Chapters authored
Applications of In–Fiber Acousto–Optic Devices
Part of the book: Acoustic Waves
In-Fiber Acousto-Optic Interaction Based on Flexural Acoustic Waves and Its Application to Fiber Modulators
The design and implementation of in-fiber acousto-optic (AO) devices based on acoustic flexural waves are presented. The AO interaction is demonstrated to be an efficient mechanism for the development of AO tunable filters and modulators. The implementation of tapered optical fibers is proposed to shape the spectral response of in-fiber AO devices. Experimental results demonstrate that the geometry of the tapered fiber can be regarded as an extra degree of freedom for the design of AO tunable attenuation filters (AOTAFs). In addition, with the objective of expanding the application of AOTAFs to operate as an amplitude modulator, acoustic reflection was intentionally induced. Hence, a standing acoustic wave is generated which produces an amplitude modulation at twice the acoustic frequency. As a particular case, an in-fiber AO modulator composed of a double-ended tapered fiber was reported. The fiber taper was prepared using a standard fusion and pulling technique, and it was tapered down to a fiber diameter of 70 μm. The device exhibits an amplitude modulation at 2.313 MHz, which is two times the acoustic frequency used (1.1565 MHz); a maximum modulation depth of 60%, 1.3 dB of insertion loss, and 40 nm of modulation bandwidth were obtained. These results are within the best results reported in the framework of in-fiber AO modulators.
Part of the book: Computational and Experimental Studies of Acoustic Waves
Whispering Gallery Modes for Accurate Characterization of Optical Fibers’ Parameters
Whispering gallery modes (WGMs) are surface modes that propagate azimuthally around resonators with rotational symmetry (toroidal, spherical, or, as in our case, cylindrical shaped, since the optical fiber itself plays the role of the microresonator). These modes are resonant in optical wavelength, and the spectral position of the resonances depends on the radius and the refractive index of the microresonator material. Due to the high-quality factor of the resonances (as high as 107 in cylindrical microresonators), they allow measuring different parameters with high sensitivities and very low detection limits. Here, we report the use of WGMs to characterize the properties of the material that forms the microresonator. In particular, we highlight the use of this technique to measure temperature profiles along conventional and special fibers (such as photosensitive or doped fibers), elasto-optic coefficients, and UV-induced absorption loss coefficients of different photosensitive fibers. These parameters of the fibers set the optical response of fiber-based components and may change when the device is in use in an optical system; thus, this technique allows an accurate characterization of the devices and leads to proper designs of components with specific optical responses.
Part of the book: Applications of Optical Fibers for Sensing