THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF POLARIZATION CHARACTERISTICS OF POLARIZATION MAINTAINING FIBER BASED ON WAVELENGTH-SWEEPING MODULATION

We analyze theoretically the polarization characteristics of polarization maintaining fiber and study the basic measurement principles of beat length and polarization extinction ratio of this kind of optical fiber. According, to the dependence of the phase difference between two orthogonally polarized modes (denoted Os HE(11)(x) and HE(11)(y)) transmitted in the polarization maintaining fiber on the light wavelength, we propose the wavelength-sweeping modulation method to measure the beat length and the model birefringence. Based on this technique, the hew length and polarization extinction ratio of the PANDA polarization maintaining fibers (PMFs) (provided by Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable Company, Wuhan, China) were investigated in detail. Experimental results show good consistent with the theoretical ones. We find that this method shows high measurement precision with the advantages of clear measurement principle and easy to operate. 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 1466-1469, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25244

Characteristics of beam profile of Gaussian beam passing through an axicon

Bessel beam can overcome the limitation of the Rayleigh range of Gaussian beam with the same spot size propagation without any spreading due to diffraction, which is considered as an useful function in guiding particles in the next generation of optical tweezers. The mathematical description of the Bessel beam generated by an axicon is usually based on the Fresnel diffraction integral theory. In this paper, we deduce another type of analytic expression suitable for describing the beam profile generated from the axicon illuminated by the Gaussian beam based on the interferential theory. Compared with the Fresnel diffraction integral theory, this theory does not use much approximation in the process of mathematical analysis. According to the derived expression, the beam intensity profiles at any positions behind the axicon can be calculated not just restricted inside the cross region as the Fresnel diffraction integral theory gives. The experiments prove that the theoretical results fit the experimental results very well. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.