Nondestructive images of refractive-index variation within a type I fiber Bragg grating have been recorded by the differential interference contrast imaging technique. The images reveal detailed structure within the fiber core that is consistent with the formation of Talbot planes in the diffraction pattern behind the phase mask that had been used to fabricate the grating.
A comparison is made between the modeled and experimentally determined microscopic images of a type I Bragg grating produced in the core of an optical fiber using the ultraviolet irradiation of a phase mask. The simulated image of the refractive-index distribution, which assumes a linear relationship between the irradiation intensity and the refractive-index change, is in good agreement with the measured image.
A pair of reflection peaks/transmission dips, at twice the Bragg wavelength, were observed in spectra of a Type I fiber Bragg grating written with the standard phase mask technique. The occurrence of two peaks/dips, rather than one, is attributed to the interleaved refractive index modulations along the fiber core, with the periodicity of the phase mask that has been observed previously in images of gratings that cause destructive interference in a reflected wave at the Bragg condition owing to the pi phase difference between the grating phases. Thus the standard phase mask technique produced an alternative type of pi-phase-shifted grating at twice the design Bragg wavelength.
The growth of reflectance peaks from optical fiber Bragg gratings has been studied to determine the relative importance of grating features when writing with the phase-mask technique. Measurements of spectra for two different fiber types using two distinct phase masks allowed the contribution from grating features of half the phase-mask periodicity and of the phase-mask periodicity at the Bragg wavelength to be determined. The dominance of the latter periodicity was ascribed to either the small fiber core diameter that limited the extent of the Talbot diffraction pattern, or the enhanced ±2 diffraction orders of a custom-made phase mask used.
A fiber Bragg grating sensor fabricated by a phase mask with 536 nm uniform pitch is presented. Two peaks/dips occur, at 785 and 1552 nm, due to reflection/transmission at the Bragg wavelength and at double the Bragg wavelength, and arising from FBG periodicities associated with half the phase mask periodicity and the phase mask periodicity, respectively. It provides simultaneous measurement of temperature and longitudinal strain, with similar intensities in both wavelengths making it better suited for long-distance operation and multiplexing compared with similar schemes.
Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) is the leading instrument used to image optical fields on the nanometer scale. A metal-coating is typically applied to SNOM probes to define a subwavelength aperture and minimize optical leakage, but the presence of such coatings in the near field of the sample can often cause a substantial change in the sample emission properties. For the first time, the authors demonstrate near-field imaging on a metal substrate with a metal-free probe made from a novel structured optical fiber, designed to maximize optical throughput and potentially remove the need for the metal.
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