OPTI510R: Photonics
Khanh Kieu
College of Optical Sciences,
University of Arizona
[email protected]
Meinel building R.626
Announcements
Homework #5 is due April 17
Final exam May 8
Passive fiber components
Fiber spicing and connectorization
Directional couplers
WDM couplers
Isolators
Tunable filters, resonators, AWG (homework)
Traditional optics
Ti:sapphire laser
Optical elements are used to split/combine,
filter, focus, amplify, attenuate light
Fiberization in Optics
Ti:sa femtosecond laser Femtosecond fiber laser
Passive fiber components
Fiber coupler
Variable fiber coupler
WDM
Isolator
Attenuator
Modulator
Switches
Pump/signal combiner
Polarization splitter/combiner
Collimator
Fiber delay line
Polarizer
Tunable filter
Circulator
Faraday rotator mirror
Point-to-point WDM Transmission System
- Building Blocks -
transmitter receiver
l1 l1
terminal transmission line terminal
Tx point-to-point link section Rx
l2 span l2
amplifier span
l3 l3
EDFA
EDFA
EDFA
SMF or SMF or
NZDF NZDF
WDM demux
WDM mux
l4 l4
DC DC
transmission fiber
transmission fiber
l5 l5
dispersion
compensation
dispersion
compensation
(booster) amplifier
(pre-) amplifier
(in-line) amplifier
l6 l6
ln ln
Raman Raman
pump pump
Erbium-doped fiber amplifier
tap tap
PD PD
Fiber laser
Mode-locked ring fiber laser
Fiber cable construction
Reinforcement needed
to protect the fragile glass
fiber
Fiber specs sheet
Fiber connectorization
Fiber optics cable Fiber optics connectors
Fusion splicer
Before splicing After splicing
Fiber displacement
Prof. Norwood
Longitudinal displacement
Prof. Norwood
Angular deviation
Prof. Norwood
Fiber connectors
Fiber connectors
Connectors can have a flat polish or they may
have an 8o angle polish which reduces back
reflections dramatically (< -60dB return loss)
Insertion losses are generally compared to flat polish (< -40dB return loss)
<0.2 dB typical
<0.5 dB max
FC/APC
Fiber connectors, FC/PC
Fiber splicing
Fiber stripping
Surface cleaning
Fiber cleaving
Fiber alignment
Pre-fusion heating
Fusing
Splice evaluation
Protection, strain relief
Heat shrink sleeve
Fiber splicer
Fiber cleaver
Fiber stripper
Fusion splicing
Fiber optic couplers
Optical couplers either split
optical signals into multiple
paths or combine multiple
signals onto one path
The number of input (N)/ output
(M) ports, (i.e. N x M )
characterizes a coupler
Fused couplers can be made in
any configuration, but they
commonly use multiples of two
(2 x 2, 4 x 4, 8 x 8, etc.)
Coupler applications
Uses
Splitter: (50:50)
Taps: (90:10) or (95:05)
Combiners
Couplers are key components in
Optical amplifiers
Fiber lasers
Optical switches
Mach Zehnder interferometers
Fiber-to-the-home networks
Optical fiber sensors
Single-mode coupler behavior
100% coupling
The coupling is wavelength dependent. Coupling occurs when the two
fibers cores are very close to each other. Small changes effect the
coupling ratio
WDM coupler
100 % of the 1.3 m light couples to the core of fiber B, and then back to the core of
fiber A to emerge at Port C
100% of the 1.55 m light couples to the core of fiber B and emerges at Port D
Simple coarse WDM filters can be made in this way
Single-mode coupler properties
Couplers are made by tapering fibers down, thereby making the
core very small, resulting in most of the light propagating in the
"multimode' cladding in the taper region
If the adiabatic coupling regions vary slowly enough, then there
is very little loss as the light propagates across the biconical
taper
Fused biconic taper fabrication
Fabrication of a biconical taper
Heat fiber uniformly over a width w to the glass melting point, Tm
Stretch fiber a distance L on both sides of the heated region
Heat
w
D
D0
L L
z
0
Fiber taper (top) and
standard fiber (bottom)
Fused biconic taper fabrication
or
Completely automated
technology with high throughput
Coupling ratio, excess loss, PDL
Theory for directional couplers
Four-port devices (two input and two output ports)
Output can be split in two different directions; hence the name
directional couplers
Can be fabricated using fibers or planar waveguides
Two waveguides are identical in symmetric couplers
Evanescent coupling of modes in two closely spaced waveguides
Overlapping of modes in the central region leads to power transfer
Theory for directional couplers
Coupled-mode theory commonly used for couplers
Begin with the Helmholtz equation:
, everywhere except in the region occupied by two cores
Approximate solution:
Fm(x,y) corresponds to the mode supported by the each waveguide:
A1 and A2 vary with z because of the mode overlap
Credit: Agrawal
Coupled mode equations
Coupled-mode theory deals with amplitudes A1 and A2
We substitute assumed solution in Helmholtz equation, multiply by
F1 or F2 , and integrate over x-y plane to obtain:
The coupling coefficient is defined as:
Modes are normalized such that:
Credit: Agrawal
Time-domain coupled mode equations
Expand in a Taylor series around the carrier frequency w0 as:
Replace while taking inverse Fourier transform :
Credit: Agrawal
Time-domain coupled mode equations
Credit: Agrawal
Time-domain coupled mode equations
Even though A2 = 0 at z = 0, some power is transferred to the
second core as light propagates inside a coupler
Power transfer follows a periodic pattern
Maximum power transfer occurs for e z = m /2
Coupling length is defined as Lc = /(2e)
Credit: Agrawal
Symmetric couplers
Credit: Agrawal
Symmetric couplers
Credit: Agrawal
Coupler performance parameters (I)
Coupling ratio or splitting ratio:
Power from anysingleoutput Pt
CR = =
Totalpower out toallports PT -out
P2
CR = -10log10 2 x 2 case in dB
P1 + P2
Excess loss: Pin
Le =
PT -out
Pin
Le =10 log10 2 x 2 case in dB
P1 + P2
Coupler performance parameters (II)
Insertion loss:
Pt
Power from any single output Pt Li = -10 log10
Li = =
Power input Pin Pin
In dB
Isolation or crosstalk:
Input power at one port
Liso =
Reflected power back intoother input port
Pin
Liso =10 log10 In dB
P3
Fiber star coupler
Combines power from N inputs and divided them between N outputs
1P 1
1
PN
N N
1
Coupling ratio CR = -10 log10 =10 log10 N
N
P
Le =10 log10 N in
Excess loss
i Pout,i
Wavelength-dependent couplers
Wavelength-division multiplexers (WDM) types:
3 port devices (4th port terminated)
1310 / 1550 nm (classic WDM technology)
1480 / 1550 nm and 980 / 1550 nm for pumping optical
amplifiers 1550 / 1625 nm for network monitoring
l1
Common
l2
Insertion and rejection:
Low loss (< 1 dB) for path wavelength
High loss (20 to 50 dB) for other wavelength
Wavelength-dependent couplers
Fused biconic taper is made and monitored as it is being pulled
When 1550nm is in the bar state and 1310nm is in the cross
state, pulling is stopped - - a coarse WDM filter results
WDM couplers
Fused coupler type WDM
Low loss (<0.5dB)
Small size (35x5.5mm)
Low cost (~$200)
Thin film type WDM
WDM couplers
Isolators
Polarization sensitive isolator Polarization insensitive isolator
Low loss (<0.5dB)
Small size (35x5.5mm)
Low cost (~$200)
Isolators
Questions for Thoughts
What is the new fiber component that you think may be useful to have?
Can we replace all traditional optics with fiber-based components?
How can you turn your experimental setup into fiber-based?
Where are fiber-based components made?
How can you start a successful company providing fiber components and devices?
