Sang Xinzhu

Six-bit all-optical quantization using photonic crystal fiber with soliton self-frequency shift and pre-chirp spectral compression techniques

In this paper, we propose an optical quantization scheme for all-optical analog-to-digital conversion that facilitates photonics integration. A segment of 10-m photonic crystal fiber with a high nonlinear coefficient of 62.8 W−1/km is utilized to realize large scale soliton self-frequency shift relevant to the power of the sampled optical signal. Furthermore, a 100-m dispersion-increasing fiber is used as the spectral compression module for further resolution enhancement. Simulation results show that 317-nm maximum wavelength shift is realized with 1550-nm initial wavelength and 6-bit quantization resolution is obtained with a subsequent spectral compression process.

Highly sensitive digital optical sensor with large measurement range based on the dual-microring resonator with waveguide-coupled feedback

We propose a novel high-performance digital optical sensor based on the Mach—Zehnder interferential effect and the dual-microring resonators with the waveguide-coupled feedback. The simulation results show that the sensitivity of the sensor can be orders of magnitude higher than that of a conventional sensor, and high quality factor is not critical in it. Moreover, by optimizing the length of the feedback waveguide to be equal to the perimeter of the ring, the measurement range of the proposed sensor is twice as much as that of the conventional sensor in the weak coupling case.

Code synchronization based on lumped time-delay compensation scheme with a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating in all-optical analog-to-digital conversion

We propose a novel lumped time-delay compensation scheme for all-optical analog-to-digital conversion based on soliton self-frequency shift and optical interconnection techniques. A linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating is optimally designed and used to compensate for the entire time-delays of the quantized pulses precisely. Simulation results show that the compensated coding pulses are well synchronized with a time difference less than 3.3 ps, which can support a maximum sampling rate of 151.52 GSa/s. The proposed scheme can efficiently reduce the structure complexity and cost of all-optical analog-to-digital conversion compared to the previous schemes with multiple optical time-delay lines.

Temperature-Insensitive Chemical Sensor with Twin Bragg Gratings in an Optical Fibre

To reduce temperature sensitivity of the fibre Bragg grating (FBG) chemical sensor, a simple method is proposed by measuring the peak wavelength difference between an etched FBG and an un-etched one in an optical fibre. Thermal characteristics and chemical sensitivity of the sensor are experimentally investigated. The experimental results indicate that the etched FBG and the rest one have almost the same thermal response, and concentration changes of the surrounding chemical solutions can be detected by measuring the peak wavelength difference between them. The sensor has been used to measure the concentrations of propylene glycol solutions and sugar solutions, and it could detect 0.7% and 0.45% concentration changes for them with an optical spectrum analyser in resolution of 10 pm.

Comparative Visual Tolerance to Vertical Disparity on 3D Projector Versus Lenticular Autostereoscopic TV

Vertical fusion amplitude (VFA) as a reference to assess visual tolerance for vertical disparity is measured by various methods. However, it has not been comprehensively investigated on current 3D displays, although some technical display features lead to different visual impacts, such as crosstalk and viewing angle. A psychophysical measurement of the VFA on representative 3D stereoscopic and autostereoscopic displays is presented here, with considerations on certain factors affecting visual performances. For the 3D stereoscopic display, we used a 3D projector, VFA was measured under different viewing distance, stimulus size, background luminance, room lighting, target complexity and disparity velocity. Corresponding tests were carried out on a lenticular autostereoscopic TV, with additional test parameters of viewing angle, due to the presence of the lenticular. Results show that the vertical disparity tolerance is generally better on 3D projector than on autostereoscopic TV. VFA on 3D projector is significantly affected by the stimulus size, target complexity and disparity velocity, whereas crucial factors for autostereoscopic TV are stimulus size, target complexity, disparity velocity, background luminance and viewing angle. The visual performance differences indicate that technical display features should be considered when VFA is measured on different 3D devices.

Widely Wavelength-Tunable Blue-Shifted Dispersive Waves for Broadband Visible Wavelength Generation in a Photonic Crystal Fiber Cladding

Blue-shifted dispersive waves (DWs) are efficiently generated from the red-shifted solitons by coupling the 120 fs pulses into the fundamental mode of the multi-knots of a photonic crystal fiber cladding. When the femtosecond pulses at the wavelength of 825 nm and the average power of 300 mW are coupled into knots 1–3, the conversion efficiency ηDW of 32% and bandwidth BDW of 50 nm are obtained. The ultrashort pulses generated by the DWs can be tunable over the whole visible wavelength by adjusting the wavelengths of the pump pulses coupled into different knots. It can be believed that this widely wavelength-tunable ultrashort visible pulse source has important applications in ultrafast photonics and resonant Raman scattering.

Highly efficient Cherenkov radiation generation in the irregular point of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Highly efficient Cherenkov radiation (CR) is generated by the soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) in the irregular point of a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) in our laboratory. The impacts of pump power and wavelength on the CR are investigated, and the corresponding nonlinear processes are discussed. When the average power of the 120 fs pump pulse increases from 500 mW to 700 mW, the Raman soliton shifts from 2210 nm to 2360 nm, the output power of the CR increases by 2.3 times, the maximum output power ratio of the CR at 539 nm to that of the residual pump is calculated to be 24.32:1, the width of the output optical spectrum at the visible wavelength broadens from 35 nm to 62 nm, and the conversion efficiency η of the CR in the experiment can be above 32%.

Polarization-dependent efficient Cherenkov radiation at visible wavelengths in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber cladding

Efficient Cherenkov radiation (CR) is experimentally generated by a soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) in a knot of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF). When the angle of the half-wave plate is rotated from 0° to 45°, the Raman soliton shifts from 2227 to 2300 nm, the output power of the CR increases 8.15 times, and the maximum output power ratio of the CR at 556 nm to the residual pump is estimated to be 20:1. The width of the output optical spectrum at visible wavelengths broadens from 25 to 45 nm, and the conversion efficiency of the CR can be above 28%. Moreover, the influences of the pump polarization and wavelength on the CR are studied, and the corresponding nonlinear processes are discussed.

Study on Extinction Ratio of 4-RZ-ASK Signal Generated by Optical Parametric Amplification

Extinction ratio of 4-RZ-ASK signal generated by optical parametric amplification is studied. It is demonstrated that the extinction ratio of input signal and pump power have significant effects on the extinction ratio of output signal.

Ultraviolet and mid-infrared continuum generation by cross-phase modulation between red-shifted solitons and blue-shifted dispersive waves in a photonic crystal fiber

Using a photonic crystal fiber with a zero dispersion wavelength of the fundamental mode at 780 nm designed and fabricated in our lab, the ultraviolet and mid-infrared continua are generated by cross-phase modulation between red-shift solitons and blue-shift dispersive waves. The dependences of continuum on the pump power and wavelength are investigated. With the pump working at 820 nm, when the pump power increases from 300 to 500 mW, the bandwidths of ultraviolet and mid-infrared continua change from 80 to 140 nm and 100 to 200 nm, respectively. The wavelength of ultraviolet continuum is below 246 nm, and the wavelength of mid-infrared continuum exceeds 2500 nm. Moreover, the influences of pump power on wavelength and conversion efficiency of different parts of continua are also demonstrated.