KEYWORDS: Waveguides, Interferometers, Telescopes, Spatial filters, Adaptive optics, Signal to noise ratio, Single mode fibers, Interferometry, Space telescopes, Prototyping
Interest in pupil-remapping interferometry, in which a single telescope pupil is fragmented and recombined using
fiber optic technologies, has been growing among a number of groups. As a logical extrapolation from several
highly successful aperture masking programs underway worldwide, pupil remapping offers the advantage of spatial
filtering (with single-mode fibers) and in principle can avoid the penalty of low throughput inherent to an aperture
mask. However in practice, pupil remapping presents a number of difficult technological challenges including
injection into the fibers, pathlength matching of the device, and stability and reproducibility of the results.
Here we present new approaches based on recently-available photonic technologies in which coherent threedimensional
waveguide structures can be sculpted into bulk substrate. These advances allow us to miniaturize
the photonic processing into a single, robust, thermally stable element; ideal for demanding observatory or
spacecraft environments. Ultimately, a wide range of optical functionality could be routinely fabricated into
such structures, including beam combiners and dispersive or wavelength selective elements, bringing us closer to
the vision of an interferometer on a chip.
Focussing ultrashort laser pulses allows for inscribing fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) directly into rare earth doped
fiber cores - without prior photosensitivity treatment. High reflective FBGs can be written into active Large
Mode Area (LMA) Fibers with 20 micron core diameter using a phase mask scanning technique. Here, we
demonstrate fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs), which cover only a fraction of the core. With this additional degree
of freedom it is possible to taylor the reflectivity of individual modes. We show for example how those FBGs
can be used in few mode LMA fibers to suppress reflections into higher order modes.
The ability to tune the Bragg wavelength of a fibre-Bragg grating (FBG) in an all-fibre laser can offer added
functionality such as laser wavelength tunability, polarization selectivity,1 and Q-switching.2 Compared to current
techniques which rely on mechanically straining the FBG to achieve Bragg-wavelength tunability, an all-optical
technique for tuning an FBG offers potentially faster switching speeds and a more robust and simple cavity. All-optical
tuning of the Bragg wavelength of an FBG has been demonstrated previously by resonant optical pumping; however this
technique has only been applied to passive systems for switching applications.3 In this work, we have further
investigated this optical-tuning process, experimentally identifying three time-scale regimes, and optimised it for
application to active systems. Furthermore, we constructed an erbium all-fibre laser cavity consisting of an outputcoupler
FBG and an optically-tunable, high-reflector FBG. The cavity pumping and the optical tuning of the FBG were
kept independent. By repetitively tuning the high-reflector FBG on- and off-resonance with the output-coupler FBG, we
actively Q-switched the erbium fibre laser at repetition rates up to 35 kHz, limited only by our diode driver. We show
that grating tuning at >300 kHz is possible with the existing embodiment, and discuss further potential to operate at MHz
rates.
In this paper we demonstrate a simple temperature and strain discriminating sensor based on a single fibre Bragg grating
inscribed by a femtosecond laser via the point-by-point technique. These gratings exhibit strong and extensive cladding
mode structures and by simultaneously monitoring both the Bragg wavelength and a cladding mode spaced by ~ 40 nm
from the Bragg peak, as a function of both temperature and strain, it is possible to distinguish between the two effects
and potentially obtain and increased sensitivity over prior reports for similar systems. In preliminary experiments the two
parameters were determined with an accuracy of 1°C and 40 με respectively. Due to the close spectral separation of the
two peaks that were monitored, quick and simultaneously measurements of the two parameters was possible, allowing
for real time measurements of the temperature and strain and making the device practical for use in various applications.
We show evidence of rapid photo-erasure of ultra stable Type-II fibre Bragg gratings written with a femtosecond laser
into the active medium when employed as high reflectors in >1kW medium power Yb3+-doped Q-switched fibre laser
cavities.
We present a parametric study of self-assembled photonic crystal growth as a function of radius of curvature. To do this,
we used a combination of microscope slides, glass capillaries and optical fibres as substrates to grow the self-assembled
films on. Microscope and SEM images, as well as broadband transmission spectra were used to characterise the crystal,
and the effect the changing surface curvature had on the crystal quality. Limitations for fabricating the crystals on highly
curved surfaces will be presented.
A well-known side-effect from fibre Bragg grating UV-fabrication is short wavelength attenuation, where irradiation
with laser light, usually in the UV, generates both defect-induced absorption and scattering. These losses are especially
problematic for high power optical fibre lasers operating at shorter wavelengths where resonant assisted coupling into the
glass matrix through the rare earth ions can take place (e.g. Yb3+). In this, work we present a study of the relative
magnitude of short wavelength attenuation in gratings written by the point-by-point method using a Ti-sapphire
femtosecond laser operating at 800 nm. Such gratings are very stable and have been used as the feedback elements in
fibre lasers with powers exceeding 100 W. We show that the scattering properties responsible for the attenuation are
analogous to those associated with type II gratings written with UV lasers.
We have performed measurements using a purpose-built Near-field Scanning Optical Microscope and shown that
waveguides written with a fs laser in the kHz regime have an asymmetry associated with the unidirectional nature of the
writing beam. Further, the asymmetry becomes more pronounced with increasing pulse energy. At very high pulse
energies (5-10 J) the presence of multiple guided regions was also observed, indicating that the refractive index profile
of the waveguide possesses several maxima, a result which is consistent with current studies on the filamentation process
that high-powered laser pulses experience in a dielectric medium. In this paper we will present these observations, their
subsequent analysis and implications for photonic device fabrication using this method.
We report on the development of a compact, all fibre laser source operating at 1 μm with a linearly polarized (extinction ratio > 20 dB) and very narrow linewidth (12 pm) output. The unique cavity design included a fibre Bragg grating high reflector and output coupler, inscribed via the point-by-point method directly into the active core. A single splice within the cavity between the fibre incorporating the high reflector and the output coupler permitted re-orientation of the stressors at an angle of 90 degrees to each other, which produced a single lasing polarisation. This simple technique removed the need for a more complicated and expensive polarization controller.
Using a femtosecond laser source waveguide, Bragg grating and waveguide-Bragg grating (WBG) structures have been written in fused silica and undoped phosphate glasses. The WBG devices are written using a slit focusing geometry and point-by-point grating inscription method. They demonstrate Bragg reflectivities at the design wavelength (1550 nm) and have been used as a new method for estimating the minimum refractive index change induced during the waveguide writing process.
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