Zhangwei Yu

Photonic scanning receiver using an electrically tuned fiber Bragg grating

A 5-cm-long electrically tuned fiber Bragg grating is used to filter a microwave signal on an optical carrier at 1.55 mum. A chirped distributed-feedback structure is employed, with a transmission bandwidth of 54 MHz and relative optical carrier rejection of >30 dB for rf frequencies >2 GHz. The rapid monotonic sweep of the Bragg wavelength is translated into a fast-frequency sweep for rf analysis.

Nanosecond switching of fiber Bragg gratings

A FBG was written in a two-hole fiber with internal alloy electrodes. Nanosecond high current pulses cause metal expansion, increase birefringence and tune the gratings with a response time of 29 ns. This short length, low loss, all-spliced high-speed wavelength switching devices described here has potential use in Q-switching fiber laser.

High-speed electrical switching in optical fibers [Invited]

In this paper, we give an overview of recent results on switching of light in fibers with internal electrodes. Polarization rotation, nanosecond gating, and wavelength switching in fiber Bragg gratings and in long period gratings are discussed. Applications are exemplified in Q-switching fiber lasers and in RF-signal filtering.

All-fiber cavity dumping

Cavity dumping of an all-fiber laser system is demonstrated. The active element is a pulse-picker with nanosecond rise time consisting of a microstructured fiber with electrically driven internal electrodes. The device is used for intracavity polarization rotation and dumping through a polarization splitter. The optical flux is removed from the cavity within one roundtrip and most of the amplified spontaneous emission, spiking and relaxation oscillation that follow during the gain recovery phase of the laser are blocked from the output signal.

Birefringence switching of Bragg gratings in fibers with internal electrodes.

A fiber Bragg grating was written in a side-hole fiber with internal metal alloy electrodes. The initial geometrical birefringence of this fiber gives rise to two Bragg resonances separated by 43 pm. Nanosecond risetime current pulses of up to 23 A were applied to the metal electrode, which heated and expanded rapidly. This caused mechanical stress in the fiber on a nanosecond scale, resulting in a negative shift of the Bragg wavelength peak for the fast axis mode, and positive but smaller shift for the slow axis mode. The fast change increased the peak separation to approximately 143 pm, corresponding to an increase in birefringence from 4.0 x 10(-5) to 1.3 x 10(-4). Both peaks subsequently experienced a red-shift due to the relaxation of mechanical stress and the increasing core temperature transferred from the metal in many microseconds. Simulations give accurate description of the experimental results.

Actively Q-switched all-fiber laser with an electrically controlled microstructured fiber

Actively Q-switching of an all-fiber laser system is demonstrated. The active element is a polarization switch with nanosecond risetime based on a microstructured fiber with electrically driven internal electrodes. Optical feedback between two 100% reflectors is inhibited until a nanosecond current pulse Q-switches the laser. After a short optical pulse develops several roundtrips later, the fiber switch is turned off, removing the short optical pulse from the cavity through a polarization splitter. Pulses of 50 W peak power and approximately 12 ns duration are obtained with 400 mW pump power at 100 Hz.

All-fiber single-pulse selection and nanosecond gating

Two functions normally attributed to Pockels cells are performed with internal-electrode microstructured fiber components. Single-pulse selection out of a 100 MHz mode-locked pulse train is demonstrated using all-fiber nanosecond polarization rotation. Additionally, off-on-off gating with duration approximately 13 ns is achieved with a polarization rotator made out of a four-hole silicate fiber.

Switching and dynamic wavelength conversion in a fiber grating cavity

Switching and dynamic wavelength conversion of light are demonstrated in a fiber grating cavity detuned by high-voltage electrical pulses. The cavity dynamics is studied using a heterodyne technique in which the frequency-shifted light, trapped by the cavity, mixes with the backreflected light at the incident frequency. We find that the frequency shift scales linearly with the energy of the electric driving pulses.

Physics of electrically switched fiber Bragg gratings

The physics of electrically switched FBGs was studied in fibers with internal electrodes. Wavelength shifts due to mechanical effects (nanoseconds) and heat (milliseconds) depend quadratically on the electrical pulse voltage and linearly on pulse duration.

High speed switching of a DFB grating in a twin-hole fibre

A distributed-feedback (DFB) grating was written in twin-hole fibres with internal electrodes. Due to the intrinsic birefringence, the grating has two ultra-narrow peaks (~0.41 pm and ~0.27 pm) corresponding to x- and y-polarization. The separation between them can vary from 40 pm to 104 pm when the temperature increases from room temperature to 96°C. The dominant contributions of the Bragg wavelength shift as the increasing temperature are the change in refracitive index of the fibre and the expansion of the substrate (largest). Under the current pulses excitation, full on-off switching with response time ~2.5 ns has been achieved for x-polarization of the DFB grating.