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In this paper we demonstrate a simple and new fibre optic technique for measuring detonation velocities using uniform fibre Bragg gratings. We compare this new system with chirped fibre Bragg grating diagnostics and show how coherent source illumination can yield spatial uncertainties below ±10 μm - a percentage error that is an order of magnitude lower than the broadband ASE methods we have tested.

We both experimentally and numerically studied the ultra-compact wavelength conversion by using the four-wave mixing (FWM) process in Raman distributed-feedback (R-DFB) fiber lasers. The R-DFB fiber laser is formed in a 30 cm-long commercially available Ge/Si standard optical fiber. The internal generated R-DFB signal acts as the pump wave for the FWM process and is in the normal dispersion range of the fiber. Utilizing a tunable laser source as a probe wave, FWM frequency conversion up to ~40 THz has been demonstrated with conversion efficiency > -40 dB. The principle of such a wide bandwidth and high conversion efficiency in such a short R-DFB cavity has been theoretically analyzed. The simulation results match well with the experimental data.

We demonstrate broadband polarization-entangled photon pair generation in a poled fiber phase matched for Type II downconversion in the 1.5 μm telecom band. Even with signal-idler separation greater than 100 nm, we observe fringe visibilities greater than 97% and tangle greater than 0.8. A Hong-Ou-Mandel interference experiment is also used to experimentally confirm the broadband nature of the entanglement.

We report on the first fabrication of a glass fiber based laser-induced crystalline waveguide. The glass and crystal are based on the stoichiometric composition of (La,Yb)BGeO(5). A laser induced waveguide has been fabricated on the surface of a ribbon glass fiber using milliwatt-level continuous wave UV laser radiation at a fast scanning speed. Evidence of crystallinity in the created structure was observed using micro-Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Preliminary investigations on the waveguiding behavior and the nonlinear performance in the crystalline waveguide are reported.

We report a low-threshold, narrow linewidth Raman distributed-feedback (R-DFB) fiber laser at 1109.54 nm based on a 30 cm long center pi phase-shifted Bragg grating written directly in a commercially available germano-silica (Ge/Si) fiber. The R-DFB was pumped by a continuous-wave (CW) linearly polarized fiber source at 1064 nm, and the threshold power, full width at half-maximum (FWHM) linewidth and slope efficiency with respect to the incident pump power are measured to be 440 mW

We show theoretically and experimentally that twisting a birefringent periodically poled fiber with an artificially induced χ(2) results in second-harmonic phase-matchings that are not permitted in untwisted fibers. We further demonstrate that both the strengths and the spectral positions of the generated second-harmonic signals can be controlled by changing the amount of twist. Of particular interest is a type II phase-matched signal emerging through and greatly enhanced by the twisting.

An all-fiber, narrow-linewidth, high power Yb-doped silica fiber laser at 1179 nm has been demonstrated. More than 12 W output power has been obtained, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 43% with respect to launched pump power, by core-pumping at 1090 nm. In order to increase the pump absorption, the Yb-doped fiber was heated up to 125 degrees C. At the maximum output power, the suppression of amplified spontaneous emission was more than 50 dB. Furthermore, theoretical work confirms that the proposed laser architecture can be easily scaled to higher power.

We experimentally demonstrate the use of saw-tooth optical pulses, which are shaped using a fiber Bragg grating, to achieve robust and high performance time-domain add-drop multiplexing in a scheme based on cross-phase (XPM) modulation in an optical fiber, with subsequent offset filtering. As compared to the use of more conventional pulse shapes, such as Gaussian pulses of a similar pulse width, the purpose-shaped saw-tooth pulses allow higher extinction ratios for the add and drop windows and significant improvements in the receiver sensitivity for the dropped and added channels.

Broadband tunability of the second-harmonic wavelength is achieved in periodically poled silica fibers. A wavelength tuning range of almost 45 nm of the fundamental wave is demonstrated through mechanical compression tuning of the quasi-phase-matched periodic structure. The uniform strain applied along the entire periodic structure enables the spectral profile and the conversion efficiency of the generated second harmonic to be preserved for the full tuning range. To our knowledge, the achieved tuning range realized through this technique is far greater than that possible with uniform periodically poled crystals.

We demonstrate a high-power single-mode cladding-pumped Raman fiber laser. The Raman fiber laser consists of a 1.2 km long germanium-doped double-clad fiber in a linear cavity, which is spliced to a single-mode fiber. The laser is end pumped by a multimode erbium-ytterbium-doped fiber, which is coupled to the inner cladding of the Raman fiber. The embedded core was designed to be single mode at the Raman Stokes wavelength, and up to 10 W of power was obtained at 1660 nm from the single-mode fiber end. The laser has a slope efficiency of 67% and a threshold of 6.5 W.

Single-fiber Bragg gratings designed to compensate for pure third-order dispersion are demonstrated. The devices are designed by use of a layer-peeling inverse-scattering technique and exhibit dispersion profiles across their reflection bandwidths of -20, +/- 40, and -225 ps/nm2 over bandwidths of 4.5, 6, and 3 nm, respectively. Furthermore, they have almost constant peak reflectivities of approximately 75% and are, respectively, only 8, 23, and 40 mm long.

Radio-frequency (rf) beat frequencies between two longitudinal modes and two polarization modes of a birefringent dual-longitudinal-mode moiré distributed-feedback fiber laser are employed to measure strain and temperature simultaneously. Operating entirely in the rf domain, this approach potentially allows one to employ low-cost and precise rf measuring techniques. A strain-temperature cross sensitivity of the strain- and the thermo-optic coefficients, which can be neglected in wavelength-based grating sensors, has been observed. The achieved sensor accuracy was +/-15 microepsilon and +/-0.2 degrees C.

We report experimental observation of nonlinear all-optical switching of a 20-cm-long fiber Bragg grating. The grating is self-switched owing to the optical Kerr effect and in the nonlinear regime shows a 20-dB increase in transmissivity. This increase is a marked improvement from the switching results obtained from shorter gratings.

A sinc-sampled fiber Bragg grating is used to achieve multiplication of the repetition rate of a pulse stream from 10 to 40 GHz. The spectral characteristics of the grating ensure that the resultant pulses-solitons of 3.4-ps width-have the same individual pulse characteristics as those of the input.

We report the results of a series of experiments examining cross-phase modulation effects in apodized fiber Bragg gratings. All-optical switching and the optical pushbroom are observed, depending on the precise wavelength of the probe. The experimental results are then modeled with the coupled-mode equations.

We demonstrate the characterization of fiber distributed-feedback lasers by scanning a heat-induced index perturbation along the cavity and by measuring the induced laser frequency shift. The measured shift is shown to be a good indicator for the intensity distribution in the cavity, and the experimental results reveal that the sensitivity of fiber distributed-feedback laser sensors with frequency readout is highly localized near the grating phase-shift position. Use of the characterization data to determine the grating coupling parameter kappa, the polarization dependence of kappa, and birefringence nonuniformities as well as for identification of the order of longitudinal mode operation are discussed and demonstrated experimentally. Asymmetrically phase-shifted lasers with highly directional output are also investigated.