RESUMEN
We show strong changes in chemical etching of phosphorus-doped fiber cores due to hydrogen loading and subsequent UV-irradiation using an atomic force microscope. The etch rate of the fiber core in a low concentration hydrofluoric acid solution (HF) is decreasing after hydrogen loading by as much as 30%. In contrast, UV-irradiation of the hydrogenated fiber increases the core etch rate to values of 27% above the etch rate of the pristine fiber. The UV-induced change in etch rate does not depend on pulse fluence, but only on total dose. We attribute the changes in etch rate to a hydrogen- and radiation-induced modification of color center population.
RESUMEN
We propose a new method for characterizing the local parameters of fiber Bragg gratings. This method combines measurement of the complex impulse response by optical low-coherence reflectometry and reconstruction of the complex coupling coefficient by layer peeling. Application of the method to a nonhomogeneous grating shows that the local coupling coefficient can be precisely determined with an axial resolution below 20 microm and a maximum error of less than 5% for amplitude and phase, respectively.
RESUMEN
A strong axial tension increase induced by UV laser radiation is observed in the cores of single-mode optical fibers containing Bragg gratings, independently of the initial core stress. The induced index modulation of the gratings is linearly correlated to stress changes with a slope of (0.8 +/- 0.2) x 10(-4) mm(2)/kg. The phenomenon can be explained by a structural change of the glass in the fiber core into a more compact configuration.
RESUMEN
A simple, flexible method of postfabrication positioning of resonance wavelengths of long-period cladding-modecoupled gratings is proposed. This method is based on changing the outer fiber diameter. Reducing the diameter by etching the fiber in HF acid shifts the loss peaks to higher wavelengths. A shift as large as 130 nm after 5 min of HF etching was observed for our strongest grating peak, corresponding to the cladding mode HE19. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with model calculations.
RESUMEN
The mechanical resistance of single-mode fibers containing fiber Bragg gratings inscribed with cw UV laser irradiation is almost identical to that of pristine fiber. The median breaking strength of the gratings' Weibull distribution is more than 5 GPa, and the m value is of the order of 70. Based on a dynamic fatigue model, a Bragg grating lifetime of 50 years with a failure probability of 0.001 is predicted, assuming a constant applied stress of 0.96 GPa.
RESUMEN
LP(01)-LP(02) mode converters based on UV-written intracore gratings have been fabricated for chromatic-dispersion compensation. The mode converters operate in transmission at wavelengths near 150 nm with spectral bandwidths of 14-25 nm and coupling efficiencies of as much as 90%. A large negative dispersion of -335 ps/(nm km) is obtained for a compensator consisting of the mode converter and a 1490-m-long few-mode fiber. The compensator shows negative dispersion over a wavelength region of 5 nm. Its figure of merit is estimated to be 370 ps/(nm dB).
RESUMEN
The influence of drawing tension on the formation of Bragg gratings in B-Ge- and Sn-Ge-codoped core fibers is investigated by transmission and stress measurements. With increasing drawing tension, the axial stress is reduced in the B-Ge-codoped core but increased in the Sn-Ge-codoped core. A higher drawing tension leads to a photosensitivity enhancement and an increase of the core stress during the grating formation in B-Ge-codoped fibers. For Sn-Ge-codoped fibers, increased drawing tension results in an UV-induced stress decrease accompanied by a reduction of the photosensitivity. The results are discussed on the basis of an UV-induced compaction of the core network.
RESUMEN
New measurements of the birefringence induced in ultralow-birefringence fibers by a succession of orthogonally polarized UV side exposures show the reversibility of the process. Moreover, it is shown that the birefringence growth depends on two parameters, the total irradiation dose and the nature of the successive polarized UV side exposures. These observations indicate that geometric asymmetry is not the major cause of the birefringence and confirm a model of birefringence growth based on dipole alignment.
RESUMEN
Active mode locking of a Pr(3+)/Yb (3+) -doped upconversion fluoride fiber laser with an all-fiber ZnO acousto-optic phase modulator is demonstrated for the first time to the authors' knowledge. Optical pulses of ~550-ps duration with a repetition rate of 239 MHz at a wavelength of 635 nm have been generated.
RESUMEN
Raman spectra of germanosilicate core fibers before and after UV irradiation were investigated. Significant changes of the Raman spectra after irradiation indicate transformation of the glass structure. A possible interpretation of the observed changes is proposed.
RESUMEN
A simple and strictly all-fiber 1300-nm cw laser is presented. It is tunable over 16 nm with 0.5-nm linewidth and several milliwatts of output power in the whole tuning range from 1292 to 1308 nm. The setup uses a fiber Bragg grating as a combined tuning element and narrow-band output mirror. The simplicity and stability of this system are due to the following two characteristics: First, polarization control is not necessary anywhere in the system, and second, a wavelength-selective system and a narrow-band mirror are combined into one novel fiber-optic element.
RESUMEN
The group refractive-index difference of cladding modes excited by a long-period fiber grating is characterized by use of the technique of optical low-coherence reflectometry, with a precision of <10(-4) . Very good agreement between theoretical and experimental results is demonstrated.