KEYWORDS: Fiber lasers, L band, Rayleigh scattering, Optical fibers, Laser frequency, Single mode fibers, Random lasers, Laser scattering, Laser damage threshold, Signal to noise ratio
We proposed and experimentally demonstrated a tunable L-band narrow-linewidth Brillouin random fiber laser (BRFL) in a half-open ring cavity with Brillouin gain medium of 10-km single mode fiber (SMF) as well as distributed Rayleigh feedback provided by another 20-km SMF. With a low laser threshold of 6.8mW, the proposed laser can realize cavity-mode-free lasing resonance at a wavelength of 1576.08nm, indicating good single-frequency lasing operation. Compared with the Brillouin pump, the frequency noise (FN) of the proposed laser is significantly suppressed by around 30dB, benefiting from randomly distributed Rayleigh scattering along SMF. An ultra-narrow laser linewidth of 400.8Hz is also obtained with a pump/Stokes laser linewidth compression ratio of 87.5, which coincides with theoretical prediction. When the wavelength of the proposed laser is tuned from 1568.08nm to 1576.08nm, sub-kHz random lasers with cavity mode free lasing resonance achieves high optical signal-to-noise ratio (ONSR) operation. The proposed laser source with good tunability has great potentials for practical applications in future advanced optical communication and sensing.
We proposed and investigated a novel ring-core fiber (RCF) with a single-sided gradient index (SSGI) profile, which allows orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes transmission with improved mode separation and mode purity. Thanks to the SSGI profile design, the separation degree between the vector eigenmodes in the proposed RCFs has been highly increased by 26.2%, compared to the one with the conventional graded-index (GI) RCF. Meanwhile, the OAM mode purity in the SSGI-based RCF is expected to surpass 99.9%. providing a weakened spin-orbital coupling compared to the graded-index (GI) fiber. Results show that the purity of the generated and evaluated OAM modes is greater than 99.9%, benefiting minimized intrinsic crosstalk of lower than -30 dB during OAM mode propagation.
In this work, we fabricated a few mode S-shape waveguide with a length of 20 cm by photolithography, the S-shape waveguide is designed with the minimum bending radius of 8 mm and the maximum bending radius of 13.7 mm. The waveguide core size is 15 μm × 10 μm, and the core pitch is 250 μm. The transmission loss of the waveguide is 0.22 dB/cm at 1310 nm and 0.64 dB/cm at 1550 nm, received by a multimode fiber. While, when the output is received with a single mode fiber, the corresponding values become 0.27 dB/cm at 1310 nm and 0.71 dB/cm at 1550 nm. The crosstalk of the waveguide is lower than -40 dB at 1310 nm.
We have proposed a design of a single side-nickel-core optical fiber (SNCF) and fabricated it using direct thermal drawing for the first time. In our scheme, the metallic-silica heterogenous optical fiber structure was firstly designed and theoretically analyzed by COMSOL, and then thermally drawn from a nickel rod in silica tube preform. The transmission loss of the SNCF at the wavelength of 1550 nm was about 2.28 dB/m. Proven by the microscope observation, the nickel could be well distributed in the side-core of the fiber. It was also proven that the magnetic properties of nickel-core were well preserved after the fiber drawing process. The proposed fiber fabrication method and characterization may be extended to a wide range of other metal-silica heterogenous fibers.
A distributed optical fiber magnetic field sensor based on polarization-sensitive optical frequency domain reflectometer (POFDR) is proposed. The sensor employs a novel distributed magnetic field measurement method that firstly extracts the magnetic field induced nonreciprocal circular birefringence by the combination of the Stokes vectors and the backward Mueller matrices from the measured state of polarization (SOP). Then, the accumulated Faraday rotation angles can be further calculated to characterize the distribution of the magnetic field. It overcomes the drawback of the conventional POFDR scheme that requires at least two different input SOPs for each sensing. Finally, the aforementioned effectiveness has been experimentally verified by using a single-mode fiber as the sensing fiber. The distribution of a static magnetic field in milliTesla has been successfully measured at a spatial resolution of 0.16 m.
We proposed and demonstrated a high-efficiency Brillouin random fiber laser (BRFL) in a half-open linear random cavity incorporating with a self-inscribed dynamic fiber grating (DFG) for laser frequency stabilization. The DFG can be produced when the ion population distribution along erbium-doped fibers is periodically modulated by two coherent counter-propagating standing waves via the spatial hole-burning effect. Consequently, a BRFL with the linear half-open-cavity exhibited an optimized laser efficiency while the embedded DFG effectively purified the random modes and suppress the frequency drift caused by multiple random mode hopping. With a low laser threshold of 13.9 mW, the laser efficiency of up to 19.3% was observed, which is four times higher than that of the BRFL with a half-open ring cavity. It suggests that the proposed BRFLs could be beneficial to practical applications in fiber-optic sensing and coherent communication
Based on the morphology of the fabricated polymer waveguide, we designed an optical waveguide model with a Gaussianshaped core, and simulated the coupling efficiency with the single-mode fiber and the loss of the bending waveguide at 1310 nm.
In this paper, a magnetic field sensor based on Terfenol-D coated optical fibers is proposed and demonstrated. In our scheme, standard single mode fibers are coated by a thick layer of a magnetostrictive composite consisting of Terfenol-D particles dispersed in a polymer, which is then utilized as sensing elements. The magnetic field-induced strain on single mode fibers coated by the Terfenol-D was interrogated by an optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR). The experimental results show that the sensitivity of the magnetostrictive fiber sensor depends on the coating characteristics including the surface of coated optical fiber. The sensitivity of the proposed sensor is 0.175 με/mT.
Vortex beams have attracted attention due to their unique properties and wide applications. In this paper, a novel scheme for generating the first-order orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes based on anti-resonant reflecting guidance mechanism in ring-core fibers (RCFs) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. By directly fusion splicing with the standard single-mode fiber (SMF), anti-resonant reflecting guidance of guided-core modes in RCF can be basically motivated. Consequently, the excited modes can well transmit inside the low-refractive-index central core of the RCFs with exhibiting a Gaussian field distribution (defined as the anti-resonant mode, AR mode). Because of different mode coupling coefficients under external pressure on the RCF, these AR modes can be coupled to the HE11 and HE21 modes, respectively. Results show that, by adjusting the polarization state of injected light beams as well as the pressure on the RCF, OAM modes with topological charge numbers of both the positive (L = +1) and negative (L = -1) can be separately generated at efficiencies of 63.2% and 61.7%, respectively
Coherent lasers with ultra-narrow linewidth play a crucial role in high-precision metrology and coherent communication. Countless well-developed frequency stabilizations compensate mostly the low-frequency phase noise and facilitate an ultra-narrow linewidth down to quantum limit. Nevertheless, the precise characterization of its intrinsic linewidth of a coherent laser remains challenging. Here, a novel approach to characterize the linewidth of a coherent laser source relying on distributed Rayleigh scattering speckle in optical fiber was proposed and demonstrated. Phase noise statistics was revealed in a delay-time-resolved manner by correlation-based phase retrieval from Rayleigh scattering-induced heterodyne beating signals, facilitating precise measurement of a sub-kHz laser linewidth.
We propose a vibration detection system based on Phase-sensitive Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (φ-OTDR) and 3D printed sensors. The sensor is composed of a cylindrical elastomer wounded by bend insensitive optical fiber. The cylindrical elastomer is made of flexible material by 3D printing machine. We have demonstrated that the 3D printed sensor is highly sensitive to vibration. Experimental results also show that the sensors in our vibration detection system can distinguish different distances from the vibration source, indicating an accurate locating approach of structural damage in health monitoring for large scale civil engineering structure.
Recent progresses towards distance-limitless superluminal propagation based on stimulated Brillouin scattering have
been presented. By suppressing multiple-longitudinal-mode lasing oscillation, Brillouin-induced superluminal
propagation through hundreds-of-meter optical fibers can be successfully achieved.
Long distance superluminal propagation in optical fibers via cascaded Brillouin lasing oscillation is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The Gaussian pulses experience negative group-velocity superluminal propagation with the advancement of ~300ns in 20-m single mode fiber.
Negative group velocity superluminal propagation has been experimentally investigated based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in a 10-m highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) ring cavity. The advancement of 365.8 ns with a high average slope efficiency of 118.9 ns/mw versus the output lasing power was observed. The maximum negative group velocity of −0.105c and the minimum group index of −9.499 have been achieved by using the HNLF with high Brillouin gain coefficient and the optimized 1/99 coupler ratio in the cavity. The tunability of negative group velocity and group index can be easily controlled by the input pump power and optical coupler ratio indicating potential applications for a highly advanced sensing scheme based on Brillouin oscillation superluminal propagation.
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