Sidsel Rübner Petersen

Optimizing single mode robustness of the distributed modal filtering rod fiber amplifier

High-power fiber amplifiers for pulsed applications require large mode area (LMA) fibers having high pump absorption and near diffraction limited output. Photonic crystal fibers allow realization of short LMA fiber amplifiers having high pump absorption through a pump cladding that is decoupled from the outer fiber diameter. However, achieving ultra low NA for single mode (SM) guidance is challenging, thus different design strategies must be applied. The distributed modal filtering (DMF) design enables SM guidance in ultra low NA fibers with very large cores, where large preform tolerances can be compensated during the fiber draw. Design optimization of the SM bandwidth of the DMF rod fiber is presented. Analysis of band gap properties results in a fourfold increase of the SM bandwidth compared to previous results, achieved by utilizing the first band of cladding modes, which can cover a large fraction of the Yb emission band including wavelengths of 1030 nm and 1064 nm. Design parameters tolerating refractive index fabrication uncertainties of ± 10⁻⁴ are targeted to yield stable SM bandwidths.

Single mode dye-doped polymer photonic crystal lasers

Dye-doped polymer photonic crystal (PhC) lasers fabricated by combined nanoimprint and photolithography are studied for their reproducibility and stability characteristics. We introduce a phase shift in the PhC lattice that substantially improves the yield of single wavelength emission. Single mode emission and reproducibility of laser characteristics are important if the lasers are to be mass produced in, e.g., optofluidic sensor chips. The fabrication yield is above 85% with highly reproducible wavelengths (within 0.5%), and the temperature dependence on the wavelength is found to be −0.045 or −0.066 nm K-1, depending on the material.

Degenerate four wave mixing in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers

Spontaneous degenerate four wave mixing (FWM) is investigated in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers, in which photonic bandgap guidance and index guidance is combined. Calculations show the parametric gain is maximum on the edge of a photonic bandgap, for a large range of pump wavelengths. The FWM products are observed on the edges of a transmission band experimentally, in good agreement with the numerical results. Thereby the bandedges can be used to control the spectral positions of FWM products through a proper fiber design. The parametric gain control combined with a large mode area fiber design potentially allows for power scaling of light at wavelengths not easily accessible with e.g. rare earth ions.

Hybrid Ytterbium-doped large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber amplifier for long wavelengths.

A large-mode-area Ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier with build-in gain shaping is presented. The fiber cladding consists of a hexagonal lattice of air holes, where three rows are replaced with circular high-index inclusions. Seven missing air holes define the large-mode-area core. Light confinement is achieved by combined index and bandgap guiding, which allows for single-mode operation and gain shaping through distributed spectral filtering of amplified spontaneous emission. The fiber properties are ideal for amplification in the long wavelength regime of the Ytterbium gain spectrum above 1100 nm, and red shifting of the maximum gain to 1130 nm is demonstrated.

Influence of index contrast in two dimensional photonic crystal lasers

The influence of index contrast variations for obtaining single-mode operation and low threshold in dye doped polymer two dimensional photonic crystal (PhC) lasers is investigated. We consider lasers made from Pyrromethene 597 doped Ormocore imprinted with a rectangular lattice PhC having a cavity in the middle of the crystal structure. We demonstrate that the index contrast, neff,high/neff,low, is an essential parameter for achieving low threshold, and we identify a trade-off between low threshold and single-mode operation.

Polarization switch of four-wave mixing in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers

Degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing is considered in a large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fiber. Numerical and experimental results show birefringence assisted four-wave mixing for a certain polarization state of the pump field. The parametric gain can be turned on and off by switching the polarization state of the pump field between the two principal axis of the hybrid photonic crystal fiber.

Intermodal and cross-polarization four-wave mixing in large-core hybrid photonic crystal fibers

Degenerate four-wave mixing is considered in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers, combining photonic bandgap guidance and index guidance. Co- and orthogonally polarized pump, signal and idler fields are considered numerically by calculating the parametric gain and experimentally by spontaneous degenerate four-wave mixing. Intermodal and birefringence assisted intramodal phase matching is observed. Good agreement between calculations and experimental observations is obtained. Intermodal four-wave mixing is achieved experimentally with a conversion efficiency of 17%.

Extended parametric gain range in photonic crystal fibers with strongly frequency-dependent field distributions.

The parametric gain range of a degenerate four-wave mixing process is determined in the undepleted pump regime. The gain range is considered with and without taking the mode field distributions of the four-wave mixing components into account. It is found that the mode field distributions have to be included to evaluate the parametric gain correctly in dispersion-tailored speciality fibers and that mode profile engineering can provide a way to increase the parametric gain range.

Frequency conversion through spontaneous degenerate four wave mixing in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers

Frequency conversion through spontaneous degenerate four wave mixing (FWM) is investigated in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers. Different FWM processes are observed, phasematching between fiber modes of orthogonal polarization, intermodal phasematching across bandgaps, and intramodal phasematching within the same transmission band as the one containing the pump laser. Furthermore first and second order Ra- man scattering is observed. The interplay between the different FWM processes and Raman scattering are investigated.

Intermodal parametric gain of degenerate four wave mixing in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers

Intermodal degenerate four wave mixing (FWM) is investigated numerically in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers. The dispersion is controlled independently of core size, and thus allows for power scaling of the FWM process.