Chin Ping Yu

Using graphene nano-particle embedded in photonic crystal fiber for evanescent wave mode-locking of fiber laser

A photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with high-quality graphene nano-particles uniformly dispersed in the hole cladding are demonstrated to passively mode-lock the erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) by evanescent-wave interaction. The few-layer graphene nano-particles are obtained by a stabilized electrochemical exfoliation at a threshold bias. These slowly and softly exfoliated graphene nano-particle exhibits an intense 2D band and an almost disappeared D band in the Raman scattering spectrum. The saturable phenomena of the extinction coefficient β in the cladding provides a loss modulation for the intracavity photon intensity by the evanescent-wave interaction. The evanescent-wave mode-locking scheme effectively enlarges the interaction length of saturable absorption with graphene nano-particle to provide an increasing transmittance ΔT of 5% and modulation depth of 13%. By comparing the core-wave and evanescent-wave mode-locking under the same linear transmittance, the transmittance of the graphene nano-particles on the end-face of SMF only enlarges from 0.54 to 0.578 with ΔT = 3.8% and the modulation depth of 10.8%. The evanescent wave interaction is found to be better than the traditional approach which confines the graphene nano-particles at the interface of two SMF patchcords. When enlarging the intra-cavity gain by simultaneously increasing the pumping current of 980-nm and 1480-nm pumping laser diodes (LDs) to 900 mA, the passively mode-locked EDFL shortens its pulsewidth to 650 fs and broadens its spectral linewidth to 3.92 nm. An extremely low carrier amplitude jitter (CAJ) of 1.2-1.6% is observed to confirm the stable EDFL pulse-train with the cladding graphene nano-particle based evanescent-wave mode-locking.

Selectively liquid-filled photonic crystal fibers for optical devices

We have theoretically investigated the propagation properties of two kinds of selectively liquid-filled PCFs. For internally liquid-filled PCFs, the outer air-hole layers function as the second cladding to reduce the penetration of the light field while the inner liquid-hole layers can still induce the tunable PBG effect. The complementary structures, externally liquid-filled PCFs, can be used in long-period fiber gratings to decrease the utilization of the lossy liquids and remain single-mode operation for the existence of the inner air-hole layers. The confinement losses of both selectively liquid-filled PCFs are shown to be efficiently reduced due to the outer or inner air-hole layers, which is quite useful for further applications.

Terahertz refractive index sensors using dielectric pipe waveguides

A dielectric pipe waveguide is successfully demonstrated as a terahertz refractive index sensor for powder and liquid-vapor sensing. Without additional engineered structures, a simple pipe waveguide can act as a terahertz resonator based on anti-resonant reflecting guidance, forming multiple resonant transmission-dips. Loading various powders in the ring-cladding or inserting different vapors into the hollow core of the pipe waveguide leads to a significant shift of resonant frequency, and the spectral shift is related to the refractive-index change. The proven detection limit of molecular density could be reduced to 1.6nano-mole/mm3 and the highest sensitivity is demonstrated at around 22.2GHz/refractive-index-unit (RIU), which is comparable to the best THz molecular sensor [Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 171113 (2009)].

Mode multiplexer for multimode transmission in multimode fibers

We have numerically demonstrated an efficient mode multiplexer which can tailor the input field patterns by using a phase controller and a mode coupler formed by four single-mode fibers (SMFs). By connecting the mode multiplexer to a multimode fiber (MMF), two orthogonal higher-order modes of the MMF can be simultaneously excited to form two communication channels. The simulated results show that very low modal interference between the two excited modes can be achieved by using the proposed mode multiplexer. We have also discussed the effect of the distance and size of the SMFs in the mode coupler on the performance of the proposed mode multiplexer.

Subwavelength film sensing based on terahertz anti-resonant reflecting hollow waveguides

A simple dielectric hollow-tube has been experimentally demonstrated at terahertz range for bio-molecular layer sensing based on the anti-resonant reflecting wave-guidance mechanism. We experimentally study the dependence of thin-film detection sensitivity on the optical geometrical parameters of tubes, different thicknesses and tube wall refractive indices, and on different resonant frequencies. A polypropylene hollow-tube with optimized sensitivity of 0.003 mm/μm is used to sense a subwavelength-thick (λ/225) carboxypolymethylene molecular overlayer on the tubes inner surface, and the minimum detectable quantity of molecules could be down to 1.22 picomole/mm(2). A double-layered Fabry-Pérot model is proposed for calculating the overlayer thicknesses, which agrees well with the experimental results.

Polarization independent Fabry-Pérot filter based on polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystals with fast response time

This work demonstrates a polarization-independent electrically tunable Fabry-Pérot (FP) filter that is based on polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystals (PSBPLCs). An external vertical electric field can be applied to modulate the effective refractive index of the PSBPLCs along the optical axis. Therefore, the wavelength-tuning property of the FP filter is completely independent of the polarization state of the incident light. The change in the birefringence in PSBPLCs is governed by Kerr effect-induced isotropic-to-anisotropic transition, and so the PSBPLCs based FP filter has a short response time. The measured tunability and free spectral range of the FP filter are 0.092 nm/ V and 16nm in the visible region, and 0.12nm/ V and 97nm in the NIR region, respectively, and the response time is in sub-millisecond range. The fast-responding polarization-independent electrically tunable FP filter has substantial potential for practical applications.

Photo and electrical tunable effects in photonic liquid crystal fiber

This work demonstrates photo alignment and electrical tuning effects in photonic liquid crystal fiber (PLCF). Applying voltages of 0 approximately 130V and 250 approximately 400V shifts the short and long wavelength edges of the transmission bands by about 45 nm and 74 nm toward longer wavelengths, respectively. An electro-tunable notch filter is formed in the PLCF without the use of gratings. The range of tunability of the notch filter is around 180 nm with an applied voltage of 140 approximately 240 V. This photo-induced alignment yields a permanently tilted LC structure in PCF, which reduces the threshold voltage, and can be further modulated by electric fields. The polarization dependent loss and fast response time of photo-aligned PLCF is also demonstrated. The finite-difference frequency-domain method is adopted to analyze the shift of the transmission bandgap, and the simulation results are found to correlate well with experimental data.

Terahertz plasmonic waveguide based on metal rod arrays for nanofilm sensing

A high-aspect-ratio metallic rod array is demonstrated to generate and propagate highly confined terahertz (THz) surface plasmonic waves under end-fire excitation. The transverse modal power distribution and spectral properties of the bound THz plasmonic wave are characterized in two metallic rod arrays with different periods and in two configurations with and without attaching a subwavelength superstrate. The integrated metallic rod array-based waveguide can be used to sense the various thin films deposited on the polypropylene superstrate based on the phase-sensitive mechanism. The sensor exhibits different phase detection sensitivities depending on the modal power immersed in the air gaps between the metallic rods. Deep-subwavelength SiO(2) and ZnO nanofilms with an optical path difference of 252 nm, which is equivalent to λ/3968 at 0.300 THz, are used as analytes to test the integrated plasmonic waveguide. Analysis of the refractive index and thickness of molecular membranes indicates that the metallic rod array-based THz waveguide can integrate various biochip platforms for minute molecular detection, which is extremely less than the coherent length of THz waves.

Birefringent photonic crystal fiber coils and their application to transverse displacement sensing

We have experimentally investigated the birefringent properties of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) coils in cooperation with a Sagnac loop interferometer. By reducing the bending radius of the PCF coils, very clear interference patterns can be observed for the bending-induced stress effect. Increasing the fiber turns can result in more obvious interference patterns with smaller fringe spacing but has no contribution to the increment of the birefringence value. The fabricated PCF coil is employed in the transverse displacement sensing. Very high sensing sensitivity of 90.4 nm/mm can be achieved due to the large displacement-induced bending radius variations.

Reversible photo-induced long-period fiber gratings in photonic liquid crystal fibers

A novel light-controllable long-period fiber grating (LPFG) is demonstrated by making use of a PCF infiltrated with a photoresponsive liquid crystal (LC) mixture consisting of nematic LC molecules and light-sensitive 4-methoxyazobenzene (4MAB). With the aid of the photo-induced isomerization of 4MAB, the refractive index of the LC mixture can be modulated and the periodic index perturbation along the fiber can be achieved by exposing the PCF to a blue laser through a mask. The resonance wavelength and dip depth of the LPFG can be controlled by using different blue-laser irradiation time, numbers of period, and 4MAB concentrations. In addition, the photo-induced LPFG is erasable under green-laser illumination.