increases 8.15 times, and the maximum output power ratio of the CR at 556 nm to the residual pump is estimated to be 20：1. The width of the output optical spectrum at visible wavelengths broadens from 25 to 45 nm, and the conversion efficiency of the CR can be above 28%. Moreover, the influences of the pump polarization and wavelength on the CR are studied, and the corresponding nonlinear processes are discussed.

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.

Multi-band polarization switch based on magnetic fluid filled dual-core photonic crystal fiber

The research of high-performance polarization controllers is of great significance for expanding the application field of polarization optics. Here, a polarization switch is demonstrated by using a dual-core photonic crystal fiber(DCPCF)with four symmetrical air holes, placed above and below each core, filled with magnetic fluid(MF). The switch, which utilizes a magnetic field to change the coupling length ratio of the x and y polarization modes, enables dynamic tuning of the polarization state and extinction ratio. Numerical results show that when the working length is 36.638 mm, the magneto–optical polarization switch can operate in four communication bands, i.e., 1509 nm to 1520 nm, 1544 nm to1556 nm, 1578 nm to 1591 nm, and 1611 nm to 1624 nm. Moreover, the extinction ratio(ER) is greater than 20 d B in the fiber length range of 38.5 mm to 38.7 mm, indicating that the device has a good fault tolerance for the interception of the fiber length.

Surface plasmon resonance-induced tunable polarization filters based on nanoscale gold film-coated photonic crystal fibers

Surface plasmon resonance induced tunable polarization filters based on nanoscale gold film-coated photonic crystal fibers were proposed and analyzed. The characteristics of the polarization filter were calculated by finite element method （FEM）. The gold film was selectively coated on the inner wall of one cladding air hole which was located near the fiber core along the y-axis direction. When the phase of core fundamental mode and surface plasmon polaritons （SPPs） mode matches, the two modes couple with each other intensely. Numerical results show that the resonance wavelength and strength vary with fiber structural parameters and the index of the infilling liquid. The fiber parameters were optimized to achieve specific functions. Under the optimal structure, we realized a dual channel filter at the communication wavelength of 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm fory polarization direction and x polarization direction. Then a single channel polarized filter at the communication wavelength of 1.55 μm is also achieved by adjusting the refractive index of the infilling liquid. The proposed polarization filters realized dual channel filtering and single channel filtering simultaneously under the same structure for the first time to the best of our knowledge.

Analysis of the special hollow-core photonic crystal fibre by finite element method

Two kinds of fabricated hollow-core photonic crystal fibres （HC-PCFs） arc studied using finite element method （FEM） because the structures of the fibres are special, Normalized transmission spectra and transverse intensity distribution of the modes are calculated and measured. And the dispersion characteristics of these two kinds of HC- PCFs were analysed from 400 nm to 800 nm. Simulated and measured results show that the special structure could affect the properties of HC-PCFs, By comparing the simulated values with the measured results, it can be clarified that FEM is feasible and accurate for analysing photonic crystal fibres whose structures are irregular and complex.

Supercontinuum generated in all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fibers with picosecond pump pulses

The supercontinuum （SC） generation in all-normal dispersion （ANDi） photonic-crystal fiber （PCF） pumped by high power picosecond pulses are investigated in this paper. Our results show that an octave SC may be achieved by pumping the ANDi PCF with picosecond pump pulses. However, the PCF length required may have to be lengthened to several tens of centimeters, which is much longer than that with femtosecond pump pulses. The relatively long PCF gives rise to much higher Raman gain and stronger Raman frequency shift compared to those with femtosecond pump pulses, which in turn not only cause a distorted temporal waveform and an un-flattened spectrum, but also severely degrade the coherence of the generated SC.

Generation of a mid-infrared broadband polarized supercontinuum in As_2Se_3 photonic crystal fibers

A simplified structure of birefringent chalcogenide As 2 Se 3 photonic crystal fiber（PCF） is designed.Properties of birefringence,polarization extinction ratio,chromatic dispersion,nonlinear coefficient,and transmission are studied by using the multipole method,the finite-difference beam propagation method,and the adaptive split-step Fourier method.Considering that the zero dispersion wavelength of our proposed fiber is about 4 μm,we have analysed the mechanism of spectral broadening in PCFs with different pitches in detail,with femtosecond pulses at a wavelength of 4 μm as the pump pulses.Especially,mid-infrared broadband polarized supercontinuums are obtained in a 3-cm PCF with an optimal pitch of 2 μm.Their spectral width at 20 dB reaches up to 12 μm.In the birefringent PCF,we find that the supercontinuum generation changes with the pump alignment angle.Research results show that no coupling between eigenpolarization modes are observed at the maximum average power（i.e.,37 mW）,which indicates that the polarization state is well maintained.

Design of Ultra-Low Loss Highly Nonlinear Dispersion Flattened Octagonal Photonic Crystal Fibers

In this study, Octagonal Photonic Crystal Fiber (O-PCF) structures are designed for different air filling fractions with fixed pitch length of 2.2 μm. The light propagating characteristics of PCF structures such as effective refractive index, confinement loss, chromatic dispersion mode effective area and nonlinear coefficient are numerically analyzed. The simulation results show that the fibers have dispersion flattened, ultra-low loss highly nonlinear nature in the wavelength region 1.3 μm to 1.7 μm.

Reseach Progress of Photonic Crystal Fibers in China

Photonic Crystal Fibers have attracted worldwideinterest within the last decade due to their uniqueoptical properties and because they exhibit a muchhigher degree of design freedom compared to conventionaloptical fibers.In this article, the fabricationtechnologies of photonic crystal fibers and theirapplications at home and abroad were formulated atlength, especially in the following fields, such aslarge mode area active photonic crystal fibers andfiber lasers, birefringence fibers and sensors, highnonlinear photonic crystal fibers and frequencytransformation, dispersion compensation PCFs anddispersion compensation for telecommunicationsystems, and photonic band-gap fibers. Finally, accordingto the above analysis, the prospects anddeveloping trends of photonic crystal fibers in thefuture were presented.

Fiber Bragg Gratings in Small-Core Ge-Doped Photonic Crystal Fibers

This paper reports fiber Bragg gratings （FBGs） inscribed in a small-core Ge-doped photonic crystal fibers with a UV laser and a Talbot interferometer. The responses of such FBGs to temper- ature, strain, bending, and transverse-loading were systematically investigated. The Bragg wavelength of the FBGs shifts toward longer wavelengths with increasing temperature, tensile strain, and transverse-loading. The bending and transverse- loading properties of the FBGs are sensitive to the fiber orientations.

Different supercontinuum generation processes in photonic crystal fibers pumped with a 1064-nm picosecond pulse

Picosecond pulse pumped supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber is investigated by performing a series of comparative experiments. The main purpose is to investigate the supercontinuum generation processes excited by a given pump source through the experimental study of some specific fibers. A 20-W all-fiber picosecond master oscillator-power amplifier （MOPA） laser is used to pump three different kinds of photonic crystal fibers for supercontinuum generation. Three diverse supercontinuum formation processes are observed to correspond to photonie crystal fibers with distinct dis- persion properties. The experimental results are consistent with the relevant theoretical results. Based on the above analyses, a watt-level broadband white light supercontinuum source spanning from 500 nm to beyond 1700 nm is demonstrated by using a picosecond fiber laser in combination with the matched photonic crystal fiber. The limitation of the group velocity matching curve of the photonic crystal fiber is also discussed in the paper.

Polarization characteristics of chiral photonic crystal fibers with an elliptical hollow core

The theoretical study of dielectric-chiral photonic crystal fiber （PCF） with an elliptical hollow core is presented. The band structure of chiral photonic crystal （PhC） is calculated by using a modified plane-wave expansion （PWE） method. By examining the out-of-plane photonic bandgaps （PBGs） of chiral PhC, a kind of chiral PCF with a hollow core is designed and their eigenstates are calculated. The distributions of mode field and polarization state are demonstrated, and how the structural asymmetry of the core together with the chirality in the background affects the modal polarization is discussed. The dependences of birefringence on chirality for different ellipticities of core are investigated.

High stability supercontinuum generation in lead silicate SF57 photonic crystal fibers

We report supercontinuum （SC） generation in a lead silicate SF57 photonic crystal fiber by using a 1550 nm pump source. The effective nonlinear coefficient of the SF57 fiber is simulated to be 111.5 W-1 .km- 1 at 1550 nm. The fiber also shows ultraflat dispersion from 1700 nm to 2100 nm. Our results reveal that with an increase of the average power of the incident pulse from 10 mW to 90 mW, the SC of the SF57 photonic crystal fiber is generated from 1300 nm to 1900 nm with high stability and without significant change in spectral broadening.

Propagation characteristics of photonic crystal fibers selectively filled with ionic liquid

We present a numerical and experimental study of the propagation characteristics of photonic crystal fibers(PCFs)selectively filled with ionic liquid(IL;1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium iodine).Three types of IL-filled PCF are investigated:one with all air holes filled,one with an IL-filled air hole in the second ring,and one with an IL-filled air hole in the third ring.The results show that the third type of IL-filled PCF is the most sensitive to temperature;the sensitivity of resonant dips between the LP01 and LP21 modes is−2.9 nm/XC.Moreover,the intensity of the resonant dips changes with the polarization angle of the light source;the sensitivity is−0.79 dB per unit polarization angle.Based on this property,IL-filled PCFs with different utilities can be realized by changing the filling position flexibly.Consequently,IL-filled PCFs can be used under flexible conditions and controllable temperatures to create a compact polarization-angle sensor.

Photon Polarizationin Photonic Crystal Fibers under Compton Scattering

Using the quantum invariant theory and unitary transformation means, we study the influences of multi-photon nonlinear Compton scattering on the photon polarization in photonic crystal fibers(PCF). The results show that the photon polarization of the incident photon changes a lot due to scattered optical, and its general geometric phase factor, Hamiton number and evolution operator are definited both by the incident and scattered optical.

Design of a Concentration Sensor Based on Photonic Crystal Fiber Placed between Two Single Mode Fibers

We demonstrate the use of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) joined in between two single mode fibers (SMF) as a concentration sensor. To realize this, one micrometer length PCF of hexagonal lattice is sandwiched between two SMF having one micrometer length each. To maximize the coupling between SMF and PCF, the core diameters are made equal. Then the output from a given input through this structure is analyzed with respect to different concentrations in the air holes of PCF using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. It is found that the variation of electric field intensity at the output is linear with respect to concentration of alcohol.

Effective Soliton Fusion Process at the Advanced Stage of Supercontinuum Generation in Photonic Crystal Fibers

Soliton fusion is a fascinating and delicate phenomenon that manifests itself in optical fibers in case of interaction between co-propagating solitons with small temporal and wavelengths separation. The mechanism of graduate acceleration of trailing soliton by dispersive waves radiated from the preceding one provides necessary conditions for soliton fusion at the advanced stage of supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers. As a result large intensity robust light structures can propagate over significant distances. In the spectral domain fusion-like processes result in development of a new significant band at the long wavelength side of the spectrum.