Step-index profile

About: Step-index profile is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3104 publications have been published within this topic receiving 53199 citations.

Tapered fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer for simultaneous measurement of refractive index and temperature

Abstract: An approach to achieve simultaneous measurement of refractive index and temperature is proposed by using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer realized on tapered single-mode optical fiber. The attenuation peak wavelength of the interference with specific order in the transmission spectrum shifts with changes in the environmental refractive index and temperature. By utilizing S-band and C/L-band light sources, simultaneous discrimination of refractive index and temperature with the tapered fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer is demonstrated with the corresponding sensitivities of −23.188 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) and 0.071 nm/ °C, and −26.087 nm/RIU (blueshift) and 0.077 nm/°C (redshift) for the interference orders of 169 and 144, respectively.

Ultrasensitive photonic crystal fiber refractive index sensor

Abstract: We introduce a microfluidic refractive index sensor based on a directional coupler architecture using solid-core photonic crystal fibers. The sensor achieves very high sensitivity by coupling the core mode to a mode in the adjacent fluid-filled waveguide that is beyond modal cutoff, and with strong field overlap. We demonstrate the device through the selective infiltration of a single hole with fluid along a microstructured optical fiber. A detection limit of 4.6x10(-7) refractive index units has been derived from measurements with a sensitivity of 30,100 nm per refractive index unit, which is the highest for a fiber device to date.

Pulse broadening in graded-index optical fibers.

Abstract: This paper reports on some theoretical and experimental investigations of the radial refractive index gradient that maximizes the information-carrying capacity of a multimode optical waveguide. The primary difference between this work and previous studies is that the dispersive nature of core and cladding materials is taken into consideration. This leads to a new expression for the index gradient parameter alpha(c) which characterizes the optimal profile. Using the best available refractive index data, it is found that in high-silica waveguides, the dispersive properties of the glasses significantly influence the pulse broadening of near-parabolic fibers, and that the parameter alpha(c) must be altered by 10-20% to compensate for dispersion differences between core and cladding glasses. These predictions are supported by pulse broadening measurements of two graded-index fibers. A comparison is made between the widths and shapes of measured pulses and pulses calculated using the WKB approximation and the near-field measurement of the index profiles. The good agreement found between theory and experiment not only supports the predictions made for the value of alpha(c), but demonstrates an ability to predict pulse broadening in fibers having general index gradients.

Optimization of sensitivity in Long Period Fiber Gratings with overlay deposition.

Abstract: The deposition of an overlay of higher refractive index than the cladding in a Long Period Fiber Grating (LPFG) permits to improve the sensitivity to ambient refractive index changes in a great manner. When the overlay is thick enough, one of the cladding modes is guided by the overlay. This causes important shifts in the effective index values of the cladding modes, and henceforward fast shifts of the resonance wavelength of the attenuations bands in the transmission spectrum. This could be applied for improving the sensitivity of LPFG sensors. The problem is analysed with a numerical method based on LP mode approximation and coupled mode theory, which agrees with so far published experimental results.