Novel tuneable on-fiber polymeric phase-mask for fiber and planar waveguide Bragg grating fabrication

Abstract

UV transparent, on-fiber elastomeric phase-masks by casting directly on holographic glass phase-mask plates are demonstrated for the first time. These translation insensitive masks have been used to fabricate fiber Bragg gratings by simple exposure to 262 nm UV radiation. The stretchable phase-masks allow the Bragg wavelength of the inscribed grating to be changed easily. Multiple Bragg gratings at widely different wavelengths have been inscribed in one fiber using the same phase-mask. Inexpensive and disposable, the phase-masks allow the inscription of gratings in planar waveguides and fibers without causing contact-damage to either, and show the possibility of creating widely tuneable 1-D band-gap structures. In-situ fine tuning of the desired Bragg wavelength or correcting for errors in the phase-mask during inscription are other possible uses of this technology.

Influence of Annealing on Polymer Optical Fiber Bragg Grating Inscription, Stability and Sensing: A Review

“…Both UV [89,93] and fs lasers [24,25] can be used when applying phase mask lithography to inscribe FBGs. The inscription schematic set-up is presented in Figure 7 [83].…”

Simultaneous femtosecond inscription of two wavelength-separated fiber Bragg gratings at the same spot

“…A more elegant way to achieve tunability with the PM technique is by introducing controlled defocusing and phase modifications into the inscription beam [11][12][13] , stretching the PM 14 , a deformable mirror 15 , and even a spatial light modulator (SLM) 16 . All these techniques modify the PM grating period, and, in turn, also modify the grating period of the fiber, ΛFBG.…”

Femtosecond inscription of a spectral array of four fiber Bragg gratings at the same spot, using a single uniform phase-mask

“…Fortunately, tuning the Bragg wavelength with the PM technique has been demonstrated by introducing controlled defocusing and phase modifications into the inscription beam [8][9][10] , stretching the PM 11 , even with a deformable mirror 12 , or a spatial light modulator (SLM) 13 . All these techniques modify the PM period, and, in turn, modify the grating period ΛFBG, which results in the tuning of the Bragg wavelength, λB.…”