We report the first-of-its-kind compact and robust coherent source operating in mid-IR based on Fe:ZnSe chalcogenide gain medium optically pumped by Er:ZBLAN fiber laser. In the research, we study the CW operation of cryogenically cooled laser based on Fe:ZnSe single crystals with different doping level grown from the vapor phase on a single-crystal seed by using the concurrent-doping technology. The maximal output power achieved is 2.1 W with 59% slope efficiency with respect to absorbed pump power, which is close to the Stokes shift limit. Measured Fe:ZnSe output spectra indicate a significant influence of re-absorption on generation wavelength. For high doping levels and output powers, spectrum shifts to the red wing, which makes possible continuous tuning from 4012 to 4198 nm. As well, tunability of the laser in a wide range of temperature is investigated.
We report the femtosecond laser inscription of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in an Er-doped fluoride glass fiber used for lasing at a mid-infrared wavelength of 2.8 μm. FBG reflectivity and laser output power are observed with varying the index change of grating plane. We have tried to create high-index-contrast grating planes worked as Bragg reflector. The index change was estimated by fitting experimentally obtained reflectivity to its calculation. When using laser fluences of 25 and 40 J/cm2, the index change was found to be 0.7×10-3 and 1.1×10-3, respectively. When using laser fluence of 25 J/cm2, FBG reflectivity increases up to 95% at the grating length of 4.0 mm. The case of using 40 J/cm2 shows 97% at the grating length of 2.5 mm. These results are in agreement with the reflectivity calculation. The investigation of lasing evolution will contribute to more efficient fabrications of FBG and fiber laser system.
Micro-processing by using an ultrashort pulsed laser has been previously reported and developed in the past decade for fabricating micro devices. Using tightly focused short pulse laser beam, the laser intensity easily can reach more than 1013 W/cm2. Under such conditions non-linear phenomena are triggered, hence multiphoton ionization and self-focusing are notably induced in a medium. Femtosecond laser enables micro-fabrication without critical heat damage owing to extremely shorter pulse width and very fast multi-photon absorption at the laser focal point, compared with longer pulse irradiation. In this report, a micro-voids array was created in optical fiber line by using a femtosecond laser to produce sensing area only at local micro-region of the fiber line. At sensing portion consisted of the voids array, transmitted light was partially scattered by voids after that the leaked light could be reflected on the interface of cladding and outsides, which held the incident angle depending on structures of the micro-voids array. Voids array played as a role of scattering sources to transmitted light and consequently it was expected that the transmitted light can be broadly leaked out from the fiber core to the cladding. Furthermore, optical losses attributed to the creation of micro voids were quantitatively obtained so as to figure out the sensor characteristics. Consequently the reflection region which was considered as a sensing area showed the re-coupling rate of 0.04 dB (3.03%) to insertion loss of 1.32 dB, and the incident angle existed between 67.2 -71.9°.
In this study, we have proposed a novel type of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) fiber optic sensor based on in-line/pico-liter micro-holes which can be experimentally fabricated into the fiber waveguide by using a second harmonic 400 nm femtosecond laser. A repetitive pulse train of 1 kHz with a pulse width of 350 fs was irradiated onto a MMGI fiber optic to make three holes that penetrate through the fiber core and work as spectroscopic-microfluidic flow cells. In order to induce the interaction between transmitted light and gold nanoparticles (GNPs) adhered on the inner surface of the flow cells, micro-holes were designed to be the width of approximately 50 μm, along a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of an optical fiber. GNPs with approximately 100 nm of particle diameter adhered onto the inner surface according to 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane treatment. The transmitted light through the micro-holes was obtained by optical instruments consisted of a white light source and an optical spectrum analyzer. In order to obtain the reference spectrum, the optical spectrum was acquired before dipping the sensor into the GNPs solution. After 30 min of immersing the sensor portion into the GNPs solution, the optical spectrum was also obtained. The reference spectrum which was considered as the baseline, was set to zero and then, the absorbance spectrum was calculated. The absorbance peak at a wavelength of 537 nm occurred in an air condition in the sensing area, which seemed like the resonance peak based on the LSPR.
A second harmonic 400-nm femtosecond pulse laser has demonstrated efficient hole drilling for a fiber optic spectroscopic measurement. A pulse train of 1 kHz with a pulse width of 350 fs was irradiated during approximately 1 s onto an optical fiber to make a through hole that penetrates whole fiber core and works to be a sample cell for a spectroscopic measurement. The spectroscopic measurement is shown using dye of rhodamine 6G. Even with a pico-liter cell volume of a through hole, the absorption spectrum is appeared in the visible range centered at 530 nm depending on the dye concentration. Discussions have also been made on the optimum arrangement of the through hole to obtain sufficient performance of spectroscopic measurements.
Novel devices can be produced by means of femto-second laser processing. A new function of the optical fiber sensors
has successfully achieved by a femto-second laser to detect directional bending which has been impossible for
conventional fiber sensors. The proposed sensor has an internal structure which is consisted of micro-voids array
configured along the optical fiber axis in a non-axially asymmetric configuration. The bending direction can be detected
sensitively with the sensor to intensity changes of light through the fiber core because of the non-axial form of produced
voids array. A laser processing system has been constructed to accomplish the fine control of laser beam for precisely
creating micro structures in a very thin optical fiber core region with a monitoring camera by which the micro structures
made can be viewed. Optimum irradiation conditions were set so as to fabricate sensor elements with different sensing
lengths. Based on the directional detection principle proposed in this work, various sensor performances has been
obtained in terms of the possibility and repeatability for directional bending detection by observing transmitted light
intensity through the optical fiber core.
The purpose of this study is to fabricate an internal structure in a silica fiber using internal processing with a
femtosecond laser to develop a novel optical fiber sensor. We have found that bending directions can be detected by
measuring transmitted light that has been affected from non-axial symmetry-sensing region in our proposed optical fiber
sensor. In this paper, an optical fiber-processing experiment is carried out with the intensity of light transmitted through
the sensing region being measured so that light loss through internal processing is measured. In the processing
experiment, it was confirmed that use of a Ti:sapphire laser results in a processed region inside the fiber. In the
measurement experiment, light transmitted through the core of a processed fiber was measured when the fiber was bent
toward the processed region and when the fiber was bent toward the other side. The intensity of transmitted light
obtained was found to be dependent on the two bending directions. This indicates that detection of the bending direction
is possible. Experimental results are presented for the optimum irradiation parameters for internal processing of optical
fibers for the fabrication of various required dot structures in the vicinity of the fiber core surface. We also report
measurement experiment for the processed fiber.
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