Open AccessStress-induced birefringence and fabrication of in-fiber polarization devices by controlled femtosecond laser irradiations
Author(s) -
Lei Yuan,
Baokai Cheng,
Jie Huang,
Jie Liu,
Hanzheng Wang,
Xinwei Lan,
Hai Xiao
Publication year - 2016
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.24.001062
Subject(s) - materials science , optics , birefringence , polarization maintaining optical fiber , polarizer , optical fiber , dispersion shifted fiber , all silica fiber , photonic crystal fiber , optoelectronics , plastic optical fiber , plastic clad silica fiber , graded index fiber , extinction ratio , femtosecond , fiber bragg grating , laser , fiber optic sensor , wavelength , physics
Optical birefringence was created in a single-mode fiber by introducing a series of symmetric cuboid stress rods on both sides of the fiber core along the fiber axis using a femtosecond laser. The stress-induced birefringence was estimated to be 2.4 × 10(-4) at the wavelength of 1550 nm. By adding the desired numbers of stressed rods, an in-fiber quarter waveplate was fabricated with a insertion loss of 0.19 dB. The stress-induced birefringence was further explored to fabricate in-fiber polarizers based on the polarization-dependent long-period fiber grating (LPFG) structure. A polarization extinction ratio of more than 20 dB was observed at the resonant wavelength of 1523.9 nm. The in-fiber polarization devices may be useful in optical communications and fiber optic sensing applications.