The spectral characteristics of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with a transversely inhomogeneous refractive index profile, differs considerably from that of a transversely uniform one. Transmission spectra of inhomogeneous and asymmetric FBGs that have been inscribed with focused ultrashort pulses with the so-called point-by-point technique are investigated. The cladding mode resonances of such FBGs can span a full octave in the spectrum and are very pronounced (deeper than 20dB). Using a coupled-mode approach, we compute the strength of resonant coupling and find that coupling into cladding modes of higher azimuthal order is very sensitive to the position of the modification in the core. Exploiting these properties allows precise control of such reflections and may lead to many new sensing applications.
The use of ultrashort laser pulses for fiber grating inscription has many advantages in comparison to continuous wave and long pulse lasers. The most important one is that it allows inscription in nonphotosensitive fiber materials. In this paper the principal inscription techniques and the physical properties of femtosecond (fs) pulse written in-fiber gratings are reviewed. The role of focusing and order walk-off on the inscribed structures is emphasized. A fs pulse written fiber Bragg grating (FBG) also has a unique coupling behavior, due to a refractive index change that is independent from the fiber geometry. Selected applications of such gratings for sensing and fiber lasers are discussed.
Applications in life sciences and information technology require all-optical solutions. In the inevitable race towards miniaturized optical circuits, all-integrated solutions will prevail against bulk setups. Because of its outstanding nonlinear properties, lithium niobate (LiNbO3) emerged as the key platform for integrated optics. In this paper, we discuss the direct femtosecond (fs) laser inscription technique whose flexibility enables the realization of two- and three-dimensional embedded optical waveguides in various optical materials. Linear and nonlinear components for monolithic and hybrid waveguide devices are characterized and their perspectives are reviewed, e.g. couplers, Bragg reflectors, frequency converters, amplitude modulators and gain modules. Finally, we demonstrate a monolithic LiNbO3 waveguide chip that combines a frequency doubling and a modulating unit. Thumbnail image of Schematic of a hybrid fs laser written chip that comprises a rare-earth-doped laser section (a), a frequency doubling unit (b), Bragg reflectors (c), waveguide splitters (d) and an amplitude modulator (e)
We report on thermally stable optical waveguides written in periodically poled lithium niobate with a femtosecond laser using a two line approach. Both fundamental and second harmonic light at 1064 and 532 nm are guided with low damping losses. In a 10-mm-long sample a conversion efficiency of 58% was achieved
In recent years, femtosecond (fs)-lasers have evolved into a versatile tool for high precision micromachining of transparent materials because nonlinear absorption in the focus can result in refractive index modifications or material disruptions. However, when high pulse energies or low numerical apertures are required, nonlinear side effects such as self-focusing, filamentation or white light generation can decrease the modification quality. In this paper, we apply simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing (SSTF) to overcome these limitations. The main advantage of SSTF is that the ultrashort pulse is only formed at the focal plane, thereby confining the intensity distribution strongly to the focal volume and suppressing detrimental nonlinear side effects. Thus, we investigate the optical breakdown within a water cell by pump-probe shadowgraphy, comparing conventional focusing and SSTF under equivalent focusing conditions. The plasma formation is well confined for low pulse energies ,2 mJ, but higher pulse energies lead to the filamentation and break-up of the disruptions for conventional focusing, thereby decreasing the modification quality. In contrast, plasma induced by SSTF stays well confined to the focal plane, even for high pulse energies up to 8 mJ, preventing extended filaments, side branches or break-up of the disruptions. Furthermore, while conventional focusing leads to broadband supercontinuum generation, only marginal spectral broadening is observed using SSTF. These experimental findings are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations of the nonlinear pulse propagation and interaction processes. Therefore, SSTF appears to be a powerful tool to control the processing of transparent materials, e.g., for precise ophthalmic fs-surgery.
Fiber Bragg gratings inscribed with a femtosecond laser using the point-by-point (PbP) technique have polarization dependent grating strength (PDGS) and exhibit birefringence. In this paper we quantify the dependence of these two properties on the ellipticity, position in the core and size of the micro-voids at the center of each refractive index modulation. We demonstrate that the effective modal index for type II gratings written with a femtosecond laser using the PbP method must be lower than that of the pristine fiber, and for the first time associate an axis with a polarization such that the long axis of the elliptically-shaped index modulations corresponds to the slow axis of the gratings. We exploit the PDGS of two gratings used as frequency-selective feedback elements as well as appropriate coiling, to realize a linearly-polarized fiber laser with a low birefringence fiber cavity. We show that the polarization-dependent grating strength is a function of the writing pulse energy and that only gratings optimized for this property will linearly polarize the fiber laser. The fiber lasers have high extinction ratios (>30 dB) for fiber lengths of up to 10 m and very stable polarized output powers (<0.5% amplitude fluctuations) in the range of 20-65 mW at 1540 nm. This method of polarization discrimination allows the realization of highly robust and simplified linearly polarized fiber lasers.
Highly localized fiber Bragg gratings can be inscribed point-by-point with focused ultrashort pulses. The transverse localization of the resonant grating causes strong coupling to cladding modes of high azimuthal and radial order. In this paper, we show how the reflected cladding modes can be fully analyzed, taking their vectorial nature, orientation and degeneracies into account. The observed modes' polarization and intensity distributions are directly tied to the dispersive properties and show abrupt transitions in nature, strongly correlated with changes in the coupling strengths.
We report on the fabrication of highly efficient fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) in non-photosensitive fibers based on nonlinear absorption of fs laser light. Up to 40 mm long gratings with a transmission of T = -25 dB at the Bragg reflection wavelength were obtained and their coupling constant determined by spectral analysis. Therefore, a phase mask scanning technique with appropriate control of the focus was established
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