Microscopic imaging along tapered optical fibers by right-angle Rayleigh light scattering in linear and nonlinear regime.

The evolution of the light intensity along an optical waveguide is evaluated by analysing far-field right-angle Rayleigh light scattering. The method is based on point by point spectral mapping distributed along the optical waveguide with a micrometric spatial resolution given by a confocal microscope, a high spectral resolution given by a spectrometer, and a high signal-to-noise ratio given by a highly cooled detector. This non-destructive and non-invasive experimental method allows the observation of the general Rayleigh scattering profile of the optical waveguide in a nominal operation, i.e., whatever the power or the wavelength of the light source, and can be applied to micrometer-scale waveguides of several centimeters in length, for which the longitudinal characterization is challenging. Applied to a tapered optical fiber, called nanofiber, with submicrometer final diameter and several centimeters long, the method has proved its capacity to collect different optical characteristics such as optical losses, mode beatings, transition from core-cladding to cladding-air guidance for different modes, localization of punctual defects, leaking of high order modes no longer guided by the fiber. Furthermore, the experimental results are successfully compared to measurements provided by the state-of-the-art Optical Backscatter Reflectometer system, and to numerical simulations. Moreover, coupled to the spectral resolution of the spectrometer, the method have allowed the distributed measurements of the Raman cascading process along the nanofiber, for the first time to our knowledge. The experimental technique developed in this work is complementary to other characterization methods generally focused on the optical parameters of the waveguide input or output. This technique can also be extended to others waveguides whatever its geometry which represents a strong interest for deepen optical characterization of photonics waveguides, or for other optical regimes characterized by spectral evolution of the field propagating along the waveguide.

Demonstration of the evanescent Kerr effect in optical nanofibers.

Optical nanofibers have recently emerged as attractive nanophotonic platforms for many applications ranging from quantum technologies to nonlinear optics, due to both their tight optical confinement and their wide evanescent field. Herein we examine theoretically the optical Kerr effect induced by the evanescent field of a silica nanofiber surrounded by different nonlinear liquids such as water, ethanol and acetone and we further compare them with air cladding. Our results show that the evanescent Kerr effect significantly dominates the usual Kerr effect inside the silica core for sub-wavelength diameters below 560 nm, using acetone. We further report the observation of the evanescent Kerr effect through surrogate measurements of stimulated Raman-Kerr scattering (SRKS) in an acetone-immersed silica nanofiber. Our findings open the way towards potential applications of optical nanofibers to ultra-sensitive liquid sensing or to enhancing the nonlinear effects through the evanescent field.

Intense stimulated Raman scattering in CO2-filled hollow-core fibers.

We demonstrate experimentally, the generation of an intense broadband comb-like spectrum spontaneously built up through stimulated Raman scattering in a low-pressure CO2-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber pumped by a single infrared pump.

Stimulated Raman-Kerr scattering in an integrated nonlinear optofluidic fiber arrangement.

We describe a novel optofluidic fiber arrangement that allows for nonlinear effects enhancement between fluids and laser light while suppressing the generation of cavitation bubbles. By filling this optofluidic system with toluene and pumping it with a nanosecond microchip laser, we demonstrate the efficient generation of a broadband Raman frequency comb spanning from 532 to more than 1000 nm. It is further shown that the Raman frequency comb dramatically broadens toward broadband continuum light due to the stimulated Raman-Kerr scattering.

Beam steering using optical parametric amplification in Kerr medium: a space-time analogy of parametric slow-light.

In a way analogous to a light pulse that can be optically delayed via slow light propagation in Kerr-type nonlinear media, we theoretically demonstrate that beam steering and spatial walk-off compensation can be achieved in noncollinear optical parametric amplification. We identify this effect as a result of the quadratic phase shift induced by parametric amplification that leads to the cancellation of the spatial walk-off and collinear propagation of all beams though they have different wavevectors. Experimental evidence is reported of a soliton array steering in a Kerr slab waveguide.

All-optical tunable pulse frequency chirp via slow light.

We theoretically investigate slow light via stimulated Raman scattering, paying special attention to the picosecond regime where chromatic dispersion and cross-phase modulation must be considered. In addition to the control of the Raman pulse walk-off, we demonstrate that the cross-phase-modulation-induced frequency chirp can also be all-optically tuned via Raman slow light. We further demonstrate that this new implication is a consequence of the fact that the group velocity is significantly more affected than the phase velocity in slow-light media.

Kerr spatial solitons in chalcogenide waveguides.

Kerr spatial solitons are observed in slab chalcogenide waveguides at near-IR wavelengths. Waveguides are realized either by electron-beam evaporation or rf sputtering of a Ge-Sb-S compound deposited on oxidized silicon wafer. The Kerr coefficient of the thin film is evaluated to be 5 x 10(-18) m(2)/W from the experimentally required soliton power at 1.5 mum. Limitations due to material photosensitivity are revealed.

Cancellation of Raman pulse walk-off by slow light.

We theoretically demonstrate in a nonlinear optical fiber system with a narrowband Raman gain that pulse walk-off between the pump and the Raman Stokes waves can be fully compensated for by Raman slow light, leading to group-velocity matching between the interacting waves, greater useful interaction length, and thereby enhanced Raman amplification efficiency. Limitations due to Kerr effect are further discussed.

Slow-light spatial solitons.

We numerically and experimentally report the observation of slow-light spatial solitons in a Kerr medium owing to light amplification by stimulated Raman scattering. This was achieved in a CS2 nonlinear planar waveguide that possesses both a strong self-focusing nonlinearity to generate the spatial Raman soliton and a Raman susceptibility sharp enough to induce the slow-light process simultaneously. We show that the Raman Stokes component is optically delayed by more than 120 ps for a 140 ps Raman pulse duration and only 3 cm of propagation length, while propagating as a spatial soliton beam.

Polarization dynamics of the fundamental vector soliton of isotropic Kerr media.

We characterize fully the polarization dynamics of the fundamental vector soliton of isotropic Kerr materials by measuring the Stokes parameters of an elliptically polarized self-trapped optical beam propagating in a slab planar waveguide. Our experiment clearly shows that this two-component spatial vector soliton exhibits both the so-called ellipse rotation and curved-shape ellipticity that are due to the self-induced nonlinear birefringence between the two components of the vector soliton. The polarization of the vector soliton is accurately determined both in the transverse and longitudinal directions and comparisons with numerical simulations based on two coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations provide an excellent quantitative agreement. Spatiotemporal numerical simulations that take into account the finite pulse duration of the experimental input optical beam must, however, be used to match rigorously the measured state of polarization of the vector soliton.

Generation of multicolor vector Kerr solitons by cross-phase modulation, four-wave mixing, and stimulated Raman scattering.

We numerically and experimentally show the existence of multicolor vector spatial solitons in a Kerr planar waveguide through the combined effects of cross-phase modulation, four-wave mixing, and stimulated Raman scattering. Mutual spatial guiding of the Raman-Stokes, anti-Stokes, and pump waves is achieved in the high-conversion regime mainly by cross-phase modulation and phase-matched four-wave mixing induced by a power imbalance between Stokes and anti-Stokes components, leading to the generation of a clear-cut sech-shape three-frequency spatial soliton.