Encoding independent wavefronts in a single metasurface for high-order optical vortex recognition.

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of vortex beams has great potential in optical communications due to its communication confidentiality and low crosstalk. It is necessary to design a plausible OAM pattern recognition mechanism. Abandoning AI models that require large datasets, a single passive all-dielectric metasurface consisting of TiO2 nanopillars on a SiO2 substrate is used to recognize high-order optical vortexes. In this configuration, the proposed device is capable of simultaneously encoding the wavefront and the transmission paths in different incident OAM beams. Due to the presence of spin angular momentum (SAM), the vortex beam to be identified is spatially separated after passing through the metasurface. As a proof of concept, 14 signal channels are considered in the constructed metasurface, 12 of them can be encoded at will for the detection of any vortex beam with a predefined topological charge. These results make use of metasurfaces to enable OAM pattern recognition in an effective way, which may open avenues for the ultimate miniaturization of optical vortex communication and advanced OAM detection technologies.

Experimental investigation on the internal stress of bismuth-doped fiber and its effect on the noise figure of Bismuth-doped fiber amplifier.

The noise figure (NF) of a fiber amplifier is one of the key measures of amplification performance, which characterizes the quality of the amplified signal. Residual stresses are inevitably generated during the manufacturing process of optical fibers, and this can lead to changes in the refractive index (RI) distribution of the fiber. Further, the change in RI distribution causes the mode-field characteristics of the fiber to change as well, and this ultimately has an impact on the NF performance of the amplifier. However, until now, there have been fewer studies on the effect of residual stress on the NF of the fiber amplifiers. In this work, we took a commercial single-mode bismuth-doped fiber (BDF) as an example and used a self-developed stress test device to measure its residual stress and refractive index distribution and compare it with that of a passive fiber. We also comprehensively compared the distribution of residual stress and refractive index of the fiber at different pump powers and pump wavelengths. Finally, we performed numerical simulations of the bismuth-doped fiber amplifier (BDFA) based on the BDF under the theoretical mode field area and BDF after the expansion of the mode field area due to stresses to compare the NF performance. The results demonstrate that: the entire cross-section (core and cladding) of the BDF exhibits tensile stress (>0 MPa), where the residual stress at the core of the BDF is nearly 9.8 MPa higher than that of the passive fiber; The residual stress makes the mode-field area of the BDF expand by 26.7% compared with the theoretical values, which ultimately makes the NF of the BDFA rise from 4.6 dB to 4.7 dB; The stress at the BDF core is exacerbated by pump excitation, where it is elevated by about 26% and 5% compared to vacancy at 1240 nm and 1310 nm pumps, which is most likely attributed to thermal effects. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the effect of residual stresses in the fabrication of optical fibers to better achieve the radius of the expected indicators. This work contributes to the better development of O-band BDFAs, especially for pre-simulation of the actual performance of BDFAs with a practical reference.

Photonic delay reservoir computer based on ring resonator for reconfigurable microwave waveform generator.

To achieve an autonomously controlled reconfigurable microwave waveform generator, this study proposes and demonstrates a self-adjusting synthesis method based on a photonic delay reservoir computer with ring resonator. The proposed design exploits the ring resonator to configure the reservoir, facilitating a nonlinear transformation and providing delay space. A theoretical analysis is conducted to explain how this configuration addresses the challenges of microwave waveform generation. Considering the generalization performance of waveform generation, the simulations demonstrate the system's capability to produce six distinct representative waveforms, all exhibiting a highly impressive root mean square error (RMSE) of less than 1%. To further optimize the system's flexibility and accuracy, we explore the application of various artificial intelligence algorithms at the reservoir computer's output layer. Furthermore, our investigation delves deeply into the complexities of system performance, specifically exploring the influence of reservoir neurons and micro-ring resonator parameters on calculation performance. We also delve into the scalability of reservoirs, considering both parallel and cascaded arrangements.

Bismuth-doped fiber amplifier based on a linear cavity double pass structure operating in the O + E band.

Finding suitable fiber amplifiers is one of the key strategies to increase the transmission capacity of fiber links. Recently, bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers (BDFAs) have attracted much attention due to their distinctive ultra-wideband luminescence properties. In this paper, we propose a linear cavity double pass structure for BDFA operating in the O and E bands. The design creates a linear cavity within the amplifier by combining a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and a fiber mirror to achieve dual-wavelength pump at 1240 nm and 1310 nm. Meanwhile, the configuration of a circulator and mirror facilitates bidirectional signal propagation through the BDFA, resulting in a double-pass amplification structure. We have tested and analyzed the performance of the linear cavity double pass structure BDFA under different pump schemes and compared it with the conventional structure BDFA. The results show that the gain spectrum of the new structure is shifted toward longer wavelengths, and the gain band is extended from the O band to the O and E bands compared with the conventional structure. In particular, the linear cavity double pass structure BDFA has more relaxed requirements on the stability of the pump and signal power. This work provides a positive reference for the design, application, and development of BDFAs.

Light manipulation for all-fiber devices with VCSEL and graphene-based metasurface.

Light manipulation for all-fiber devices has played a vital role in controllable photonic devices. A graphene-based metasurface is proposed to realize light manipulation. A row of VCSEL-based optical engines with low crosstalk is used as the control light to modulate the signal transmitted in the microstructured fiber. In this configuration, the proposed device can work independently of the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system. With an insertion loss of only 0.28 dB, evanescent wave coupling to graphene layers is polarisation-insensitive. The device could be effectively manipulated for a few days (not less than 72 hours), which possesses the capacity to dynamically modulate the signal light with both low-temperature sensitivity and low-wavelength sensitivity. The 35 nm wavelength interval results in a change of only about 0.1 dB in the output light intensity of the microstructured fiber when the wavelength changes from 1530 nm to 1565 nm. Moreover, the modulation depth is approximately 2 dB when the modulating voltage is 2.2 V, which may open avenues for channel detection techniques and have deep implications in top tuning applications.

Design of few-mode erbium-doped fiber with a low differential modal gain and weak coupling based on layered doping.

A step index few-mode erbium-doped fiber (FM-EDF) for mode gain equalization is designed and proposed in this paper, which uses the layered-doping method to reduce the differential mode gain (DMG). The optimum structure of FM-EDF is obtained by adjusting the doping radius and doping concentration. When this structure is applied to a few-mode erbium-doped fiber amplifier (FM-EDFA), the DMG in the range of 1550-1565 nm is ∼0.28d B, and the DMG of the whole C-band is usually less than 0.5 dB. At the same time, the gain of each mode in 1530-1555 nm is ∼20d B, while the gain decreases gradually in the 1555-1565 nm due to the absorption characteristics of erbium ions. In addition, the minimum refractive index difference (Δ n eff) between modes is 1.29∗10-3 due to the selection of the refractive index and radius of the fiber core, which will greatly reduce the coupling between modes in practical application. Tolerances in the fiber manufacturing process are also considered for reliable FM-EDFA performance. When the doping concentration or the doping radius changes based on the precise value, the DMG will increase to a certain extent. In general, the DMG can maintain a small value, which is beneficial to applications in optical communication systems.

Photonic generation of triangular waveform with tunable symmetry based on channelized frequency synthesis.

A symmetry tunable triangular waveform photonic generator based on channelized frequency synthesis is proposed and studied. The generator adopts a multichannel system architecture and harmonic amplitude control algorithm to physically isolate each subchannel. In a single subchannel, quadrature phase shift keying modulation and coherent dual-wavelength balanced detection are used to realize optical upconversion and suppress mixing interference in the process of frequency conversion. Therefore, the model has the characteristics of a high-order Fourier series fitting tunable function waveform output. The analysis results show that the Fourier series harmonic coefficients can be adjusted flexibly by the multivariable joint regulation algorithm. The relationship between the variables is analyzed and discussed. The feasibility of the scheme is verified by optical simulation; when the rms error (RMSE)≤0.03, a 20%-80% tunable symmetry triangular waveform can be obtained.

Fiber Residual Stress Effects on Modal Gain Equalization of Few-Mode Fiber Amplifier.

The modal gain equalization (MGE) of few-mode fiber amplifiers (FMFAs) ensures the stability of signal transmission. MGE mainly relies on the multi-step refractive index (RI) and doping profile of few-mode erbium-doped fibers (FM-EDFs). However, complex RI and doping profiles lead to uncontrollable residual stress variations in fiber fabrication. Variable residual stress apparently affects MGE due to its impacts on the RI. So, this paper focuses on the residual stress effects on MGE. The residual stress distributions of passive and active FMFs were measured using a self-constructed residual stress test configuration. As the erbium doping concentration increased, the residual stress of the fiber core decreased, and the residual stress of the active fibers was two orders of magnitude lower than that of the passive fiber. Compared with the passive FMF and the FM-EDFs, the residual stress of the fiber core completely transformed from tensile stress to compressive stress. This transformation led to an obvious smooth RI curve variation. The measurement values were analyzed with FMFA theory, and the results show that the differential modal gain of the FMFA increased from 0.96 to 1.67 dB as the residual stress decreased from 4.86 to 0.01 MPa.

High-performance mode decomposition using physics- and data-driven deep learning.

A novel physics- and data-driven deep-learning (PDDL) method is proposed to execute complete mode decomposition (MD) for few-mode fibers (FMFs). The PDDL scheme underlies using the embedded beam propagation model of FMF to guide the neural network (NN) to learn the essential physical features and eliminate unexpected features that conflict with the physical laws. It can greatly enhance the NN's robustness, adaptability, and generalization ability in MD. In the case of obtaining the real modal weights (ρ2) and relative phases (θ), the PDDL method is investigated both in theory and experiment. Numerical results show that the PDDL scheme eliminates the generalization defect of traditional DL-based MD and the error fluctuation is alleviated. Compared with the DL-based MD, in the 8-mode case, the errors of ρ2 and θ can be reduced by 12 times and 100 times for beam patterns that differ greatly from the training dataset. Moreover, the PDDL maintains high accuracy even in the 8-mode MD case with a practical maximum noise factor of 0.12. In terms of adaptation, with a large variation of the core radius and NA of the FMF, the error keeps lower than 0.43% and 2.08% for ρ2 and θ, respectively without regenerating new dataset and retraining NN. The experimental configuration is set up and verifies the accuracy of the PDDL-based MD. Results show that the correlation factor of the real and reconstructed beam patterns is higher than 98%. The proposed MD-scheme shows much potential in the application of practical modal coupling characterization and laser beam quality analysis.

Frequency demodulation of an inhomogeneous medium multi-longitudinal mode fiber laser and its sensing application.

Dispersion characteristic could be a significant factor, which impacts the beat frequency of Multi-longitudinal mode fiber laser (MMFL). In this paper, the mechanism of beat frequency generation in inhomogeneous medium Multi-longitudinal mode fiber laser is discussed. Compared with cavity length-dependent fiber laser sensing system, the proposed model uses a several-millimeter-Fiber-Bragg-Grating (FBG) as the sensing head, which features both high sensitivity and compact size. We designed an experiment to exhibit possible sensing application based on the proposed theory as well.

Instantaneous microwave frequency measurement with single branch detection based on the birefringence effect.

Instantaneous frequency measurement (IFM) with single branch detection based on the birefringence effect is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The unknown microwave frequencies are modulated to pump a length of polarization maintaining fiber. Due to the fiber birefringence effect, the input light signal is decomposed into two orthogonal-polarization signals with a relative time delay. After detection, an amplitude comparison function (ACF) is obtained by comparing the alternating-current and direct-current powers. Therefore, no multipath detection is needed so that the electrical variations in the photonic link can be cancelled out in ACF. A theoretical analysis is given to illustrate the mechanism of the proposed IFM system. The disturbances are investigated and discussed in simulation. A proof-of-concept experiment is carried out for verification with a result of ±0.2GHz over 2.2-5.2 GHz.

Modeling of a ring-core trench-assisted few-mode BDFA for seven-mode signal gain equalization.

In this paper, a ring-core trench-assisted few-mode bismuth-doped fiber amplifier (BDFA) is simulated on the basis of the three-energy level. The fiber is designed to support four modes of signal group transmission for practical considerations, including LP01, LP11, LP21, and LP31. The results suggest that (1) it is possible to obtain gain equalization of the three signal groups by using the LP21 mode pump independently, where the maximum difference in modal gain (MAX DMG) is about 0.9 dB, except for the LP31 mode signal; (2) by combining the LP01 and LP31 mode pumps, the average gain of the groups increases by 14%, and the MAX DMG decreases by nearly 60% (3.8 to 1.5 dB) compared to the LP01 pump alone; and (3) with the same combination of mode pumps, the ring-core BDFA (1.5 dB) achieves better gain equalization than the single-core BDFA (2.8 dB). The analysis is informative for the future development of a multimode BDFA.

Multiple microwave frequency measurement system based on a sawtooth-wave-modulated non-flat optical frequency comb.

A photonic-assisted instantaneous microwave measurement system, capable of measuring multiple frequency signals, is demonstrated and analyzed. The principle lies in the combination of a channelizer and frequency-to-power mapping. An effective generation method of a non-flat optical frequency comb is proposed based on sawtooth wave modulation, which has more comb lines and adjustable comb spacing. Under this method, two low-speed post-processing devices are utilized to realize frequency measurements up to 32 GHz. The scheme is verified by simulation, and factors affecting system performance are also studied.

Magnetic field sensor based on resonant cavity dispersion-frequency mapping of a multi-longitudinal mode fiber laser.

A high-sensitivity and compact-size magnetic field sensor based on a multi-longitudinal mode fiber laser is proposed and experimentally demonstrated in this paper. The resonant cavity is composed of two uniform fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and a length of Er-doped fiber. A Terfenol-D rod is used as a transducer to stretch the sensing FBG when applying an external magnetic field. Longitudinal mode beat frequency could be generated in the laser and would shift with the deformation of the sensing FBG caused by the external magnetic field. Experimental results show the sensitivity of the proposed sensor is -47.32k H z/m T.

Graphene-coated double D-type low loss optical fiber modulator.

A graphene-coated double D-type low loss all-fiber modulator is proposed. The modulator is improved on the basis of standard fiber. Only the cladding is processed without grinding the original core structure. The upper and lower cladding are cut same distance. This can ensure that the mode field does not deviate in one direction, so that most of the mode field is still tied to the core, which greatly reduces the device loss. The existence of the double graphene layer can also ensure a very excellent modulation efficiency. The calculation results show that the mode loss of our proposed dual-D modulator under X polarization is 0.125 dB/mm, and the mode field mismatch loss is 0.25%. The mode loss in Y polarization is 0.033 dB/mm, and the mode field mismatch loss is 0.32%. When the modulation voltage is 5 V, the modulation depth is 78.4% under the condition of five-layer graphene, while the modulation speed can reach 15.38 GHz. Besides maintaining low modulation voltage and higher modulation efficiency, this structure makes full use of the advantages of good fiber coupling, and will be widely used in future fiber communications and all-fiber systems.

Magnetic field and temperature dual-parameter sensor based on magnetic fluid materials filled photonic crystal fiber.

A dual-parameter sensor based on a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) concatenated with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for simultaneous measurement of magnetic field and temperature. Novel magnetic fluids (MF) with different concentration and surfactant are filled in the air holes of PCF. The magnetic field measurement property is only determined by PCF, while the temperature is co-determined by PCF and FBG. Experimental results show that the wavelength shift has a good linearity corresponding with temperature and magnetic field. Temperature and magnetic field sensitivity are proportional to concentration of MF and are affected by different surfactants. For PCF point, when polyethylene glycol is used as a surfactant and the magnetic fluid concentration is equal to 0.15, the highest magnetic field sensitivity is up to 924.63 pm/mT. The proposed sensor has a high sensitivity as well as cross-sensitivity resistance, which provides a promising candidate for dual-channel filtering or multi-parameter measurement applications.

Ultrashort polarization beam splitter based on liquid-filled dual-core photonic crystal fiber.

An ultrashort polarization beam splitter (PBS) is proposed based on liquid-filled dual-core photonic crystal fiber (DCPCF). The two cores of DCPCF are formed by two side elliptical holes and a central circular hole in the horizontal direction. The properties of the PBS are analyzed first with a non-filled DCPCF by the finite element method. Then, the performances of the PBS are discussed when the DCPCF is filled with liquids in the central hole. As a result, an ultrashort PBS is realized with a length of 78 µm when glycerol solution with a concentration of 37% is filled in the central hole. In this case, an extinction ratio of 87 dB is obtained at 1550 nm wavelength. The significantly short device shows a great advantage when being integrated in ultra-compact optical systems.

A portable low-power integrated current and temperature laser controller for high-sensitivity gas sensor applications.

A low-noise, low power, high modulation-bandwidth design integrated laser current and temperature driver with excellent long-term stability is described. The current driver circuit is based on the Hall-Libbrecht design. A high sensitivity and a stable driver current were obtained using a differential amplifier and an integral amplifier. The set-point voltage for the current driver came from an ultra-compact, ultra-low temperature coefficient voltage reference chip or the digital to analog convertor output of a microcontroller or a modulation signal. An integral temperature chip, referred to as ADN8834, was used to drive the thermoelectric cooler controller of the distributed feedback (DFB) laser. The internal amplifier acquired the feedback current of the temperature sensor. The proportional-integral-derivative parameters such as proportion, integration, and derivative were set by external resistors. The short- and long-term stability and linearity of the developed laser driver were tested using a DFB laser with a central wavelength of 6991 cm-1. The laser driver was validated for high-sensitivity gas sensing of CO2 and C2H2 via a laser absorption spectroscopy experiment. The limits of detection were less than 11.5 ppm and 0.124 ppm for CO2 and C2H2, respectively. Direct absorption measurements and the 1-f and 2-f demodulation signals confirmed the capabilities of the proposed laser driver system in high-sensitivity gas sensing applications. The driver unit can readily be accommodated into many portable laser sensing devices for industrial applications.