Optical Fibers

Passive optical network (PON) is one of the most successful broadband access architectures being deployed worldwide. PONs provide high capacity, increased reach, and low-power consumption at a very reasonable cost, on par with the cost of DSL deployments today. This paper provides an overview of present and emerging PON technologies, and discusses PON's important role in the evolution of optical access from the architectural perspective. While describing the evolution of optical access architecture, we present two important integration options: optical+wireless access integration and metro+access integration. Potential PON capacity upgrades are discussed with special emphasis on achieving a seamless upgrade. We evaluate different PON evolution strategies in the context of next-generation PON, where gradual, demand-based migration demonstrates a number of significant benefits.

Nanoparticle-doped optical fibers are causing significant scientific interest in different application fields. Nanoparticle-doping of silica glass layers during optical fiber preform fabrication was so far reported by sol-gel and solution doping processes, by flame hydrolysis spraying and by pulling hollow cylinders from nanoparticle suspensions. A new method for fabrication of high quality nanoparticle-doped fibers is suggested. Proposed method is based on "flash vaporization" deposition process, previously reported as method to fabricate rare earth- and metal ion-doped specialty optical fibers. Experiments were made where SiO2 layers were deposited using "flash vaporization"-equipped MCVD system, adding vapors carrying metal or oxide nanoparticles into deposition zone. Analysis of produced preforms confirms presence of nanoparticles in deposited layers, albeit with low deposition rate due to weak thermophoretic forces acting on very small particles or agglomerations. Based on results, a number of improvements were suggested and implemented in fabrication process, device design and choice of precursor materials. "Flash vaporization" method was demonstrated as suitable method for deposition of nanoparticles in silica layers, permitting in-situ fabrication of complete preforms, providing easy upgrade path for existing MCVD and OVD deposition systems and allowing simultaneous co-doping by a wide range of other co-dopants.

A large number of high power CW fiber lasers described in the literature use large mode area (LMA) double cladding fibers. These fibers have large core and low core numerical aperture (NA) to limit the number of supported modes and are typically operated under coiling to ...

Summary form only given. Telecommunications has continued to push optical fibers towards ever-more demanding applications-such as high bit rates, dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM), and long distances-and in response there has been renewed interest in alternative fiber designs to lift fundamental limitations of silica fibers. A particularly exciting departure from traditional fibers are fibers based on photonic band gaps, forbidden frequency

Knowledge of an individual's skin condition is important for pressure ulcer prevention. Detecting early changes in skin through perfusion, oxygen saturation values, and pressure on tissue and subsequent therapeutic intervention could increase patients' quality of life drastically. However, most existing sensing options create additional risk of ulcer development due to further pressure on and chafing of the skin. Here, as a first component, we present a flexible, photonic textile-based sensor for the continuous monitoring of the heartbeat and blood flow. Polymer optical fibres (POFs) are melt-spun continuously and characterized optically and mechanically before being embroidered. The resulting sensor shows flexibility when embroidered into a moisture-wicking fabric, and withstands disinfection with hospital-type laundry cycles. Additionally, the new sensor textile shows a lower static coefficient of friction (COF) than conventionally used bedsheets in both dry and sweaty con...

We present the use of swept wavelength interferometry for distributed fiber-optic, temperature measurements of up to 850degC over a 1m fiber segment in commercially available, single mode, gold coated fiber. The interrogation technique is based on measuring the spectral shift of the intrinsic Rayleigh backscatter signal along the optical fiber and converting the spectral shift to temperature.

A fiber Brag grating sensor interrogator has been developed which is capable of gathering vectors of information from individual fiber Bragg gratings by capturing the full optical spectrum 3 kHz. Using a field programmable gate array with high speed digital-to-analog converters and analog-to-digital components, plus a kilohertz rate MEMS optical filter, the optical spectrum can be scanned at rates in excess of 10 million nanometers per second, allowing sensor sampling rates of many kilohertz while maintaining the necessary resolution to understand sensor changes. The autonomous system design performs all necessary detection and processing of multiple sensors and allows spectral measurements to be exported as fast as Ethernet, USB, or RS232 devices can receive it through a memory mapped interface. The high speed - full spectrum - fiber Bragg grating sensor interrogator enables advanced interrogation of dynamic strain and temperature gradients along the length of a sensor, as well as the use of each sensor for multiple stimuli, such as in temperature compensation. Two examples are described, showing interrogation of rapid laser heating in an optical fiber, as well as complex strain effects in a beam that had an engineered defect.

Στην άσκηση αυτή θα παρουσιασθεί η λειτουργία των οπτικών ινών (optical fibers) ως μέσα διάδοσης οπτικού σήματος και θα μελετηθούν χαρακτηριστικά τους, όπως η ισχύς εξόδου της ίνας και το ποσοστό διάδοσης του σήματος, η σύγκριση αριθμητικών ανοιγμάτων δέσμης και ίνας, πώς εξασθενεί το σήμα όταν δύο ίνες είναι συνδεδεμένες σε σειρά και ο υπολογισμός του συντελεστή εξασθένησης οπτικής ίνας.

The optical fiber based supercontinuum source has recently become a significant scientific and commercial success, with applications ranging from frequency comb production to advanced medical imaging. This one-of-a-kind book explains the theory of fiber supercontinuum broadening, describes the diverse operational regimes and indicates principal areas of applications, making it a very important guide for researchers and graduate students. With contributions from major figures and groups who have pioneered ...

Light transmitting concrete allows light to pass through it because of the presence of optical fibers within the opaque concrete wall. The objective of this project is to make transparent concrete blocks with the use of optical fibers. Compressive tests further carried on our conventional concrete samples and different trial 1 %, 2 %, 3 %, 4 % and 5 % optical fibers in conventional concrete with addition of 1.5 % GI fibers. A very small percentage of plastic optical fibers of 4 % of surface area, transmit a light intensity worth of 45.3% at a distance of 15 cm from the face of wall. As percentage of optical fiber increases, the compressive strength of concrete decreases. While add 1.5% of GI fibers in concrete result increased in compressive strength in LTC.

This work presents a compositional characterization of 1939's Thousand "Réis" and 1945's One "Cruzeiro" Brazilian coins, forged on aluminum bronze alloy. The coins were irradiated by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with 4 ns pulse width and energy of 25mJ emitting at 1064nm reaching 3.1010Wcm-2 (assured condition for stoichiometric ablation), forming a plasma in a small fraction of the coin. Plasma emission was collected by an optical fiber system connected to an Echelle spectrometer. The capability of LIBS to remove small fraction of material was exploited and the coins were analyzed ablating layer by layer from patina to the bulk. The experimental conditions to assure reproductivity were determined by evaluation of three plasma paramethers: ionization temperature using Saha-Boltzmann plot, excitation temperature using Boltzmann plot, plasma density using Saha-Boltzmann plot and Stark broadening. The Calibration-Free LIBS technique was applied to both coins and the analytical determination of elemental composition was employed. In order to confirm the Edict Law elemental composition the results were corroborated by Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). In both cases the results determined by CF-LIBS agreed to with the Edict Law and NAA determination. Besides the major components for the bronze alloy some other impurities were observed. Finally, in order to determine the coin damage made by the laser, the OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) technique was used. After tree pulses of laser 54μg of coin material were removed reaching 120μm in depth.

A review of optical fiber sensing demonstrations based on photonic crystal fibers is presented. The text is organized in five main sections: the first three deal with sensing approaches relying on fiber Bragg gratings, long-period gratings and interferometric structures; the fourth one reports applications of these fibers for gas and liquid sensing; finally, the last section focuses on the exploitation of nonlinear effects in photonic crystal fibers for sensing.

Chalcogenide glasses are based on sulfur, selenium and tellurium elements, and have been studied for several decades regarding different applications. Among them, selenide glasses exhibit excellent infrared transmission in the 1 to 15 µm region. Due to their good thermo-mechanical properties, these glasses could be easily shaped into optical devices such as lenses and optical fibers. During the past decade of research, selenide glass fibers have been proved to be suitable for infrared sensing in an original spectroscopic method named Fiber Evanescent Wave Spectroscopy (FEWS). FEWS has provided very nice and promising results, for example for medical diagnosis. Then, some sophisticated fibers, also based on selenide glasses, were developed: rare-earth doped fibers and microstructured fibers. In parallel, the study of telluride glasses, which can have transmission up to 28 µm due to its atom heaviness, has been intensified thanks to the DARWIN mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA). The development of telluride glass fiber enables a successful observation of CO₂ absorption band located around 15 µm. In this paper we review recent results obtained in the Glass and Ceramics Laboratory at Rennes on the development of selenide to telluride glass optical fibers, and their use for spectroscopy from the mid to the far infrared ranges.