The temperature profile of the reaction zone inside the substrate tube of a modified chemical vapour deposition
(MCVD) optical fibre perform lathe has been characterised using thermal chirp compensated ultra-high
temperature stable regenerated optical fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs). Results indicate significant differences in
measured internal temperatures than those predicted theoretically or measured externally.
The use of Faraday rotator mirrors in a Michelson interferometer configuration is shown to
significantly improve resolution and coherence for delayed self-heterodyne interferometry.
We review recent work on evaluating the performance of a simple porphyrin-based acid sensor using structured fibre
technology. Specifically, the same sensor in a multimode liquid core is compared to that in a sol-gel coated structured
optical fibre. General implications for fibre chemical sensing are discussed.
The viability of an all-optical fibre optical thermocoupler for remote sensing of ultra-high temperatures, independent of
electronics, is explored. Simple packaging of regenerated fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) within silica capillaries were
shown to protect the fibre structure sufficiently to allow the temperature measurement of a furnace element to >1500 °C;
a temperature at which the regenerated FBG, which was written in relatively soft boron-codoped germano silicate glass,
was shown to decay rapidly.
Rapid annealing of Regenerated fibre Bragg gratings observed at temperatures approaching 1500
°C. Simple packaging within a dry silica tube is found to resolve issue of brittleness of fibres at
extreme temperatures.
A porphyrin containing sol-gel layer has been deposited within the interior of the channels of a silica structured optical
fibre. Gaseous HCl detection based on protonation of the porphyrin and observed as a change in the spectrum is
demonstrated. This system is compared to previous work based on an acid sensor within a liquid-core fibre. The signal-to-
noise of this type of fibre system shows a higher level of sensitivity than the liquid-core and has a forty-fold acid
diffusion rate increase due to the different medium for acidification.
Strong regenerated gratings are reported, with a maximum grating strength exceeding (40-50) dB. Further annealing
between 1000 and 1100°C leads to a stabilised grating ~18dB in strength. This suffers no further degradation at 1100°C
for the period monitored, over 4 hrs.
The development of new techniques for writing and tailoring the properties of Bragg gratings has generated a suite of
distinct grating types that are optimised for performance within different temperature windows. These cover gratings
produced by recipes such as hypersensitisation, thermal processing and single and multiphoton writing. In this paper, we
review four types of high temperature gratings that offer comprehensive coverage of temperature space for most
applications of interest. Up to 1200°C novel processing methods allow standard silica-based optical fibres to be used.
However, beyond these temperatures, optical fibres made from other materials, such as sapphire, need consideration.
We show evidence of rapid photo-erasure of ultra stable Type-II fibre Bragg gratings written with a femtosecond laser
into the active medium when employed as high reflectors in >1kW medium power Yb3+-doped Q-switched fibre laser
cavities.
A well-known side-effect from fibre Bragg grating UV-fabrication is short wavelength attenuation, where irradiation
with laser light, usually in the UV, generates both defect-induced absorption and scattering. These losses are especially
problematic for high power optical fibre lasers operating at shorter wavelengths where resonant assisted coupling into the
glass matrix through the rare earth ions can take place (e.g. Yb3+). In this, work we present a study of the relative
magnitude of short wavelength attenuation in gratings written by the point-by-point method using a Ti-sapphire
femtosecond laser operating at 800 nm. Such gratings are very stable and have been used as the feedback elements in
fibre lasers with powers exceeding 100 W. We show that the scattering properties responsible for the attenuation are
analogous to those associated with type II gratings written with UV lasers.
Polarisation maintaining fibres used for sensing and interferometry typically have high birefringence [1-3] and are known as HiBi fibres. Since photonic crystal fibre (PCF) was first reported [4,5], HiBi PCFs with birefringence comparable to and greater than conventional highly stressed bow-tie and PANDA fibre have been demonstrated [6-10]. Very high levels of form birefringence in PCFs have been possible due to the flexibility in geometry and the high refractive index contrast offered by making a fibre with an air silica structure (ASS). In this paper we present experimental results that show effective temperature independent, or athermal, birefringence in a HiBi-PCF [11-14]. This is expected to be beneficial for a number of sensing and interferometric applications. For example, fibre optic gyroscopes (FOG) generally use very long lengths of coiled HiBi fibre in a Sagnac configuration to attain suitable sensitivity. FOG cost is, however, a significant driving factor in limiting the expansion of FOGs into new lower cost applications. FOG performance has been primarily limited by environmental temperature sensitivity [15,16] and stabilisation routes, using temperature-stabilised packaging, add too much to their cost. The use of a passive, temperature insensitive HiBi-PCF is a much lower cost alternative that does not require active stabilisation, thereby potentially overcoming these limitations and potentially opening up a new low cost market for FOG technology whilst retaining high performance.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.