A Bragg grating in a single mode polymer optical fiber (POF) has been created. The novel grating has a length of 1 cm with a reflectivity of 80% and a linewidth of about 0.5 nm. The wavelength tunability of the POF grating by stretching was investigated and a wavelength tunable range of 20 nm has been achieved. Based on the properties of the polymer, we believe that this kind of grating has a wavelength tuning potential of more than 100 nm.

The effects of the zeroth-order diffraction of a phase mask on the creation of Bragg gratings using the mask technique were theoretically and experimentally investigated. Experimental results showed that the zeroth-order diffraction of 1% total power, while in interference with the first-order diffraction of 44% each, dramatically affected the structure of the gratings in a polymer optical preform, including their period. Theoretical analysis by taking the zeroth-order diffraction into account predicted that a very small part of the zeroth-order component (0.1%) would have substantial effects on the gratings, which will be no longer uniform along both the directions of the incident laser beam propagation and the groove array. Theoretical calculation agrees well with the experimental results.

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