In this paper, the application of a fiber Bragg grating written in a highly birefringent side-hole elliptical core optical fiber for two-axial strain measurement is presented. Hybrid optical fiber ...structures achieved by combining large side-holes and elliptical core result in a very high birefringence of 1 × 10
and thus high initial Bragg peak spectral separation of 1.16 nm, as well as a very high transverse force sensitivity, of up to 650 pm/(N/mm) or even -1150 pm/(N/mm), depending on the fiber orientation with respect to the applied force. Due to the ~22 %m/m GeO
concentration in the core the fiber being highly photosensitive, which significantly simplifies FBG fabrication by UV illumination without the need for prior hydrogen loading, which worsens thermal stability. Finally, the developed FBGs written in the highly birefringent side-hole elliptical core optical fiber were embedded in the square composite plates and applied for strain measurements. Tests of two-directional four-point bending have shown usability of such FBG for two-axial in-plane strain measurement with a single FBG in iso-thermal conditions.
Compliant mechanisms have gained an increasing interest in recent years, especially in relation to the possibility of using 3D printers for their production. These mechanisms typically find ...applications in precise positioning systems of building robotic devices or in sensing where they can be used to characterize displacement. Three-dimensional printing with PLA materials allows fiber optic-based sensors to be incorporated into the structures of properly designed compliant mechanisms. Therefore, in this paper, an innovative technology is described, of a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor embedded in a measuring head which was then inserted into a specially designed mechanical transmission element. The shape of this element is based on clippers that allow to freely modify the amplification of displacement amplitude so that the FBG sensor always works in the most optimal regime without any need to modify its external dimensions. Flexural sensitivity of the replaceable measuring head equal to 1.26 (mε/mm) can be adapted to the needs of the flexure design.
Polymer–matrix composites degrade under the influence of UV radiation in the range of the 290–400 nm band. The degradation of polymer–matrix composites exposed to UV radiation is characterized by ...extensive aging of the epoxy matrix, resulting in deterioration of their mechanical properties. Glass fibers/epoxy resin composites were made by an out-of-autoclave method whereas a fiber optic sensor was placed between different layers of laminates. In our work, we used a fiber Bragg grating sensor covered with graphene oxide and embedded in a polymer matrix composite to monitor UV radiation intensity. Measurements of UV radiation may allow monitoring the aging process of individual components of the polymer composite. In order to estimate the number of microcracks of epoxy resin, microstructure observations were carried out using a scanning electron microscope.
We report on near-infrared supercontinuum generation in a submeter-long single-mode, nanostructured core fiber. The fiber core is composed of few thousand pure silica and germanium-doped silica glass ...nanorods with diameter of 200 nm each. The nanorods’ distribution is calculated based on the Maxwell–Garnett effective medium approach to mimic effective parabolic refractive index distribution in the fiber core. The standard stack-and-draw method was used to scale down the fiber structure and obtain subwavelength nanorods in the core. Size and distribution of individual nanorods are essential to determine modal and dispersion properties of the fiber without assistance of air holes in the fiber cladding. We study supercontinuum generation performance in this nanostructured core fiber pumping with low-cost microchip laser operating at 1550 nm with 1 ns pulse length and pulse energy of 0.4 µJ. A modulation instability-driven supercontinuum is generated in the fiber, covering a wavelength span of 1400–2300 nm. Due to possibility of dispersion engineering and all-solid structure the nanostructured fibers offer new possibilities for development of low-cost all-fiber supercontinuum light sources for the near-infrared range and cascaded ultrabroadband supercontinuum all-fiber systems.
The objective of the study is to optimize the optical fiber structure for mode-division multiplexing systems using nanostructurization. The nanostructuring technique allows to fabricate fibers with ...arbitrarily designed (free-form) refractive index distribution based on two glasses. Three optimization schemes have been proposed. The nanostructuring method allows for designing fibers with optical properties similar and even better parameters impossible to produce by other methods. In this proposal, we examined four linearly polarized (
LP
) few-mode fibers. We report a high effective refractive index difference between modes while maintaining other important parameters for the weakly coupled approach.
We test the development of a silica all-glass optical fiber with a highly birefringent large mode area (HB-LMA). In the fiber, the birefringence and single mode operation are independent of bending ...and results from the internal nanostructuring of the core, which makes the glass anisotropic. Taking into account technological limitations of the doped silica glasses, we optimized the HB-LMA fiber properties by appropriate selection of germanium and fluorine doping level of silica used in the fiber core and cladding. We demonstrated that the anisotropic glass can be successfully used as a core material in large core area fibres in C-band for polarization components of the fundamental mode. We obtained phase birefringence of 1.92 × 10
−4
in the fiber with the core diameter of 30 µm and the effective mode area equal to 573 µm
2
and 804 µm
2
, for
x-
and
y-
polarization, respectively. The same approach was applied to designing a single mode fiber with 40 µm core diameter and effective mode area over 1000 µm
2
, which supports only single polarization.
We developed a passive silica based large mode area fiber with the nanostructured core with a diameter of 30 μm devoted to fiber Bragg grating inscription for application in an all-fiber laser ...cavity. The fiber is perfectly matched to the commercial active fiber with NA = 0.06 and core/cladding diameters 30/250 μm. Measured modal characteristics and bending loss of the fiber confirm single-mode operation for bending diameter of 8 cm with bending losses as low as 0.15 dB/m. Although the nanostructured fiber core is low germanium doped, we fabricated high reflectivity (98.5%) UV induced fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and verified its performance in fiber laser setup. The laser cavity formed with highly reflective FBG inscribed in the fiber and Fresnel reflection on the free end of active fiber results in lasing efficiency of 65.5%. The flexibility of the nanostructuring approach gives prospects for the development of free-form large mode area fibers for passive fiber components and matched with any type of active fibers.
A nanostructured core silica fiber with active and photosensitive areas implemented within the fiber core is demonstrated. The photosensitivity, active and passive properties of the fiber can be ...independently shaped with this new approach. We show that discrete local doping with active ions in form of nanorods allow to obtain effective laser action as in case of continuous distribution of the ions in the core. Co-existing discrete photosensitive nanostructure of germanium doped silica determine single-mode performance and allow inscription of highly efficient Bragg grating over the entire core area. Each nanostructure do not degrade performance of other one since physical interaction between active and photosensitive areas are removed. As a proof of concept, we have designed and fabricated the nanostructured, ytterbium single-mode silica fiber laser with the Bragg grating inscribed in the entire core area. We demonstrated fiber laser with good quality of generated laser beam (M
=1.1) with lasing efficiency of 44% and inscribed Bragg grating with 98.5% efficiency and -18 dB contrast.
We report the development of microscopic size gradient index vortex masks using the modified stack-and-draw technique. The vortex mask has a form of flat surface all-glass plate. Its functionality is ...determined by an internal nanostructure composed of two types of soft glass nanorods. The generation of optical vortices with charges 1 and 2 is demonstrated.
The ability to shape the index profile of optical fibers holds the key to fully flexible engineering of their optical properties and future applications. We present a new approach for the development ...of a graded index fused silica fiber based on core nanostructurization. A graded index core is obtained by means of distribution of two types of subwavelength glass rods. The proposed method allows to obtain arbitrary graded distribution not limited to the circular or any other symmetry, such as in the standard graded index fibers. We have developed a proof of concept fiber with parabolic refractive index core and showed a perfect match between its predicted, designed and measured properties. The fiber has a core composed of 2107 rods of 190 nm of diameter made of either pure fused silica or Ge-doped fused silica with 8.5% mol concentration. The proposed method breaks the limits of standard fabrication approaches used in fused silica fiber technology.
PDF
