Qishun Shen

Observation of large positive and negative lateral shifts of a reflected beam from symmetrical metal-cladding waveguides.

Both large positive and negative lateral shifts were observed for the reflected light beam on a symmetrical metal-cladding waveguide. The positive and negative shifts approach about 480 and 180 microm, respectively, which to our knowledge are the largest experimental results ever reported. The experiment also proves that the positive or the negative shift depends on sign of the difference between the intrinsic and radiative damping.

Improved attenuated-total-reflection technique for measuring the electro-optic coefficients of nonlinear optical polymers

A new technique for measuring the electro-optic coefficient of nonlinear optical polymer is described. In an attenuated-total-reflection experiment the refractive index of the poled polymer is changed because of the Pockels effect. This change causes a shift of the angular position of the surface plasmon modes that corresponds to a change in reflectivity at a fixed angle. By measuring the change of the light reflectivity at the properly chosen angle one can calculate the electro-optic coefficient of the poled polymer. Compared with other, conventional methods, here the electro-optic coefficients are given in a simpler form and the required parameters are easier to measure. The commonly used lock-in amplifier is not required. This technique is a highly sensitive method for measuring the electro-optic coefficient because of the newly chosen working interior angle for which a tiny change in the refractive index leads to a large change in reflectivity.

Multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror assisted by un-pumped EDF.

A multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser based on a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The NALM provides intensity-dependent transmissivity to equalize different-wavelength powers and the transmission can be uniquely optimized by controlling the cavity loss associated with a section of un-pumped EDF, which also enhances the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Through adjusting the polarization controllers (PCs), under only 70 mW pump power, up to 62-wavelength output with channel spacing of 0.45 nm has been achieved. Also, the lasing tunability and stability are verified.

Oscillating wave sensor based on the Goos–Hänchen effect

Instead of the evanescent field sensors, an oscillating wave sensor based on the Goos–Hanchen effect is proposed in this letter. It is demonstrated that as the intrinsic damping is well-matched with the radiative damping of the ultrahigh-order modes in a symmetrical metal-cladding waveguide with submillimeter scale, the enormously enhanced lateral beam shift results in a very high sensitivity of the sensor.

Individually Switchable and Widely Tunable Multiwavelength Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser Based on Cascaded Mismatching Long-Period Fiber Gratings

A novel concept of individually switchable and widely tunable erbium-doped multiwavelength fiber laser (MWFL) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The key component of the laser is a channel transmissivity individually variable comb filter composed of two cascaded different-length long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs), named cascaded mismatching LPFGs. When inserted into the laser cavity, this polarization-dependent comb filter functions as the wavelength selector and switching filter simultaneously. By properly adjusting the polarization controllers (PCs) in the laser cavity and in the high birefringence Sagnac loop mirror (HiBi-SLM), eleven individually switchable wavelengths with different flexible lasing states, including successively tunable adjacent single-, dual- and triple-wavelength outputs, nonadjacent dual- and triple-wavelength outputs, as well as quadruple- and quintuple-wavelength outputs, have been achieved. This MWFL may be useful in optical fiber sensing or other fields desiring very flexible optical source.

Oscillating wave displacement sensor using the enhanced Goos–Hänchen effect in a symmetrical metal-cladding optical waveguide

An oscillating wave displacement sensor based on the enhanced Goos-Hänchen (G-H) effect in a symmetrical metal-cladding optical waveguide is proposed. Since the detected signal is irrelevant to the power fluctuation of the incident light and the magnitude of the G-H shift is enhanced to hundreds of micrometers, a 40 pm resolution is demonstrated in our experiment without employing any complicated optical equipment and servo techniques.

Oscillating wave sensors based on ultrahigh-order modes in symmetric metal-clad optical waveguides

An oscillating wave sensor that uses ultrahigh-order modes in symmetric metal-clad waveguide with submillimeter scale is investigated to measure minute changes in refractive index (RI) of aqueous solution. In the proposed sensor, the sample acts as the guiding layer where oscillating wave propagates. Owing to the concentrated power in the sensing region and the use of the very sensitive ultrahigh-order modes, it is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that its sensitivity is enhanced by one order of magnitude than that of evanescent wave sensor. The sensor also provides a wide detection range of RI from 1 to 2.0 or higher.

Passive Harmonic Mode-Locking of Dissipative Solitons in a Normal-Dispersion Er-Doped Fiber Laser

Tunable harmonic mode-locking of (HML) one kind of dissipative solitons (DSs) has been experimentally demonstrated in an Er-doped fiber (EDF) laser for the first time. The laser is mode-locked by nonlinear polarization rotation. The repetition rate can be tuned from the 2nd to 10th-order HML. A high repetition rate of 232 MHz (10th- order HML) has been observed in this laser, and the pulse duration after compression is 153-fs with single-pulse energy of 0.5 nJ. The spectral width of the pulses decreases as the harmonic order increases in the experiment, which is demonstrated for the first time, consistent with the numerical study. A rule based on monitoring the pulse spectral width to find desired-order HML is also proposed.

Experimental observation of transitions of different pulse solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau equation in a mode-locked fiber laser

Transitions between different kinds of soliton solutions of Ginzburg-Landau equation (GLE) have been studied experimentally in a mode-locked fiber laser. It is demonstrated that the different kinds of solitons corresponding to different solutions of GLE can be generated in a single mode-locked laser. Dispersion-managed solitons (DM), all-normal-dispersion solitons (ANDi) and similaritons can be emitted respectively depending on the parameter of the intensity of the light field and the birefringence effect. The three nonlinear waves show different features especially the spectrum shapes and dynamics accompanying with pump power scaling. Such phenomenon reveals the properties of GLE, which is not only scientifically interesting but also valuable to practical applications of mode-locked fiber lasers.

Electric control of spatial beam position based on the Goos–Hänchen effect

A structure of symmetrical metal-cladding waveguide, which contains optically nonlinear material in the guiding layer, is proposed to control the lateral shift of the reflected beam via an external electric field. Owing to the high sensitivity of ultrahigh-order modes, any minute index change of the waveguide will lead to a dramatic variation of the resonance condition, which gives rise to a change of the lateral beam displacement. Experimental result shows that the electric control of the lateral beam shift is realized in a range of 720μm.