Deep silicon grating as high-extinction-ratio polarizing beam splitter

A deep binary silicon grating as high-extinction-ratio reflective polarizing beam splitter (PBS) at the wavelength of 1550 nm is presented. The design is based on the phenomenon of total internal reflection (TIR) by using the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA). The extinction ratio of the rectangular PBS grating can reach 2.5×105 with the optimum grating period of 397 nm and groove depth of 1.092 μm. The effciencies of TM-polarized wave in the 0th order and TE-polarized wave in the −1st order can both reach unity at the Littrow angle. Holographic recording technology and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching could be used to fabricate the silicon PBS grating.

Study of polymer thermal and mechanical properties using a fiber Bragg grating thermal sensor

A simple and practical method for the study of polymer thermal and mechanical properties using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor is presented for the first time, in which the FBG is embedded in a typical epoxy polymer. By measuring the sensitivity change of the FBG sensor, changes of the thermal-mechanical properties of the polymer with temperature and pressure can be measured. The experimental results show that this technique is capable of providing continuous in-line monitoring such properties with high sensitivity during transformation between the glassy state and the rubbery state of a polymer within the temperature and pressure range of 20 to 180 C and 0 to 15 MPa. (c) 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Single mode Er-doped pi-phase-shifted distributed feedback fibre grating laser

A novel method incorporating the shielded method and the post-processing method has been proposed to fabricate the pi-phase-shilted fibre grating. Then an Er-doped pi-phase-shifted distributed feedback fibre grating laser has been fabricated using the grating. The laser threshold is 20 mW. When pumped with 90 mW light at 980 nm, the laser gives an output of 1.1 mW. Its signal-to-noise ratio is better than 60 dB. It is demonstrated that the laser is single mode operation by means of a Fabry-Perot scanning interferometer.

Design and control of an ultraprecision stage used in grating tiling

In petawatt laser system, the gratings used to compose pulse compressor are very large in size which can be only acquired currently by arraying small aperture gratings to form a large one instead, an approach referred to as grating tiling. Theory and experiments have demonstrated that the coherent addition of multiple small gratings to form a larger grating is viable, the key technology of which is to control the relative position and orientation of each grating with high precision. According to the main factors that affect the performance of the grating tiling, a 5-DOF ultraprecision stage is developed for the grating tiling experiment. The mechanism is formed by serial structures. The motion of the mechanism is guided by flexure hinges and driven by piezoelectric actuators and the movement resolution of which can achieve nanometer level. To keep the stability of the mechanism, capacitive position sensors with nanometer accuracy are fixed on it to provide feedback signals with which to realize closed-loop control, thus the positioning precision of the mechanism is within several nanometers range through voltage control and digital PID algorithm. Results of experiments indicate that the performance of the mechanism can meet the requirement of precision for grating tiling.}

Study of polymer thermal and mechanical properties using a fiber Bragg grating thermal sensor

A simple and practical method for the study of polymer thermal and mechanical properties using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor is presented for the first time, in which the FBG is embedded in a typical epoxy polymer. By measuring the sensitivity change of the FBG sensor, changes of the thermal-mechanical properties of the polymer with temperature and pressure can be measured. The experimental results show that this technique is capable of providing continuous in-line monitoring such properties with high sensitivity during transformation between the glassy state and the rubbery state of a polymer within the temperature and pressure range of 20 to 180 C and 0 to 15 MPa. (c) 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

75 mW robust single frequency Yb-doped DFB fiber Bragg grating laser

Incorporating the shielded method and post-processing method, a 75 mW single frequency Yb-doped DFB fiber laser was obtained with a 250 mW laser diode pump source at 978 nm. The threshold of the laser is 2 mW. The laser is single-polarization operation and the output power fluctuation is less than 0.2 mW in one hour when the pump power is 250 mW.

Encoded cell grating array in anti-counterfeit technology

The dot matrix hologram (DMH) has been widely used in anti-counterfeiting label. With the same technology and cell array configuration, we can encode to the incidence beam. These codes can be some image matrix grating with different grating gap and different grating orientation. When the multi-level phase diffractive grating is etched, the incidence beam on the cell appears as an encoding image. When the encoded grating and DMH are used in the same label synchronously, the technology of multi-encoded grating array enhances the anti-counterfeit ability.

Optical fiber long-period grating with solgel coating for gas sensor

The novel long-period fiber grating (LPFG) film sensor is composed of the long-period grating coated with solgel-derived sensitive films. The characteristics of the transmissivity of the LPFG film sensor are studied. By analyzing the relation among the sensitivity S-n, the thin film optical parameters, and the fiber grating parameters, the optimal design parameters of the LPFG film sensor are obtained. Data simulation shows that the resolution of the refractive index of this LPFG film sensor is predicted to be 10(-8). Experimentally, a LPFG film sensor for detection Of C2H5OH was fabricated, and a preliminary gas-sensing test was performed. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

A novel polarization modulator for a Moire system with grating imaging

A polarization modulator based on splitting with a Savart plate and rotation of an analyzer for a moire system with grating imaging is presented, and its modulation principle is analyzed. The polarization modulator is simple and achromatic. It is composed of a polarizer, a Savart plate, and an analyzer. The polarizer and the Savart plate are placed in front of the index grating to split the image of the scale grating in the moire system. The analyzer is placed behind the grating and rotated to realize the modulation of the moire signal. The analyzer can be rotated either continually with high speed or step by step with low speed to form different modulation modes. The polarization modulator makes the moire system insensitive to the change of initial intensity. In experiments, we verified the usefulness of the polarization modulator.

Characteristics of high reflection mirror with an SiO2 top layer for multilayer dielectric grating

The high reflection (HR) mirror composed of dielectric stacks with excellent spectrum characteristics and high damage resistant ability is critical for fabricating multilayer dielectric (MLD) grating for pulse compressor. The selection of the SiO2 material as the top layer of the HR mirror for grating fabrication is beneficial for improving the laser-induced damage threshold of MLD grating as well as minimizing the standing-wave effect in the photoresist during the exposure process. Based on an (HLL) H-9 design comprising quarter-waves of HfO2 ( H) and half-waves of SiO2 ( L), we obtain an optimal design of the HR mirror for MLD grating, the SiO2 top layer of which is optimized with a merit function including both the diffraction efficiency of the MLD grating and the electric field enhancement in the grating. Dependence of the performance of the MLD grating on the fabrication error of the dielectric mirror is analysed in detail. The HR mirror is also fabricated by E-beam evaporation, which shows good spectral characteristics at the exposure wavelength of 413 nm and at the operation wavelength of 1053 nm and an average damage threshold of 10 J cm(-2) for a 12 ns pulse.

Optimization of thin-film design for multi-layer dielectric grating

Thin-film design used to fabricate multi-layer dielectric (MLD) gratings should provide high transmittance during holography exposure, high reflectance at use wavelength and sufficient manufacturing latitude of the grating design making the MLD grating achieve both high diffraction efficiency and low electric field enhancement. Based on a (HLL)H-9 design comprising of quarter-waves of high-index material and half-waves of low-index material, we obtain an optimum MLD coating meeting these requirements by inserting a matching layer being half a quarter-wave of Al2O3 between the initial design and an optimized HfO2 top layer. The optimized MLD coatings exhibits a low reflectance of 0.017% under photoresist at the exposure angle of 17.8 degrees for 413 nm light and a high reflectance of 99.61% under air at the use angle of 51.2 degrees for 1053 nm light. Numerical calculation of intensity distribution in the photoresist coated on the MLD film during exposure shows that standing-wave patterns are greatly minimized and thus simulation profile of photoresist gratings after development demonstrates smoother shapes with lower roughness. Furthermore, a MLD gratings with grooves etched into the top layer of this MLD coating provides a high diffraction efficiency of 99.5% and a low electric field enhancement ratio of 1.53. This thin-film design shows perfect performances and can be easily fabricated by e-beam evaporation. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Guided-mode resonant grating filter with an antireflective surface for the multiple channels

In this paper, a new type of guided-mode resonant grating (GMRG) filter with an antireflective surface called the 'moth-eye structure' for the multiple channels is presented by using rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) and the S-matrix method. Long range, low sidebands and multiple channels are found when the GMRG filters with antireflective surface are illuminated with incident polarization light. It is calculated that the multiple channel phenomenon can be shown when the depth of antireflective surface is increased. Moreover, the wavelengths of the multiple channels can be easily shifted by changing the depth of the homogenous layer which is under the antireflective surface, and the optical properties of GMRG filters such as low sideband reflection and narrow band are not badly spoiled when the depth is changed.

Ultra-narrow bandwidth resonant reflection grating filters using the second diffracted orders

In this paper, we design resonant reflection grating filters employing the second diffracted orders as the leaky modes, then analyze the bandwidth of the reflection peak and the electric field distributions inside the wavegude under resonance. The numeric calculation confirms that ultra-narrow resonant reflection peaks can be observed in these structures. At the same time, strong electric field enhancement appears under resonance. It provides a new approach to diversify the resonant reflection filters and may open a new way to the realization of ultra-narrow bandwidth filters. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Surface plasmon resonance transmission filters at 1053 nm based on metallic grating with narrow slit

Metallic gratings with narrow slits can lead to special optical properties such as strongly enhancing the transmission and considerably strengthening the polarized effect. A narrow-band filter suitable for application in optical communication is designed by sandwiching a metallic grating between two identical dielectric films. The maximum transmission can reach 96% after optimizing the parameters of films and grating at a central wavelength of 1053 nm. It is the first time, to our knowledge, that such high transmission has been reported since the discovery of the extraordinarily high transmission through periodic holes or slits; moreover, the extremely polarized effect is also found in P mode of this symmetric grating.