Long-period cascaded fiber taper filters.

ABSTRACT

Fiber filters based on periodic cascaded tapered fiber sections are demonstrated. The filters consist of up to seven tapered sections separated periodically by more than 3 mm from center to center, with nominal tapered sections of 1 mm×1 mm×1 mm longitudinal dimensions. The transmission spectrum consists of discrete notches, resembling those observed in long-period fiber gratings, which differs from the observed spectrum in Mach-Zender interferometers based on cascaded tapers. Its sensitivity to external perturbations, such as refractive index or mechanical stress, made the device potentially very useful as a sensor or tunable filter.