Open AccessAll-optically reconfigurable and tunable fiber surface grating for in-fiber devices: a wideband tunable filter
Author(s) -
Jianhui Yu,
Yanjun Han,
Hankai Huang,
Haozi Li,
Vincent K. S. Hsiao,
Weiping Liu,
Jieyuan Tang,
Huihui Lu,
Jun Zhang,
Yunhan Luo,
Yi Zhong,
Zhigang Zang,
Zhe Chen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.22.005950
Subject(s) - materials science , optics , full width at half maximum , extinction ratio , grating , optoelectronics , wideband , fiber bragg grating , wavelength , physics
A fiber surface grating (FSG) formed from a photosensitive liquid crystal hybrid (PLCH) film overlaid on a side-polished fiber (SPF) is studied and has been experimentally shown to be able to function as an all-optically reconfigurable and tunable fiber device. The device is all-optically configured to be a short period fiber surface grating (SPFSG) when a phase mask is used, and then reconfigured to be a long period FSG (LPFSG) when an amplitude mask is used. Experimental results show that both the short and long period FSGs can function as an optically tunable band-rejection filter and have different performances with different pump power and different configured period of the FSG. When configured as a SPFSG, the device can achieve a high extinction ratio (ER) of 21.5dB and a wideband tunability of 31nm are achieved. When configured as a LPFSG, the device can achieve an even higher ER of 23.4dB and a wider tunable bandwidth of 60nm. Besides these tunable performances of the device, its full width at half maximum (FWHM) can also be optically tuned. The reconfigurability and tunability of the fiber device open up possibilities for other all-optically programmable and tunable fiber devices.