R. I. Mata-Chávez

An All Fiber Intrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer Based on an Air-Microcavity

In this work an Intrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer (IFPI) based on an air-microcavity is presented. Here the air microcavity, with silica walls, is formed at a segment of a hollow core photonic crystal fiber (HCPCF), which is fusion spliced with a single mode fiber (SMF). Moreover, the spectral response of the IFPI is experimentally characterized and some results are provided. Finally, the viability to use the IFPI to implement a simple, compact size, and low cost refractive index sensor is briefly analyzed.

A tunable multi-wavelength laser based on a Mach?Zehnder interferometer with photonic crystal fiber

In this paper a tunable multi-wavelength erbium doped fiber laser, based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer, is presented. Here the interferometer is achieved by splicing a piece of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) between two segments of a single-mode fiber. The laser can emit a single, double, triple or quadruple line, which can be tuned from 1530 to 1556 nm by controlling the polarization state. Finally it is shown, by experimental results, that the laser has high stability at room temperature.

All-Fiber Curvature Sensor Based on an Abrupt Tapered Fiber and a Fabry–Pérot Interferometer

In this letter, a highly sensitive curvature sensor arrangement based on an abrupt tapered fiber (ATF) concatenated with an all-fiber micro Fabry-Pérot interferometer (MFPI) is presented. Here, as the ATF is bent, the MFPI spectral fringes contrast decreases. In addition, the curvature sensitivity is considerably enhanced due to the use of the ATF. Finally, it is shown that with this arrangement, at 1530-nm wavelength, it is possible to detect curvature changes with a sensitivity of 11.27 dB/m-1 and a curvature resolution of 8.87 × 10-3 m-1 within the measurement range of 0 - 3.5 m-1.

A Core-Offset Mach Zehnder Interferometer Based on A Non-Zero Dispersion-Shifted Fiber and Its Torsion Sensing Application

In this paper, an all-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on a non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber (NZ-DSF) is presented. The MZI was implemented by core-offset fusion splicing one section of a NZ-DSF fiber between two pieces of single mode fibers (SMFs). Here, the NZ-DSF core and cladding were used as the arms of the MZI, while the core-offset sections acted as optical fiber couplers. Thus, a MZI interference spectrum with a fringe contrast (FC) of about 20 dB was observed. Moreover, its response spectrum was experimentally characterized to the torsion parameter and a sensitivity of 0.070 nm/° was achieved. Finally, these MZIs can be implemented in a compact size and low cost.

Experimental study on a broad and flat supercontinuum spectrum generated through a system of two PCFs

In this letter, the experimental results on a supercontinuum signal are presented based on a significantly broad and highly flat final spectrum (~810 nm and less than 3 dB). The supercontinuum was induced by two different microstructures in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with solid cores, pumped in the nanosecond regime (large pulses) by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The simultaneous presence of both PCFs allowed an optimized spectrum to be obtained in comparison with the work reported in recent papers. The spectral evolution of a pump pulse propagating into the two PCFs was analyzed experimentally and the dispersion in the PCFs was estimated through numerical simulations. The broadening of the final spectrum was related to nonlinear phenomena such as modulation instability, stimulated Raman scattering, four-wave mixing, self-phase modulation, cross-phase modulation and the formation of higher-order solitons. The proposed scheme may have potential applications for the use of supercontinuum spectra in the areas of sensing, spectroscopy and metrology.

High Temperature Optical Fiber Sensor Based on Compact Fattened Long-Period Fiber Gratings

A compact high temperature fiber sensor where the sensor head consists of a short fattened long period fiber grating (F-LPFG) of at least 2 mm in length and background loss of −5 dBm is reported. On purpose two different F-LPFGs were used to measure temperature variations, taking advantage of their broad spectrum and the slope characteristics of the erbium light source. This approach affected the spectrum gain as the linear band shifting took place. The measured sensitivity of the long period fiber gratings were about 72 pm/°C in a range from 25 to 500 °C. Here, the temperature rate of the experiment was 0.17 °C/s and the temperature response time was within 3 s. Moreover, temperature changes were detected with an InGaAs photodetector, where a sensitivity of 0.05 mV/°C was achieved.

PC-Based systems for experiments in optical characterization of materials

An automatic control for applications of optical characterization of materials using the optical Z-Scan technique is presented in this work. The emphasis is placed in the design of the graphical user interface (GUI) and the automation process. For this purpose, we use a USB data acquisition module with programmable I/O ports for control and signals acquisition for the complete system. The control software was developed using the graphical programming language LabVIEW® and compiled in order to obtain a portable system with the hardware used in this work.

Fabrication of Mach-Zehnder interferometers with conventional fiber optics in detection applications of micro-displacement and liquids

In this paper we shows the results obtained to fabricate and implement Mach-Zehnder interferometers of conventional fiber optic using Long Period Fiber Gratings (LPFG´s) which were developed by electric arc technique. We obtains this type of interferometer when we fabricated two LPFG’s in series or in cascade with the same characteristics such as number of discharges and the same period, placing them in cascade separated by a distance which three times the length of the LPFG. The application which was given at interferometer fabricated was as a liquids sensor, volume sensor of liquids and micro-displacement sensor. The sensors of liquids and liquids volumes were placed in a container in which the interferometer is fixed so that results of measurements are only by incorporating each of the liquid and not by some external movement. The sensed fluids were: water, alcohol and solution (water with sugar). Final length of the interferometer is between 4 to 6 cm. We analyze the results obtained to when a section the Mach-Zehnder interferometer is displaced in of the order of microns. The variations observed in transmission spectra obtained from each of the sensors mentioned, show changes in the amplitude and the attenuation peak of the interferometer was displaced.

Study of temperature sensing in a novel fattened electric arc induced LPFG

We propose a temperature sensor based on dispersion shifted long period fiber grating (LPFG) fabricated with the fattening method, using electric arc discharges from a commercial fusion splicer machine. The fattened LPFG are centered at 1524 and 1550 nm, respectively. A temperature characterization in terms of the transmitted spectrum is realized with a pumped Er+3 doped fiber as the light source. The less than 3 mm in length fattened LPFG reached a sensitivity of 72 pm/°C between a temperature range of (25-500°C). Temperature stability was observed among the temperature range of (25-200°C), result in agreement with our previous studies. From up to 200°C sensing is observed as temperature increases. To apply this LPFG as a temperature sensor, sensing was measured as voltage signal outputs with repeatable results. This sensor is a high temperature resistant device because non deterioration of its properties was observed, and can find useful applications when temperature stability may be needed or the sensing requirements are desirable.

Symmetric and Asymmetric Core-Offset Mach–Zehnder Interferometer Torsion Sensors

In this letter, symmetric and asymmetric core-offset Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) torsion sensors based on a single mode fiber (SMF) are presented. Here, three different MZIs were implemented and their interference patterns and torsion characteristics have been experimentally investigated. In our devices, the maximum torsion sensitivities are <inline-formula> <tex-math notation=LaTeX>