Jarosław Cimek

Soft glasses for photonic crystal fibers and microstructured optical components

Abstract. Thermally stable tellurite, lead-bismuth-gallium oxides based boron-silicate and lead-silicate glasses dedicated for multiple thermal processing are presented. The glasses are successfully used for the development of photonic crystal fibers, nanostructured gradient index lenses, all-solid microstructured fibers as well as refractive or diffractive micro-optical elements with ultra-broadband transmission.

Extending of flat normal dispersion profile in all-solid soft glass nonlinear photonic crystal fibres

The bandwidth of coherent supercontinuum generated in optical fibres is strongly determined by the all-normal dispersion characteristic of the fibre. We investigate all-normal dispersion limitations in all-solid oxide-based soft glass photonic crystal fibres with various relative inclusion sizes and lattice constants. The influence of material dispersion on fibre dispersion characteristics for a selected pair of glasses is also examined. A relation between the material dispersion of the glasses and the fibre dispersion has been described. We determined the parameters which limit the maximum range of flattened all-normal dispersion profile achievable for the considered pair of heavy-metal-oxide soft glasses.

Optical fibers with gradient index nanostructured core.

We present a new approach for the development of structured optical fibers. It is shown that fibers having an effective gradient index profile with designed refractive index distribution can be developed with internal nanostructuring of the core composed of two glasses. As proof-of-concept, fibers made of two soft glasses with a parabolic gradient index profile are developed. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy reveals a possibility of selective diffusion of individual chemical ingredients among the sub-wavelength components of the nanostructure. This hints a postulate that core nanostructuring also changes material dispersion of the glasses in the core, potentially opening up unique dispersion shaping possibilities.

Experimental investigation of the nonlinear refractive index of various soft glasses dedicated for development of nonlinear photonic crystal fibers

The nonlinear refractive index for 10 types of recently developed new soft glasses was measured under the same conditions using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm with a 35 ps pulse duration. The study included various types of oxide-based soft glasses commonly used for nonlinear fiber optics, such as lead silicate, borosilicate, phosphatate, tellurite and heavy metal oxide glasses. All studied glasses have good rheological properties, and are suitable for further multi-step thermal processing, including fabrication of nonlinear photonic crystal fibers. As reference samples, standard fused silica glass and commercially available lead silicate glasses were used. The standard Z-scan setup was employed, with both “open-” and “closed-aperture” types of measurement. We show that nonlinearities of some benchmarked thermally stable heavy metal oxide glasses are comparable to more expensive and very fragile chalcogenide glasses.

Supercontinuum generation in microstructured fibers made of heavy metal oxide glass

The NIR and mid IR supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibres are attractive light sources for sensing and spectroscopy applications, since it provides a high brightness, good beam quality source and can be offered as a compact, ready-to-use device. Most of the research work related to supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibres has to date been focused on silica based fibres limited to the visible and near infrared (NIR) ranges up to 2 μm. It has been shown that some groups of soft glasses can undergo multiple thermal processing steps without degradation and possess a high transmission in the mid IR range as well as a high effective nonlinearity, making them highly suited for photonic crystal fibre development in the area of NIR and mid IR supercontinuum generation. The use of the tellurite and heavy metal oxide glasses offer an interesting trade-off between high nonlinearity, transmission bandwidth, mechanical properties and fabrication requirements. Recently several successful realizations of broadband IR supercontinuum with these type of glasses have been reported in both, all-normal and anomalous, dispersion regimes.

Development of nanostructured gradient index microlenses for mid infrared

We study optical properties of the gradient index vortices obtained using effective medium approach. Vorteces with charge +1 has been was developed using two types of nanorods made of thermally matched low and high refractive index glasses. Their optical properties of vortices are analyzed in the context of glass refractive index and size of the components. Consequently vortex has been integrated with single mode optical fiber and such a system is analyzed.

Optical properties of nanostructured gradient index vortex masks

We study optical properties of gradient index vortex masks based on an effective medium approach. We consider masks with single charge developed using two types of nanorods made of thermally matched low and high refractive index glasses. Optical performance of generated vortices are analyzed in terms of glass refractive index difference and spatial dimension of the components. A fabricated vortex mask has been combined with single mode optical fiber. Optical performance of the resulting fiber integrated vortex mask is characterized and discussed.

Development of suspended core soft glass fibers for far-detuned parametric conversion

Light sources utilizing \c{hi}(2) parametric conversion combine high brightness with attractive operation wavelengths in the near and mid-infrared. In optical fibers it is possible to use \c{hi}(3) degenerate four-wave mixing in order the obtain signal-to-idler frequency detuning of over 100 THz. We report on a test series of nonlinear soft glass suspended core fibers intended for parametric conversion of 1000-1100 nm signal wavelengths available from an array of mature lasers into the near-to-mid-infrared range of 2700-3500 nm under pumping with an erbium sub-picosecond laser system. Presented discussion includes modelling of the fiber properties, details of their physical development and characterization, as well as experimental tests of parametric conversion.

Study of SiO2-PbO-CdO-Ga2O3 glass system for mid-infrared optical elements

Abstract Glasses based on SiO2-PbO-CdO-Ga2O3 system have been studied for the first time for fabrication of mid-infrared optical elements. Gallium oxide concentration was gradually increased, replacing silicon dioxide, for different cadmium and lead oxide content. The thermal and optical properties were investigated for different compositions. It was observed that the thermal stability, refractive index, and the transmission in the infrared range increased with increase of gallium and lead concentrations. The most thermally stable glass composition was selected for fabrication of optical elements such as optical fibers. We also successfully fabricated mid-infrared lenses by hot embossing for potential application in compact gas detectors.

Soft glass photonic crystal fibres and their applications

Most of the research work related to photonic crystal fibres has to date been focused on silica based fibres. Only in the recent years has there been a fraction of research devoted to fibres based on soft glasses, since some of them offer interesting properties as significantly higher nonlinearity than silica glass and wide transparency in the infrared range. On the other hand, attenuation in those glasses is usually one or more orders of magnitude higher that in silica glass, which limits their application area due to limited length of the fibres, which can be practically used. We report on the development of single-mode photonic crystal fibres made of highly nonlinear lead-bismuth-gallate glass with a zero dispersion wavelength at 1460 nm and flat anomalous dispersion. A two-octave spanning supercontinuum in the range 700–3000 nm was generated in 2 cm of the fibre. In contrast to the silica glass, various oxide based soft glasses with large refractive index difference can jointly undergo multiple thermal processing steps without degradation. The use of two soft glasses gives additional degrees of freedom in the design of photonic crystal fibres. As a result, highly nonlinear fibres with unique dispersion characteristics can be obtained. Soft glass allow also development of fibres with complex subwavelength refractive index distribution inside core of the fibre. A highly birefringent fibre with anisotropic core composed of subwavelength glass layers ordered in a rectangular structure was developed and is demonstrated